Windows

Game	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
ARIA CHRONICLE	PLAZA	Steam	81% (117)
DriftZ	PLAZA	Steam	93% (15)
Elli	PLAZA	Steam	-
Zombie School Survival	PLAZA	Steam	-
Landlord Girls	TiNYiSO	Steam	65% (252)
Dark Bestiary	DARKZER0	Steam	96% (56)
WarPlan (REPACK)	Unleashed	Steam	87% (55)
Social Club VR : Casino Nights	VREX	Steam	78% (46)
Mr. DRILLER DrillLand	SKIDROW	Steam	89% (45)
ARIA CHRONICLE (RIP)	SiMPLEX	Steam	81% (117)

 

Update	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
Banner.of.the.Maid.Update.v2.0.0	PLAZA	Steam	91% (4.2k)
On.The.Road.v1.1.3	PLAZA	Steam	53% (713)
The.Withering.v2.1.3.7	PLAZA	Steam	57% (328)
Stranded.Sails.Explorers.of.the.Cursed.Islands.The.Foundation	PLAZA	Steam	72% (309)
Biker.Garage.Mechanic.Simulator.Customization.Update.v20200713	PLAZA	Steam	74% (268)
Fishing.Barents.Sea.v1.3.4-3618	TiNYiSO	Steam	76% (1.7k)
Singularity.Tactics.Arena.v1.02	TiNYiSO	Steam	100% (18)
Adam.Lost.Memories.Update.v2.0.3	CODEX	Steam	94% (72)
Gaia.v20200713	SKIDROW	Steam	63% (62)
Stranded.Sails.Explorers.of.the.Cursed.Islands.The.Foundation.RIP	SiMPLEX	Steam	72% (309)

 

DLC	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
Unfortunate Spacemen - Death Proof Edition	TiNYiSO	Steam	100% (2)

 

Mac OSX

Game	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
NEOVERSE	ACTiVATED	Steam	85% (2.6k)
The Last Sky	ACTiVATED	Steam	92% (13)

 

Linux

Game	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
Fury Unleashed	ACTiVATED	Steam	93% (575)

 

DLC	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
Europa Universalis IV: Emperor	ACTiVATED	Steam	55% (763)

 

<< July 12, 2020

Q&A

Q: When will [insert game name here] be cracked?
A: STOP! CrackWatch members are not psychic. Games get cracked by completely ANONYMOUS SCENE GROUPS who don't disclose their progress or plans to the general public so NO ONE knows WHEN and IF a certain game will be cracked.
 
Q: What are all these NFO thingies? Where do I download?
A: NFOs are text files included with game releases which contain information about the releases. CrackWatch only informs which games have been cracked. To download look for the releases on CS.RIN.RU or torrent websites. Useful websites can be found in The Beginners Guide and on WebOasis.
 
Q: WTF is Denuvo?
A: Denuvo is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology used to protect games from being cracked. Games that have Denuvo are harder to crack and usually take much longer. See Pinned Post for a list of Denuvo games.
 
Q: An update is out, but it includes the base game as well! Can I only download the update without redownloading the entire game?
A: Yes. CS.RIN.RU is your friend.

I'm trying to start playing in the pre-made worlds with the pre-made sims with all EPs installed, so I want to have a complete experience in every single world. Community lots are an essential part for this, but unfortunately the worlds can't have every single type of lot in them: either for lack of space (in Sunset Valley, for example) or because one kind of lot assignment doesn't really add anything that other lot assignment add.
With this post I'd like to comment on how neccessary I think each lot assigment is, and I'd like to hear your opinions. So this post is partly a request for some suggestions on what's "the best thing to do", but also as a resource for those interested and to share what you personally do in your games (make your own lots? use the default lots? add them when you start to need them? It really depends on your playstyle).

Base game

They are included in every world, so nothing to comment here. In older worlds it could help replacing the default rabbitholes with multi-purpose rabbitholes (such as Hospital+Lab), but I personally don't want to do that because I don't really want to remove/replace lots, just add.

World Adventures

• I don't really know the details about this kind of lot, but Market can be an interesting lot assignment to make mall-type lots with different registers (from WA and other expansions and the Store). Not really an essential lot, but interesting to add at certain point if it correctly works, or to save space by combining different shops in one lot.
• Nectary isn't really needed as every world has access to France. But nectar is a cool feature to have, so building one at some point can be interesting.
• Academy, unlike Nectary, doesn't seem fitting for most worlds. I'd leave them to China only. Same for Chinese garden (just a park that gives a special moodlet).

Ambitions

• Consignment store, Fire station, Salon and Junkyard are automatically placed on every new save for a reason, as they introduce many basic features from this EP. The only problem is where the game places them in most worlds and that they didn't include a variety of lots, so they have to be built or (what I do) downloaded from other players.
• Laundromat isn't essential, but to get the most of the laundry system there should be one.
• Hangout doesn't really have a purpose (that I can think of) with the lot types that other EPs added.

Late Night

• This is a bit complicated, since there are 9 types of lots and in the end maybe only having one type of Bar, Lounge and Club is enough to start. Of them all, Dive Bar, Dance Club and whatever kind of Lounge are the most useful as they allow the Showtime careers gigs if a scenario is added.
• Film studio is needed for the Film career. The rabbit hole is big, but at least creating a lot for it doesn't really require much effort.

Pets

• Equestrian center is another required lot for basic features. Thankfully, like the Film studio rabbit hole, they are easy to build. The small default version is good enough (its default placement in most worlds is the main problem, but that can be easily fixed in Edit Town).
• Pet store is a cool open shop to have.
• Dog park and Cat jungle are just special parks that attracts those animals, I guess. I don't think they are essential. Horse ranch seems the most useful of these lots, as a community place to learn horse skills. Still only needed when there are playable horses, I guess, for those that have horses in their houses but not a big yard.

Showtime

• Since other lots can be used like these if they have a scenario, there is flexibility whether to add a Coffeehouse, Live show venue and Private venue. What they do is essential to get the most of this EP, and the game acknowledges this by adding them to any newly created world (again, they are copies of Starlight Shores' venues from the lot bin and their placement is awful). To save space, the best idea is to add the scenarios to compatible lots that allow the specific gig types (like I mentioned in the Late Night section, but there are more possibilities).
• Adding a scenario to a park is also required for gigs (the game also places a park with a stage from the lot bin).
• The Big show venue is also cool to have for the highest level gigs, but it's not essential. It's a very big rabbit hole that doesn't look good or fit most worlds. But to get the most from this EP this is needed, so... I've read that, as long as the lot is assigned as Big show venue and has a stage it doesn't matter if the rabbit hole shell is added. I have yet to confirm it.

Supernatural

• The rabbit hole Arboretum, Vault of Antiquity and Gypsy wagon are also essential for many basic features. They are small rabbit holes, so they don't really need a new lot, they can be inegrated on existing lots in most worlds.
• Elixir consignment store is another useful shop to have.
• Supernatural hangout is useful if there are enough supernaturals living in town. I guess it's special enough to be worth having besides the LN venues.

Seasons

Thankfully, EA created Festival grounds for every world and they made it so they are automatically placed in new saves. Saves a lot of work.

University Life

• Arcade, Nerd shop and Rebel hangout are interesting on their own and also as lots that attract the specific social group sims. I'd add them to the worlds.
• Java hut is very useful as a non-rabbit hole café. If this lot assignment can be used as a Showtime Coffeehouse venue (I'm not sure, can someone confirm?), then it can be a good replacement for the Flying V's rabbit hole Coffeehouse (that's just a bistro with a stage). With the bakery Store content this lot assignment gains even more relevance.
• Student union, University hangout and the university rabbit holes don't seem useful outside the university sub-neighborhood, even if they are allowed in the home world.

Island Paradise

• Resorts are good for every world. Even if you don't own them, I think they are cool to have. Better with the rugs mod to not need the rabbit hole towers, I guess. Definitely I'd add more than one resort to each world.
• Diving areas are needed for the scuba diving skill, but the problem is that most worlds don't have space for them. I've read that, of the non-store worlds, Sunset Valley is probably the only one with space for them (besides Isla Paradiso, of course).
• Ports are needed for houseboats, but again most worlds don't have enough sea space for them. I'll see where I can add them (only one per world). Definitely Riverview, Twinbrook, Bridgeport and Appaloosa Plains aren't places for them (either for the space or thematically).
• The Lifeguard chair is not a lot, but is worth mentioning here as an item that needs to be manually added to each beach in every world in order to have access to the Lifeguard profession (I also have a mod installed to allow this profession on pools, so I add them there too).

Into the Future

• Business park, Dried up beach, Wasteland and Future lounge only make sense in Oasis Landing, I think. If anything, in Lunar Lakes from the Store.
• Bot emporium isn't really needed in the home world and can also break the immersion.
• Cafeteria could have its uses. But then again, we already have Hangouts, Coffeehouses and Java huts to make a place to drink coffee / eat...
• Gallery shop as a clothes store can be interesting to have. I don't know the details of this lot, though (if it's like TS2's clothes shops or limited to futuristic clothes).
• The Plumbot competition arena and Stellar observatory add careers and skill classes, but the rabbit holes aren't really fitting for any world outside Oasis Landing. I think there are rabbit hole rugs for these as well, but I need to look further into these careers to know if they properly work as "normal" jobs in the present timeline.

The Store

• None of this is essential, but I wanted to mention it anyway as there are premium items that allow some interesting places that may be worth adding to some worlds. For example: casinos, open restaurants, any kind of shop, open spas, bakeries, sport centers, the skydiving center rabbit hole... And some other items can be added to existing lots, such as public showers, dance floors, ballet barres, wave stations...

Windows

Game	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands	PLAZA	Steam	72% (309)
ARIA CHRONICLE	PLAZA	Steam	81% (117)
DriftZ	PLAZA	Steam	93% (15)
Elli	PLAZA	Steam	-
Zombie School Survival	PLAZA	Steam	-
Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands (RIP)	SiMPLEX	Steam	72% (309)
ARIA CHRONICLE (RIP)	SiMPLEX	Steam	81% (117)
斗地主少女/ Landlord Girls	TiNYiSO	Steam	65% (252)
Dark Bestiary	DARKZER0	Steam	96% (56)
WarPlan (REPACK)	Unleashed	Steam	87% (55)
Social Club VR : Casino Nights	VREX	Steam	78% (46)
Mr. DRILLER DrillLand	SKIDROW	Steam	89% (45)

 

Update	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
On.The.Road.v1.1.3	PLAZA	Steam	82% (8.2k)
Banner.of.the.Maid.Update.v2.0.0	PLAZA	Steam	91% (4.2k)
The.Withering.v2.1.3.7	PLAZA	Steam	57% (328)
Biker.Garage.Mechanic.Simulator.Customization.Update.v20200713	PLAZA	Steam	74% (268)
Fishing.Barents.Sea.v1.3.4-3618	TiNYiSO	Steam	76% (1.7k)
Singularity.Tactics.Arena.v1.02	TiNYiSO	Steam	100% (18)
Adam.Lost.Memories.Update.v2.0.3	CODEX	Steam	94% (72)
Gaia.v20200713	SKIDROW	Steam	63% (62)

 

DLC	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
Unfortunate Spacemen - Death Proof Edition	TiNYiSO	Steam	100% (2)

 

Mac OSX

Game	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
NEOVERSE	ACTiVATED	Steam	85% (2.6k)
The Last Sky	ACTiVATED	Steam	92% (13)

 

Linux

Game	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
Fury Unleashed	ACTiVATED	Steam	93% (575)

 

DLC	Group	Store	Score (Reviews)
Europa Universalis IV: Emperor	ACTiVATED	Steam	55% (763)

 

<< July 12, 2020

Q&A

Q: When will [insert game name here] be cracked?
A: STOP! CrackWatch members are not psychic. Games get cracked by completely ANONYMOUS SCENE GROUPS who don't disclose their progress or plans to the general public so NO ONE knows WHEN and IF a certain game will be cracked.
 
Q: What are all these NFO thingies? Where do I download?
A: NFOs are text files included with game releases which contain information about the releases. CrackWatch only informs which games have been cracked. To download look for the releases on CS.RIN.RU or torrent websites. Useful websites can be found in The Beginners Guide and on WebOasis.
 
Q: WTF is Denuvo?
A: Denuvo is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology used to protect games from being cracked. Games that have Denuvo are harder to crack and usually take much longer. See Pinned Post for a list of Denuvo games.
 
Q: An update is out, but it includes the base game as well! Can I only download the update without redownloading the entire game?
A: Yes. CS.RIN.RU is your friend.

# Windows | Game | Group | Store | Score (Reviews) | |:-|:-|:-|:-| | [Stranded Sails \- Explorers of the Cursed Islands](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148755/Stranded-Sails-Explorers-of-the-Cursed-Islands-The-Foundation-PLAZA.html) | PLAZA | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/943260/Stranded_Sails__Explorers_of_the_Cursed_Islands/) | 72% (309) | | [ARIA CHRONICLE](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148690/ARIA-CHRONICLE-PLAZA.html) | PLAZA | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1229900) | 81% (117) | | [DriftZ](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148436/DriftZ-PLAZA.html) | PLAZA | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1322180) | 93% (15) | | [Elli](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148754/Elli-PLAZA.html) | PLAZA | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1346600) | - | | [Zombie School Survival](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148651/Zombie-School-Survival-PLAZA.html) | PLAZA | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1344870) | - | | [Stranded Sails \- Explorers of the Cursed Islands (RIP)](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148914/Stranded-Sails-Explorers-of-the-Cursed-Islands-The-Foundation-RIP-SiMPLEX.html) | SiMPLEX | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/943260/Stranded_Sails__Explorers_of_the_Cursed_Islands/) | 72% (309) | | [ARIA CHRONICLE (RIP)](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148831/ARIA-CHRONICLE-RIP-SiMPLEX.html) | SiMPLEX | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1229900) | 81% (117) | | [斗地主少女/ Landlord Girls](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148689/Landlord-Girls-TiNYiSO.html) | TiNYiSO | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1138080/_Landlord_Girls/) | 65% (252) | | [Dark Bestiary](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148438/Dark-Bestiary-DARKZER0.html) | DARKZER0 | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1020730) | 96% (56) | | [WarPlan (REPACK)](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148688/Warplan-REPACK-Unleashed.html) | Unleashed | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084790) | 87% (55) | | [Social Club VR : Casino Nights](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148615/Social-Club-VR-Casino-Nights-VR-VREX.html) | VREX | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/708760) | 78% (46) | | [Mr\. DRILLER DrillLand](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148727/Mr-DRILLER-DrillLand-SKIDROW.html) | SKIDROW | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1126750/Mr_DRILLER_DrillLand/) | 89% (45) |   | Update | Group | Store | Score (Reviews) | |:-|:-|:-|:-| | [On.The.Road.v1.1.3](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148823/On-The-Road-v1-1-3-PLAZA.html) | PLAZA | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/300380/Road_Redemption/) | 82% (8.2k) | | [Banner.of.the.Maid.Update.v2.0.0](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148723/Banner-of-the-Maid-Update-v2-0-0-PLAZA.html) | PLAZA | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/994730/_Banner_of_the_Maid/) | 91% (4.2k) | | [The.Withering.v2.1.3.7](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148824/The-Withering-v2-1-3-7-PLAZA.html) | PLAZA | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/427950) | 57% (328) | | [Biker.Garage.Mechanic.Simulator.Customization.Update.v20200713](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148822/Biker-Garage-Mechanic-Simulator-Customization-Update-v20200713-PLAZA.html) | PLAZA | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/989770/Biker_Garage_Mechanic_Simulato) | 74% (268) | | [Fishing.Barents.Sea.v1.3.4-3618](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148687/Fishing-Barents-Sea-v1-3-4-3618-TiNYiSO.html) | TiNYiSO | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/501080) | 76% (1.7k) | | [Singularity.Tactics.Arena.v1.02](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148830/Singularity-Tactics-Arena-v1-02-TiNYiSO.html) | TiNYiSO | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/962220) | 100% (18) | | [Adam.Lost.Memories.Update.v2.0.3](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148913/Adam-Lost-Memories-Update-v2-0-3-CODEX.html) | CODEX | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1121590) | 94% (72) | | [Gaia.v20200713](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148821/Gaia-v20200713-SKIDROW.html) | SKIDROW | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/906790) | 63% (62) |   | DLC | Group | Store | Score (Reviews) | |:-|:-|:-|:-| | [Unfortunate Spacemen \- Death Proof Edition](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148686/Unfortunate-Spacemen-Death-Proof-Edition-TiNYiSO.html) | TiNYiSO | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1349010) | 100% (2) |   # Mac OSX | Game | Group | Store | Score (Reviews) | |:-|:-|:-|:-| | [NEOVERSE](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148827/NEOVERSE-MacOSX-ACTiVATED.html) | ACTiVATED | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/994220) | 85% (2.6k) | | [The Last Sky](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2148826/The-Last-Sky-MacOSX-ACTiVATED.html) | ACTiVATED | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/536900) | 92% (13) |   # Linux | Game | Group | Store | Score (Reviews) | |:-|:-|:-|:-| | [Fury Unleashed](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2149031/Fury-Unleashed-Linux-ACTiVATED.html) | ACTiVATED | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/465200) | 93% (575) |   | DLC | Group | Store | Score (Reviews) | |:-|:-|:-|:-| | [Europa Universalis IV: Emperor](https://www.xrel.to/game-nfo/2149033/Europa-Universalis-IV-Emperor-Linux-ACTiVATED.html) | ACTiVATED | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1259360) | 55% (763) |   # [<< July 12, 2020](https://www.reddit.com/CrackWatch/comments/hqck28/daily_releases_july_12_2020/) ***** #Q&A **Q:** When will [insert game name here] be cracked? **A:** STOP! CrackWatch members are not psychic. Games get cracked by completely **[ANONYMOUS SCENE GROUPS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warez_scene_)** who don't disclose their progress or plans to the general public so **NO ONE** knows **WHEN** and **IF** a certain game will be cracked.   **Q:** What are all these NFO thingies? Where do I download? **A:** NFOs are text files included with game releases which contain information about the releases. CrackWatch only informs which games have been cracked. To download look for the releases on [CS.RIN.RU](https://cs.rin.ru/forum/) or torrent websites. Useful websites can be found in [The Beginners Guide](/CrackWatch/comments/bcpdiu/) and on [WebOasis](https://weboas.is/).   **Q:** WTF is Denuvo? **A:** Denuvo is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology used to protect games from being cracked. Games that have Denuvo are harder to crack and usually take much longer. See [Pinned Post](/CrackWatch/comments/f8esco/) for a list of Denuvo games.   **Q:** An update is out, but it includes the base game as well! Can I only download the update without redownloading the entire game? **A:** Yes. [CS.RIN.RU](https://cs.rin.ru/forum/) is your friend. 

Bubble craps is my favorite game in a casino. Anyone know if Oasis of the Seas has one onboard?

Hey folks!
​
My last story here was about the week I spent playing roulette on the Oasis of the Seas back in November - you can read that here: https://www.reddit.com/gambling/comments/9waz71/today_ends_my_week_of_degenerate_gambling_at_sea/
​
I haven't gambled since November, so broke out two grand to take another go at the roulette table. I've been pissed since November because RCCL was so stingy on comps, and for a week of gambling, I got a $100 slot voucher. I don't even play slots. RCCL casinos don't give free drinks either until you're in a tier above the one I'm in, so I'm doubly pissed going in - literally fueled by anger.
​
My stupid roulette table wasn't even open yet, and I'm not going to play American roulette, so I sat down at the nearest flashy slot machine, which was called big super mega spins or something, and had 3x 4x 5x spins. There's an hour before my table is scheduled to open, and the pit boss won't get a dealer in sooner, so I sit down at this thing so I can get a view of my roulette table and be there as soon as it opens.
I apologize that I don't know all the slot lingo, but over 45 minutes on this machine, I turned that $100 voucher into $15,000. I won one big jackpot and 3 ... big not total jackpots doing $10 spins. I'd expected to be there for 10 spins, then gone and trolling the bar to gripe at the bartender for an hour how sucky the casino comps were. I hit one big win, then a jackpot, then after a while with a crowd watching, two more big wins. I'm talking to the crowd the whole time, with "I DON'T EVEN WANT TO PLAY THIS STUPID THING, I JUST WANTED TO PLAY ROULETTE."
45 minutes into it, poof. My roulette table opens up early. I get up and leave my machine, and these two older ladies start jostling in to get in my spot. The table limit is still $5 - $1000, and despite now having an extra $15,000, they still won't raise the table limit for me. I'm feeling lucky, so instead of martingaling, I put $1000 on red and win. $1000 on red and win. $1000 on black and win.
​
My sanity nudged through my adrenaline at that point, and I tipped the dealer $100, then went to the poker table. I don't play poker - I don't have the patience, but I bought in for $20, got dealt a suited J/A, went all in pre-flop, got called, picked up another $72.50.
​
I halfway feel like I should do another 10 page novel about it, but....this time, that might be enough. I don't even know how to explain this. I ****ing hate slots.

Hey folks!
Last fall I spent a week aboard the Oasis of the Seas gambling at the single zero roulette table. If you're interested, you can read the story here where I kept day by day notes in the comments about my winnings and observations. Finished ~$2500 ahead Martingaling for a week.
Tomorrow I'm headed to Michigan to visit friends and family, and to visit the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant Michigan. In years past, I'd wanted to visit to play on their $10 - $3000 table on the main floor, but when I called last month, they removed it because, and I seriously am quoting the casino host, "Guests prefer American Roulette."
I don't believe that for a moment.
At any rate, they still have a $25 - $5000 single zero table (without European rules unfortunately - no La Partage, no En Prison) in their high stakes salon, so I'm bringing $10k to bankroll a table max Martingale. As always, my target is to leave with 120% of my bankroll; in this case with $2,000 in winnings.
Wish me luck and I'll drop a note next weekend when I have something to report.

A sea of suffering called me from her shores. I answered her call, charted a course for the unknown and swam out. No more a child playing in the gentle break of the surf, I was the sole survivor of a shipwrecked life. There was mutiny, fire and disasters of every kind before the hull broke in half and the depths swallowed my life whole. I was lost at sea where only sea monsters survived, and since it is better to eat than to be eaten, I became one.
It is true that I survived Hurricane Katrina with my father in New Orleans, and that before our two months together were over, he threatened to shoot me with a nine-millimeter. But before I tell you about that, I need a few paragraphs to tell you about my girlfriend from high school, and that whole thing starts with a large shipment of blotter acid, printed with pink elephants. Supposedly it came from the Lavender family, whatever that meant, and it made an unlikely couple out of us.
My family and I were out of town for Christmas break of my senior year, but I can't remember where we went. I think it was Mexico, and while we were gone, the captain of the cheerleading team took some of that acid with two of my friends. They tried to come see me, but since we were out of town, they couldn’t. Somehow their journey to find me and my absence mixed with the LSD to simulate feelings of love and longing for me in her. When I got back, this girl I barely knew wanted to hang out with me. She was the head cheerleader for her junior and senior years, made good grades and loved her mother. I skateboarded, slept through classes, resented the preppy kids, and wore skulls on my black tee shirt.
Towards the end of our relationship, I stole 200 dollars from our friend and disappeared for 24 hours with her vehicle, until I came back and we screamed at each other. Later she dropped me off at my parents’ house, and I hurled my cellphone at the pavement in the driveway under the oak tree. Its bark bloodied my knuckles, and it felt like some bones might be broken in my hands and wrist. Inside of the house my parents and I screamed before they told me to leave and locked me out. They called the police. I stuck my fist through the window in a door on the front porch and turned the old knob to let myself in. When the cops showed up I was eating a hot dog.
“Put the hot dog down! You are under arrest!”
But it didn’t start out like that for us. The first time we hung out, I took two of those pink elephants, and the Jimi Hendrix coming out of her speakers caused my brains to leak out of my eyes and nose and puddle itself in an awkward Technicolor mess on my shirt. She kept her cool and comforted me as I tried to clean it up. We rode to school every morning after that and knew each other in ways that no one else did. The girl shed tears over my addiction and wrote privately in a journal about how much she loved me when we went out.
After the overdose that I have already told you about and the episode with Stanky, besides the rest of our miserable 18 months together, she had enough. She moved on, and the break up played in my head over and over again. It left a smoldering heap of twisted metal and mental torment like a train wreck of my own emotions and the memories we created together. I staggered. I struggled to breathe. I fell to my knees as images of her smile and the love she once held in her eyes faded away from in front of me like smoke slowly dissipating or the mirage of a desert oasis, I would never reach.
I punched myself in the face until I had two black eyes. I called her 50 times a day. I wrote a poem to tell her how pathetic I was and left it on her windshield in a psychotic spider's web of scotch of tape while she was at work once, but I never got her back. I lost her forever, and I only had myself to blame.
Anyway, that gives you an idea of how things were going for me around the time that Katrina came to town, but I should also tell you about the job my uncle gave me. It was delivering trays of medical instruments and every kind of orthopedic implant to different hospitals for the company representatives and the surgeons they did business with. I disappeared into the ghetto in the middle of a delivery one afternoon and would not answer my phone. Somehow the 70,000 dollars’ worth of medical equipment ended up where it was supposed to go, but I disappeared to my friends’ house that night. In the morning my uncle called to tell me he didn’t want me to give up on life.
My cell phones never had a voice mail message, but if they did, it would have said something like, “Hi, you’ve reached Riley. I’m not able to take your call right now, because I am smoking crack. Leave your name and number, and I’ll be sure to ignore it, until I need something from you. Thanks.” That brings us right up to the account of the hurricanne, because my friends only let me stay with them for a few days before they evacuated. My mom picked me up from their house and took me home to help my dad board up the windows. I stayed with my grandmother and Uncle after that.
The night before Katrina made landfall my cousin and I watched the satellite footage of the huge storm bearing down on the gulf coast just below New Orleans. My uncle had rented hotel rooms for his ex-wife, my cousins, my grandmother and me, and during the storm, the windows cracked on the 21st floor of the Lowes Hotel across from Harrah’s Casino. Raindrops could be seen ripping through the city in the currents of wind pushing through the streets, and the wire and plaster materials used to construct the exterior of other buildings fluttered in the air like pieces of tissue. There seemed to be a kind of divine wrath being poured out onto the city. At least that’s what people were saying, because there had been seven senseless and violent murders in one night just before the storm.
Management fed us and moved us down to the 15th floor to another room, but the water didn’t work. Eventually the storming stopped, and we made phone calls to people we cared about. I tried to call the girl whose house I slept at before she evacuated and was happy to talk to her. After that I called my mom.
“Riley! The levees broke! I need you to come get me from the house and bring me back to the hotel.”
“Okay. Is poppa coming?”
“No. He has too many animals at the clinic. I tried to talk him into it, but I don’t think he will come.”
“Okay. Well I should probably stay with him.”
“Yeah. I think that would be best but come get me and bring me back to the hotel, please.”
My grandmother let me take her Camry to get my mom from the house, and I went up Tchoupitoulas to get there and remember the feeling the houses gave me. They were abandoned and desperate and vulnerable prey to the looters and pillagers running around the city. Once I picked my mother up at the house and headed back to the Lowe’s Hotel down St. Charles, men hung halfway out of cars they did not own and sweated trying to get them started. All storefront windows had holes smashed into them, but everything inside was already gone.
Our dog had puppies during the storm, and my dad told me about how he went outside to see what it was like and got locked out. My mom couldn’t hear him knocking so he was out there for over an hour in the rain and wind. We slept on the roof of the front porch that first night, but somebody at the hotel had given me some Xanax. I had 20 dollars in my pocket and decided that I would sneak out the front of the house and take the Camry to go smoke crack.
He flashed his light on me from the front porch roof as I started the Camry and took off into the dark. No automobiles made any noise in the streets, and not one streetcar ran up or down the tracks. Telephone poles lay on the ground with their power lines tangled in messes of large live oak limbs that covered St. Charles Avenue from one end to the other. It was a dangerous prospect taking off like that into the desolate city in a small car, and it was almost impossible to get the Camry from Palmer Avenue all the way to ghetto by the parish line, but I did it.
When I got to the ghetto by Leake Avenue and Oak everyone in the neighborhood converged in the streets. An atmosphere of panic hovered over us, and they walked around with the energetic fear of bees in a hive worried they would perish. Water came out of the drains and pooled in the streets. There was a man carrying a large box fan on his shoulder in the crowd, and he had the twitch in his walk that I was looking for. I flagged him down, and he ran over to the car.
“What’s up, wodee?”
“Looking for a 20.”
“I got you. Let me put this in the car.”
He put the fan into the back seat of my grandmother’s Camry and took my 20 into a house. Historic buildings across town lay in heaps of ashes smoldering, and other buildings waited to be consumed by fire or looted. A deluge of black water destroyed whole neighborhoods where families once lived and kids once played. Pandemonium swept across the city. Those who remained realized that our beloved New Orleans was drowning, and it looked like the city might never recover even if it survived this catastrophe. I sat in the car waiting for the crack head to come back with my crack rock, and my father sat on the front porch roof of our house wondering if I would come back with the car or get killed trying to smoke crack in the chaos.
I lost the hit in the car before I could smoke it. There was nothing I could do to recover it, so I got out and tried to cut a deal with a guy who desperately needed gas. He said he would help me out, and we tried to siphon gas out of the car, but it didn’t work. Since I tried to help he waved his friend off who followed us around and looked like he had his hand on a pistol in his waistband. When I got back to the house my father gave me a Tylenol PM and begged me to sleep.
In the morning the crack had worn off, and we began to navigate our stay in post Katrina New Orleans. We parked the Camry at his clinic in Jefferson Parish and rode around in the old Landcruiser. Sometimes we picked up the displaced people walking up and down St. Charles and took them to Oschner Hospital. There was one lady who carried a bunch of cat carriers with frizzy, frazzled hair and looked like she had lived her life as a recluse in one of the nearby neighborhoods, but the flood brought her out. When we stopped and asked her if she wanted a ride or needed help she just turned around and walked the other direction. Sometimes we got calls at my dad’s clinic from people who wanted us to break into their houses and rescue their animals, so we did.
At night we tried to sleep outside, because it was so hot. Mosquitoes hung around us in softly humming clouds and bit hard even through sheets drenched in Adam’s Flea and Tick Spray. I tried to cook some steaks over a fire but had caked the seasoned salt on them in the dark so badly that we could barely eat them. There was a silence that filled the air and gave us a dread we had never known about the future of our lives.
The destruction of the city matched the broken emptiness inside of me. It was fitting for me to be there and see it all. Not that either one directly caused the other, but the dire straits of the city mirrored the reality of my own insides. My childhood pediatrician hung himself over the city’s devastation, while my father focused on the litter of puppies our Italian greyhound had to get through it. As if everything happening at the time wasn’t enough stress for him, I gave him hell by smoking crack, stealing money and getting violent.
I found my sister’s Adderall prescription and took the whole thing at once. Then I chugged warm beers we had until I couldn’t talk or sleep, and I smoked crack with a pimply skinned lady and her boyfriend in a crumbling apartment building called the Studio Arms by Oschner Hospital. On the way back home the cops stopped me for being out after curfew but let me go.
We made trips to the house in Orleans Parish during the days and shot the trunk of a magnolia tree with the 9-millimeter out of boredom once. Two members of the National Guard robbed the house while we slept at the clinic. Both were arrested and received dishonorable discharges.
After a month my dad got me a job with a contractor who lived in Harahan, and on our first job we demolished the insides of a man’s house, whose wife had just divorced him and left with his daughters a few weeks before the storm. We carted mildewed art projects made of construction paper and Elmer’s glue and photo albums in wheelbarrows out through the front door and into a dumpster. Every single memory he had of his daughters’ childhoods had fallen under the chalky brown water line a foot below the ceiling. The man sweated and took pictures hoping that his insurance company might pay him for his losses, for the things that have no price. I quit after a week.
Sometime towards the end of our time together in the shambles of a post-Katrina New Orleans my dad got on the phone to help me get the 2300 dollars FEMA gave to survivors of Katrina, and after that I got into it with my dad. It was over something stupid, but I got him in a headlock and rammed the top of his skull into the corner of a doorway behind the clinic. We struggled for a few minutes before we stopped, and he said,
“You attack me like that again, Riley, and I’m gonna shoot you. You hear me?”
I knew he meant it, and he would have been right to do it with the way I acted. It reminded me of the time he told me he wanted to fight me as a teenager but remembered how much he paid for my teeth to be straight. I tore off in the Landcruiser up to Baton Rouge where I stayed with my mom and sisters at my grandmother’s until I could figure out what to do.
Eventually, my mother and I devised the plan for me to go live in California, with my friends who had all moved out to San Francisco and planned to grow weed. They needed another roommate to make it work, so I told them I would be out there soon. My mom bought a ticket, but it would be a week or so before I could fly out. In that last week, my friend stole a car and picked me up in the middle of the night. By the time the sun came up we were trying to buy some crack in the ghetto with a fake 100-dollar bill, but when the dealer wanted the rocks back I rolled onto my back and kicked him in the face and ground his fingers under my heel before he fell out of the back seat. We may have run over him, but we definitely drove into a ditch before we escaped. All the while the kid in the back seat next to me snored and had a strand of drool hanging from his lip to the floor and his head between his legs. My mom had to come get me out of a crack house the morning of my flight to San Francisco, and my father hadn’t talked to me since we’d fought last.

Hey folks!
Today I returned to the US after a week aboard the Oasis of the Seas gambling at the single zero roulette table. If you're interested, you can read the original story here where I kept day by day notes in the comments about my winnings and observations. Finished ~$2500 ahead Martingaling for a week.
Cruise Background
I wanted to vacation in Vegas this fall, my wife wanted to cruise again, so I spent a few months searching cruise lines, looking for a single zero roulette table with at least an 8-bet min/max spread. As it turns out, there are thirteen cruise ships in the world that fit that profile (that I discovered), and after checking all of them against NovembeDecember departure dates from CONUS, I downselected to the Oasis of the Seas from Royal Caribbean for a 7-Day Caribbean cruise, booked it, and thus it was so!
The Game
For the duration of this cruise, I played single zero roulette and nothing else. The casino on board the Oasis of the Seas has four roulette tables; two American roulette tables on the smoking side, and one each American/European on the non-smoking side. I use the word "European" loosely because while it was single-zero, it had no European rules on it. All four tables were $5 - $100 on the inside, and $5 - $1000 on the outside. I attempted to make arrangements before the cruise as well as with the casino manager during the cruise to raise the limits for my gambling to no avail since I didn't have an established play history with Club Royale. I also requested La Partage be put into effect during my session play without luck - but that was a long shot anyway; the only single zero table I know of in the US with a minimum bet lower than $25 is the $10 - $3000 La Partage table at the Soaring Eagle in Michigan (sorry guys, terminal games don't count!)
Single zero roulette tables have a 2.7% house edge; down from the scandalous 5.4% house edge of American roulette (let alone the scammy triple zero crap that Carnival Cruise lines and the Venetian in Vegas are doing); La Partage lowers it to a magnificent 1.35%, but alas - I was destined to go without.
My Bets
Most of you are probably familiar with a martingale) series bet. For anyone else; on a $5 - $1000 table, $2,000 can bankroll a 8-bet sequence where I double my bet each time I lose, restarting my bet sequence each win. Due to chip denominations, my martingale progression is $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, which I find more reasonable than 5/10/20/40/80/160/320/640 due to the typical chip denominations 1/5/25/100/500/1000. In a tip of my hat to superstition, my increases from $10 to $25, $100 to $250, and $1000 to $2500 where applicable are my way of "punishing" the casino for making me leave the comfort zone of the outside minimum bet. Mock me if you must; its my personal flair - if my bets grow that high I "deserve" to win more than my base bet for the stress of having to bankroll the roll.
The chances of heads or tails on a coin flip are 50% for either outcome. On a single-zero table without La Partage, the equivalent bets - black/red, even/odd, 1-18/19-36 is ~48.6%, with the other 2.7% representing the green zero, or house edge - creating a theoretical loss probability of 2.7% of your bet per bet over time.
While the probability of an individual spin being black or red in my case is ~48.6%, the martingale betting progression ties your bets into a session, such that on the table I'm playing on, as long as I don't guess wrong 8 times in a row, I always win. On the off-chance that any newbs are reading this, this is NOT a "strategy" or "guaranteed way to make money." Martingale betting is a low risk, low reward means of using a large sum of money to win a little sum of money - pretty much the opposite of what people go into casinos to do. In statistical terms, the chances of me guessing wrong 8 times in a row in an 8 spin series is three tenths of one percent...but no one sits down for 8 spins and leaves - so my gambling is that when the house spins my losing sequence...I'm not there. =D Such is gambling.
Goals!
I've learned over the years that if I don't sit at a table with a fixed goal of when to leave, I will get bored and start making side bets (other even money bets or thirds) - more ways to win also mean more ways to lose, and when I am gambling, I am heavily socializing and drinking; I can't keep track of all of it at the same time. My goal is thus to always leave with 120% of my bankroll.
This trip was a bit confusing for me because I couldn't reconcile what my bankroll was. Not knowing whether the table limit would be fixed to $1000, or be able to be raised to $10,000 I brought $5,000 in cash with another $35,000 available as credit - I'd wrongly assumed the casino would at least double the table min/max to $10-$2000, and had been hoping they would leave the minimum and double the maximum, adding a one-bet buffer to my 8-spin series. With a $1,000 bet maximum, I stopped bringing more than $2,000 to the casino. If my bankroll is $2,000, I aim to leave with $2400. If my bankroll is $5,000, I aim to leave with $6,000. With $10,000, I aim to leave with $12,000.
I initially hoped to turn $2,000 into $2,400, but after doing that the first night gambling and the prospect of the rest of the cruise being bereft of gambling, I decided that since I'd brought $5,000 to gamble with, even if I could only play with $2,000 of it, my 120% goal meant I wanted $1,000 in winnings or bust.
On day two when I realized how stingy Club Royale was, and that I'd be buying my own drinks, I shelled out $360 for the liquor package, and adjusted my winning threshold to also cover the liquor package. Then there was a $300 spa treatment. Then an $1800 studio photography session since my wife wanted some nice pictures - something we've not done in a decade.
With these confusing inputs leaving me unsure of how to decide if I was up or down, it came down to the fact that while the casino was generally open 8-12 hours a day, the lone roulette table with the single zero didn't open until 8:00 PM - about when the cruise shows started. I did some begging and pleading to have it opened earlier every day to mixed success - a bit on the first day and on the last day, with nothing in the middle. They really wanted people on the American tables - which I had to resist, since for much of the cruise, it was American roulette or nothing. I contented myself during those periods with drinking, socializing with other gamblers, watching, drinking, and trying to find people who didn't have the booze package so I could buy them drinks.
Fun Facts

• Over 6 days of gambling, averaging 4 hours per day, I hit the $1,000 table maximum bet twice. Both were heart-attack inducing. The first was at 0100 on day 5, I was the last gambler at the table, $1,000 on red didn't screw me, and I took it as a sign to go to bed. The second happened on Day 6; since a $2,000 loss would have left me break even at that point, I took a short break, stretched my legs, and came back.
  
• In the same period, I hit the $250 bet mark in my progression 4 times (resetting from $250 back to $5), and the $500 bet limit zero times. $100 and below bets were too numerous to count.
  
• Total winnings were probably closer to $2800, but I tip freely when its free money.
  
• Despite my "follow the house" betting method of deciding to bet red or black (which capitalizes on streaks), and I never choose which to bet on, there was one dealer would occasionally call a color, and she was only wrong once. I started switching bets when she'd call a color because it was spooky. If I asked her, most of the time she'd say, "I don't know" - but out of 20-30 "calls" over a week that I saw her spinning for me, she missed one.
  
• If I had the balls to play numbers or neighbor bets, I'd have made tens of thousands; I don't believe in ball control; not on modern wheels, but one dealer put out four 28s in 8 spins, three of them in a row, 7 of the others were neighbor bet winners, and he just kept doing it. He's been a casino dealer 44 years...and kept telling people what number to bet on, and no one would listen to him. God, I wish I had.
  
• I learned to play craps as a backup in case the single zero table was closed, but the craps tables were $5 - $300 with 1x odds, shifting to 3-4-5x with $50 minimum bets. I need to ease into craps, and didn't want to have to track different odds systems, nor did I want to play on a $300 limit table - all my practicing on craps was with 3-4-5x odds on a $5 - $2,000 table, and I have a tendency to double down on everything in every game. And in life too; Losing a 5/15 bet makes me put $20 on the pass line. It gets expensive quickly, so I'm not playing craps with less than $5k, $10k to be comfortable, and I need at least a $2k table.
  
• Actually, all the games were a bit ...less competitive. 6:5 blackjack, 1x craps odds, no Euro rules on the Euro table, crappy slots payouts - I get it; I really do. Captive audience, no need to compete with other casinos. Once they're on board, you've got 'em for a week; they're gonna gamble or they're not.
  
• Club Royale has terrible comps compared to Casinos at Sea with NCL. It takes 2500 points with Club Royale to earn comped drinks while gambling. Not only did Club Royale not buy my drinks this cruise, at the rate of my point earnings, it will take me 4 more cruises gambling at the same rate to earn free drinks. That's right; $10,000+ to get free drinks. I did however come away with an amazing $100 off my next cruise voucher.
  
• Assuming total winnings of $2,800 (before tips), being right 48.6% of the time, I gambled through ~1200 roulette spins in a week.
  

Anyway; it was a blast - but I'll probably go to Vegas for my next vacation instead of cruising. I want to gamble during the day, and go to shows in the evening, not wander around during the day, then have to decide whether I want to gamble or watch shows in the evening.
edit And here's a picture of me at my remote office aboard the cruise ship in case anyone was wondering what your mean old /gambling moderator ShelixAnakasian looks like.

Hey folks!
Today I returned to the US after a week aboard the Oasis of the Seas gambling at the single zero roulette table. If you're interested, you can read the original story here where I kept day by day notes in the comments about my winnings and observations. Finished ~$2500 ahead Martingaling for a week.
I called out 14 crew members that I thought were exceptional; 11 of them in the casino - the crew were amazing everywhere. The ship itself is probably due a refit. Elevator buttons broken, chairs broken, everything looking a little run down and scuffed. I won't dig into the ports because everyone in here probably knows their way around the Caribbean by now. =D
Cruise Background
I wanted to vacation in Vegas this fall, my wife wanted to cruise again, so I spent a few months searching cruise lines, looking for a single zero roulette table with at least an 8-bet min/max spread. As it turns out, there are thirteen cruise ships in the world that fit that profile (that I discovered), and after checking all of them against NovembeDecember departure dates from CONUS, I downselected to the Oasis of the Seas from Royal Caribbean for a 7-Day Caribbean cruise, booked it, and thus it was so!
The Game
For the duration of this cruise, I played single zero roulette and nothing else. The casino on board the Oasis of the Seas has four roulette tables; two American roulette tables on the smoking side, and one each American/European on the non-smoking side. I use the word "European" loosely because while it was single-zero, it had no European rules on it. All four tables were $5 - $100 on the inside, and $5 - $1000 on the outside. I attempted to make arrangements before the cruise as well as with the casino manager during the cruise to raise the limits for my gambling to no avail since I didn't have an established play history with Club Royale. I also requested La Partage be put into effect during my session play without luck - but that was a long shot anyway; the only single zero table I know of in the US with a minimum bet lower than $25 is the $10 - $3000 La Partage table at the Soaring Eagle in Michigan (sorry guys, terminal games don't count!)
Single zero roulette tables have a 2.7% house edge; down from the scandalous 5.4% house edge of American roulette (let alone the scammy triple zero crap that Carnival Cruise lines and the Venetian in Vegas are doing); La Partage lowers it to a magnificent 1.35%, but alas - I was destined to go without.
My Bets
Most of you are probably familiar with a martingale) series bet. For anyone else; on a $5 - $1000 table, $2,000 can bankroll a 8-bet sequence where I double my bet each time I lose, restarting my bet sequence each win. Due to chip denominations, my martingale progression is $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, which I find more reasonable than 5/10/20/40/80/160/320/640 due to the typical chip denominations 1/5/25/100/500/1000. In a tip of my hat to superstition, my increases from $10 to $25, $100 to $250, and $1000 to $2500 where applicable are my way of "punishing" the casino for making me leave the comfort zone of the outside minimum bet. Mock me if you must; its my personal flair - if my bets grow that high I "deserve" to win more than my base bet for the stress of having to bankroll the roll.
The chances of heads or tails on a coin flip are 50% for either outcome. On a single-zero table without La Partage, the equivalent bets - black/red, even/odd, 1-18/19-36 is ~48.6%, with the other 2.7% representing the green zero, or house edge - creating a theoretical loss probability of 2.7% of your bet per bet over time.
While the probability of an individual spin being black or red in my case is ~48.6%, the martingale betting progression ties your bets into a session, such that on the table I'm playing on, as long as I don't guess wrong 8 times in a row, I always win. On the off-chance that any newbs are reading this, this is NOT a "strategy" or "guaranteed way to make money." Martingale betting is a low risk, low reward means of using a large sum of money to win a little sum of money - pretty much the opposite of what people go into casinos to do. In statistical terms, the chances of me guessing wrong 8 times in a row in an 8 spin series is three tenths of one percent...but no one sits down for 8 spins and leaves - so my gambling is that when the house spins my losing sequence...I'm not there. =D Such is gambling.
Goals!
I've learned over the years that if I don't sit at a table with a fixed goal of when to leave, I will get bored and start making side bets (other even money bets or thirds) - more ways to win also mean more ways to lose, and when I am gambling, I am heavily socializing and drinking; I can't keep track of all of it at the same time. My goal is thus to always leave with 120% of my bankroll.
This trip was a bit confusing for me because I couldn't reconcile what my bankroll was. Not knowing whether the table limit would be fixed to $1000, or be able to be raised to $10,000 I brought $5,000 in cash with another $35,000 available as credit - I'd wrongly assumed the casino would at least double the table min/max to $10-$2000, and had been hoping they would leave the minimum and double the maximum, adding a one-bet buffer to my 8-spin series. With a $1,000 bet maximum, I stopped bringing more than $2,000 to the casino. If my bankroll is $2,000, I aim to leave with $2400. If my bankroll is $5,000, I aim to leave with $6,000. With $10,000, I aim to leave with $12,000.
I initially hoped to turn $2,000 into $2,400, but after doing that the first night gambling and the prospect of the rest of the cruise being bereft of gambling, I decided that since I'd brought $5,000 to gamble with, even if I could only play with $2,000 of it, my 120% goal meant I wanted $1,000 in winnings or bust.
On day two when I realized how stingy Club Royale was, and that I'd be buying my own drinks, I shelled out $360 for the liquor package, and adjusted my winning threshold to also cover the liquor package. Then there was a $300 spa treatment. Then an $1800 studio photography session since my wife wanted some nice pictures - something we've not done in a decade.
With these confusing inputs leaving me unsure of how to decide if I was up or down, it came down to the fact that while the casino was generally open 8-12 hours a day, the lone roulette table with the single zero didn't open until 8:00 PM - about when the cruise shows started. I did some begging and pleading to have it opened earlier every day to mixed success - a bit on the first day and on the last day, with nothing in the middle. They really wanted people on the American tables - which I had to resist, since for much of the cruise, it was American roulette or nothing. I contented myself during those periods with drinking, socializing with other gamblers, watching, drinking, and trying to find people who didn't have the booze package so I could buy them drinks.
Fun Facts

• Over 6 days of gambling, averaging 4 hours per day, I hit the $1,000 table maximum bet twice. Both were heart-attack inducing. The first was at 0100 on day 5, I was the last gambler at the table, $1,000 on red didn't screw me, and I took it as a sign to go to bed. The second happened on Day 6; since a $2,000 loss would have left me break even at that point, I took a short break, stretched my legs, and came back.
  
• In the same period, I hit the $250 bet mark in my progression 4 times (resetting from $250 back to $5), and the $500 bet limit zero times. $100 and below bets were too numerous to count.
  
• Total winnings were probably closer to $2800, but I tip freely when its free money.
  
• Despite my "follow the house" betting method of deciding to bet red or black (which capitalizes on streaks), and I never choose which to bet on, there was one dealer would occasionally call a color, and she was only wrong once. I started switching bets when she'd call a color because it was spooky. If I asked her, most of the time she'd say, "I don't know" - but out of 20-30 "calls" over a week that I saw her spinning for me, she missed one.
  
• If I had the balls to play numbers or neighbor bets, I'd have made tens of thousands; I don't believe in ball control; not on modern wheels, but one dealer put out four 28s in 8 spins, three of them in a row, 7 of the others were neighbor bet winners, and he just kept doing it. He's been a casino dealer 44 years...and kept telling people what number to bet on, and no one would listen to him. God, I wish I had.
  
• I learned to play craps as a backup in case the single zero table was closed, but the craps tables were $5 - $300 with 1x odds, shifting to 3-4-5x with $50 minimum bets. I need to ease into craps, and didn't want to have to track different odds systems, nor did I want to play on a $300 limit table - all my practicing on craps was with 3-4-5x odds on a $5 - $2,000 table, and I have a tendency to double down on everything in every game. And in life too; Losing a 5/15 bet makes me put $20 on the pass line. It gets expensive quickly, so I'm not playing craps with less than $5k, $10k to be comfortable, and I need at least a $2k table.
  
• Actually, all the games were a bit ...less competitive. 6:5 blackjack, 1x craps odds, no Euro rules on the Euro table, crappy slots payouts - I get it; I really do. Captive audience, no need to compete with other casinos. Once they're on board, you've got 'em for a week; they're gonna gamble or they're not.
  
• Club Royale has terrible comps compared to Casinos at Sea with NCL. It takes 2500 points with Club Royale to earn comped drinks while gambling. Not only did Club Royale not buy my drinks this cruise, at the rate of my point earnings, it will take me 4 more cruises gambling at the same rate to earn free drinks. That's right; $10,000+ to get free drinks. I did however come away with an amazing $100 off my next cruise voucher.
  
• Assuming total winnings of $2,800 (before tips), being right 48.6% of the time, I gambled through ~1200 roulette spins in a week.
  

Anyway; it was a blast - but I'll probably go to Vegas for my next vacation instead of cruising. I want to gamble during the day, and go to shows in the evening, not wander around during the day, then have to decide whether I want to gamble or watch shows in the evening.
And here's a picture of me at my remote office aboard the cruise ship in case anyone was wondering what your mean old /gambling moderator ShelixAnakasian looks like.

Hello my fellow degens!
update. I’m tracking daily progress in the comments below. Day 4 ended; $1245 ahead so far.
Tomorrow morning, I set sail on the Oasis of the Seas to cruise the Caribbean for a week! I've got $5k set aside for gambling and a couple of obstacles to overcome. My wife and I were waffling over the amount to set aside for a gambling budget; I was originally planning $10k or $20k, but I was unable to solicit any commitments from Club Royale that they would raise table limits or accommodate my play requests since I wasn't an established player...so I don't want the risk of carrying around that kind of cash for no avail. All their tables are $5 - $1000, even the European roulette table.
Obstacle #1: Newbie
Having not cruised with Royal Caribbean before, I'm not yet a member of Club Royale and new to the Crown and Anchor society; nor is there any link between Club Royale and where I've been gambling for the last decade...so I have no perks, membership rewards, nothing.
I'll be damned if I am going to pay for drinks in the casino despite not having a perk level to get free drinks, I'm hoping a friendly conversation with the casino manager and/or pit boss when I first go into the casino about why I chose that ship (I literally chose the Oasis of the Seas because it has a single-zero roulette table on it, unlike most non-RCCL ships, and 14 of the other 25 RCCL ships).
Obstacle #2: Table Time!
The Oasis of the Seas is one of the few cruise ships that have a single zero roulette table. They have one American table, and one European table. Previous cruisers I have inquired with noted that while they saw the table existed, it was never open. As a casino, you would of course prefer players sit at the American table with double the house advantage. I will never again play American roulette.
I did spend some time in the last couple of months learning how to play craps - pass line / no pass line bets, odds maxing, triple mollys, even martingaling field bets...in case they WON'T open the single zero table. But I'm hoping if I am well dressed, and sit down at the table by myself, make a giant pile of $100 bills, and stare at the pit boss with lonely eyes, they might reconsider.
Obstacle #3: Comps!
Table games notorious have less comps than slots...on cruise ships, even more so. One guy I was talking to told me that his wife got a $400 comp voucher on this ship for playing through $100 in slots in an hour, while he got $100 in comps for playing through $1500 on the craps table in three days.
I need to figure out how to not be screwed for comps. Free drinks, future cruise discounts, free cruises...I'm used to Casinos at Sea offering me free stuff as a "valued casino patron" with Norwegian; but being new to RCCL, I need this first cruise to establish me as a customer that they want to invite back for less than full priced cruises, to give me excuses to live in their onboard casino.
Anyway - it'll be fun! Share any thoughts you might have on overcoming these obstacles.

Hi reddit,
Initially this started out as a typical 365 Albums in 365 Days challenge. We’ve seen them before haven’t we? You’ve probably even tried one yourself I imagine. I enjoy keeping lists, and tracking what I do over a particular. I already keep a list of what films I watch throughout a year, what books I’ve read, and so on. It only made sense for me to track the albums I listen to, and that’s how I ended up doing the challenge. However, I found myself also listening to a wide range of shorter EP’s and LP’s.
When listening to EP’s it felt a bit like cheating. How could I justify listening to a 15 minute EP one day, and listen to a 3-hour triple-LP the next? I couldn’t, so to make it a bit fairer I increased the target to 400, and then to 430 which I was able to hit just after Christmas.
Please note that this is just a silly little project that I would like to share with you all, I don't take music all that seriously, nor do I judge other's for their music tastes, I used to do this privately as a teenager but realised how much of a dense motherfucker I was, so doing this list has allowed me to come full circle in that regard.
Below is a list of everything I listened to, but before that I should get into some context about my musical taste and some general notes on the list. I would advise reading these before jumping straight into the list, just so you have an idea of what to expect.
 
Notes on the list
So I listen to a wide variety of music, I don’t generally stick to one genre, although like anyone, I do have my favourites and preferences and this will become obvious as the list goes on. For context, my favourite genres (I’m going to deliberately cast a very wide net here) range from electronic, jazz, hard rock, metal, electro-swing, blues/roots rock and punk. Again, I would like to stress this is deliberately vague and a wide net just to give you a general idea of what I like and what to expect to find in the list. I know reddit is home to some the world's greatest pedants but I'm not going to debate if deadmau5 is progressive house, tech house or two-step-inspired-80s-funk-disco-big-beat. It doesn't matter to me.
I will be the first to admit that there is a lack of some genres in this list, most notably hip-hop, especially compared to other genres. I’m a 26-year old white male from the UK countryside, I’m not exactly the first person you’d expect to listen to rap and grime and stuff Although I will admit, as the list goes on that number does start to grow - I will come back to this shortly.
I should also provide a greater context for the start of the list, and why it starts out the way it does. Throughout 2016 I spent a large portion of the year listening to the back catalogue of Miles Davis. He has dozens of albums and I spent a huge chunk of the previous year going through them. You can actually see this in action at the very start with the three albums, Sorcerer, Nerfititi and Filles de Kilimanjaro all being played in a row right at the start. These were the last three of his major label albums I needed to listen to, so it kinda spilled over into 2017 I guess. The first album, Nearness, was nominated for best Jazz Instrumental Album in the Grammy’s back in January so I just saw that as a simple place to start I guess.
How was I able to do this? Well I started the year working a part-time job in a small office, virtually by myself, I was essentially the only person in the office 80% of the time, and it allowed me to build up a huge collection of music to listen to. From dear favourites, to albums I probably should have already heard. (I will explain how I complied this shortly) I would work 6-hours a day, which if you include 40-minute-there-and-back commute allowed me to listen to as many as 7 albums/EP’s in a day, although this didn’t always happen.
I also figured I could listen to a lot of albums in the gym, which I ended up doing. I would handpick more suitable, faster, more aggressive albums which didn’t always work- Snuff by Slipknot coming on in the middle of a great workout is an immediate hype-killer, albeit a lovely song. From August I switched jobs, and so the list slowed down considerably, but by that point I had already amassed 250 listens. The rest would be listened to in the gym, at home, or via my new 50-minute commute. I also listened to a lot of audiobooks in this time, I probably could have got close to 500 if I was even more dedicated.
My methods of finding, storing and listening to albums simply came down to using spotify, specifically the Discover Weekly, Release Radar and Related Artists sections. I know this sounds like a bit of a shill, but I couldn’t believe how useful these tools are. My advice to anyone who is looking to find new bands/artists to listen to go to your favourite band’s spotify/deezetidal/apple music page and go through their related artists till you find one you like. Then go through their related artists pages, and so on. It starts slowly at first but as your tastes develop you begin to find more things you like, you understand them better, and learn to know what you like - classic example, I don’t like post-hardcore music. I just don’t like ‘shouty metal’ as I call it (there are a few odd exceptions, like anything but I generally don’t go in for it). However, as it turned out, I kinda like it when it’s a female vocalist doing it. I really enjoyed the sounds of Blood Command and Sumo Cyco for instance. Yes, I understand that these bands aren't 'post-hardcore' for you genre-pedants out there.
So, what did I learn/find out? Going chronologically is that I’ve learned to love Metal again. For years I dismissed it as shouty, over-indulgent noise but finding bands that blur the line between rock and metal, as well as the weird and wonderful. In March I stumbled across Ghost and absolutely fell in love with them. The Satanic thing is of course a fun gimmick but I love the pop-filtered metal sound. It was exactly what I wanted. I really, really love the album Meliora. I’d also second this to the various symphonic-metal bands, particularly Nightwish and Within Temptation. Dark Passion Play and Hydra have quickly become all-time favourites. I could go on but I’m sure you metalheads will be able to find what you’re looking for in the list.
Secondly, I learned to appreciate Kanye. So what you want about him as a person, his musical creations are phenomenal. I greatly adore his later work (MBDTF, Yeezus and TLOP) Yeezus in particular is another all-time favourite. I’m indifferent on the first three albums which I know is going to shock some people, they’re fine albums but I just prefer the later stuff.
Third, I learned to like Grime. I always held off on it but after sampling the likes of Skepta, Stormzy and a few others I learned that when they bang, there is nothing else like it. This can be seen towards the final third/back end of the list. I know grime might not agree as a whole but Gangs Signs and Prayer was one of the best albums I heard from 2017, and if I were to do this list in 2018, there’d likely be more Grime present.
Fourth, King Gizz are just amazing. End of. Just wanted to get that one out there. I’ll likely be starting 2018 with Gumboot Soup.
Lastly, I wanted to do this to prove to myself that I really can learn to enjoy all kinds of different music, from a huge spectrum, and so can you. If you go in with an open mind you can appreciate all sorts of bands and artists, I looked forward to listening to even the most weird and experimental and I guess ‘challenging’ of music.
Speaking of which, I would just like to point out that I only failed to finish two albums off this list:
Toxicity by System of a Down and Sold Out by DJ Paypal. I just found SOAD to be annoying and frankly they just don’t click with me, although I have heard some of Serj’s other work which is great, I think I turned it off with about 4 songs left. Sorry SOAD fans, I see the appeal but it just simply didn’t click for me, it happens sometimes. The latter (Sold Out) just wasn’t very good in my opinion so I turned it off after about 10 or 15 minutes. It felt like it was put together by someone who didn’t understand how to compose music, like at all. There were maybe 3 or 4 other albums I turned off before finishing but I didn’t write these down.
That’s enough from me, if you would like to know more about the list, or have any more specific questions or what I thought of a particular band/artist/song/album, ask away! Here is the list:
 

1. Nearness - Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau
2. Vikings - New Politics
3. New Politics - New Politics
4. Sorcerer - Miles Davis
5. Nerfititi - Miles Davis
6. Filles de Kilimanjaro - Miles Davis
7. The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions - Miles Davis
8. The Storm - Tech N9ne
9. Nonagon Infinity - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
10. 10 Ways To Steal Home Plate - Wolfgang Gartner
11. American IV: The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash
12. Trans Europe Express - Kraftwerk
13. Elvis Presley - Elvis
14. The College Dropout - Kanye West
15. Late Registration - Kanye West
16. Head Hunters - Herbie Hancock
17. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
18. La La Land - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
19. Naught - Stolen Babies
20. It Flew By - Electric Swing Circus
21. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West
22. Sunday at the Village Vanguard - Bill Evans Trio
23. Reset - Flying Lotus
24. Chulahoma- The Black Keys
25. Graduation - Kanye West
26. Sketches of Spain - Miles Davis
27. Disc-Overy - Tinie Tempah
28. For Lack of a Better Name - deadmau5
29. BLVCK MVGIC - Kill the Noise
30. To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar
31. Yeezus - Kanye West
32. Giant Steps - John Coltrane
33. Be Here Now - Oasis
34. Portrait in Jazz - Bill Evans Trio
35. Thrust - Herbie Hancock
36. Escape from Electric Mountain - Feed Me
37. Watch the Throne - Jay-Z/Kanye West
38. Animals - Pink Floyd
39. Time Out - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
40. Slipknot - Slipknot
41. The Good, The Bad and The Queen - The Good, The Bad and The Queen
42. High Visceral, Pt 1 - Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
43. Roosevelt - Roosevelt
44. Collide - Colleen D'agostino
45. Human - Rag n Bone Man
46. Float Along-Fill Your Lungs - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
47. Heathen Chemistry - Oasis
48. The Fall - Gorillaz
49. Lucid Dreams - Antiloops
50. Random Album Title - deadmau5
51. Iowa - Slipknot
52. Under Stars - Amy MacDonald
53. Live Life Living - Example
54. Dumb Blood - VANT
55. A Bad Girl in Harlem - New Politics
56. Human After All - Daft Punk
57. Once - Nightwish
58. Drunk - Thundercat
59. Idle Moments - Grant Green
60. Flying Microtonal Banana - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
61. Pure Heroine - Lorde
62. Country for Old Men - John Schofield
63. Divide - Ed Sheeran
64. Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses - Slipknot
65. Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against the Machine
66. Opus Eponymous - Ghost
67. I See You - The xx
68. Different Creatures - Circa Waves
69. The Evolution of Man - Example
70. Stuff I used to do - deadmau5
71. The New Vice - Otherkin
72. Channel The Spirits - The Comet is Coming
73. All Hope is Gone - Slipknot
74. Dark Passion Play - Nightwish
75. Infestissumam - Ghost
76. Everything's Beautiful - Robert GlaspeMiles Davis
77. Pattern + Grid World - Flying Lotus
78. Ascension: Edition I - John Coltrane
79. Jazz Samba - Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd
80. Midnight Menu - TOKiMONSTA
81. Study Guide - Question and Freddie Joachim
82. Don't You Wanna - The Amazons
83. Imaginaerum - Nightwish
84. Born To Die - Lana Del Rey
85. A/B - Kaleo
86. Young Blindness - The Murlocs
87. Rough Cuts - Parov Stelar
88. Don't Believe The Truth - Oasis
89. The 201 - Otherkin
90. Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin
91. Zawadi - Kimyan Law
92. Settle - Disclosure
93. Perceptions of Pacha - Goldfish
94. To The Stars - Feed Me
95. Playing in the Shadows - Example
96. Introducing Christian Scott - Christian Scott
97. The Balcony - Catfish and the Bottlemen
98. 808s and Heartbreak - Kanye West
99. The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground and Nico
100. Weather Report - Weather Report
101. 2112 - Rush
102. The Day is My Enemy - The Prodigy
103. Meliora - Ghost
104. Venice - Anderson Paak
105. Until The Quiet Comes - Flying Lotus
106. Monk's Dream - Thelonious Monk
107. Cosmic Intoxication - TOKiMONSTA
108. xx - The xx
109. Skin - Flume
110. DAMN. - Kendrick Lamar
111. Angels Fall First - Nightwish
112. Roots and Herbs - Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
113. This is the Life - Amy MacDonald
114. Everyday Robots - Damon Albarn
115. Melt Yourself Down - Melt Yourself Down
116. Sub Focus - Sub Focus
117. Los Angeles - Flying Lotus
118. Oceanborn- Nightwish
119. The Burning Spider - Parov Stelar
120. 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours - Green Day
121. Last Evenings on Earth - Melt Yourself Down
122. Split the Atom - Nosia
123. Cult Drugs - Blood Command
124. Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin
125. Humanz - Gorillaz
126. ROCKISDEAD - Dorothy
127. Bishop Briggs - Bishop Briggs
128. Sophisticated Ignorance - Kronic
129. Out of the Pit - Kobra and the Lotus
130. Lazers Not Included - Wilkinson
131. Prophecy - The Comet is Coming
132. Century Child - Nightwish
133. Black Focus - Yussef Kamaal
134. Dig Out Your Soul - Oasis
135. Time Machine - The Tazers
136. Wish I Had An Angel - Nightwish
137. Memories...Do Not Open - The Chainsmokers
138. Money Sucks, Friends Rule - Dillon Francis
139. Five Inches of a Car Accident - Blood Command
140. Desiderium - TOKiMONSTA
141. Mister Asylum - Highly Suspect
142. Get Busy Living - Goldfish
143. House of Gold & Bones Pt 1 - Stone Sour
144. Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future - Underworld
145. Blue and Lonesome - The Rolling Stones
146. III - Moderat
147. Smokin' At The Half Note - Wynton Kelly Trio and Wes Montgomery
148. Blue Train - John Coltrane Sextet
149. Willoughby's Beach - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
150. Modern Life is Rubbish - Blur
151. channel ORANGE - Frank Ocean
152. The Life of Pablo - Kanye West
153. FOREVE - TOKiMONSTA
154. The Unforgiving - Within Temptation
155. Currents - Lux Pacific
156. Amaranthe - Amaranthe
157. Evil Empire - Rage Against the Machine
158. Kobra and the Lotus - Kobra and the Lotus
159. Ascension: Edition II - John Coltrane
160. Polygon - Battle Tapes
161. 12 Bar Bruise - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
162. Red Light Fix - The Dirty Youth
163. The Invisible Girl - Parov Stelar
164. You’re Invited - Gavin Turek & TOKiMONSTA
165. Paradise - Lana Del Rey
166. Canvas - Robert Glasper
167. Ghostclocks - Blood Command
168. Hypnotic - Wilkinson
169. Spectrum - Billy Cobham
170. The Amazons - The Amazons
171. Lonerism- Tame Impala
172. Exchange - The JuJu
173. Ah Um - Charles Mingus
174. Fanfares - GoGo Penguin
175. House of Gold & Bones Pt 2 - Stone Sour
176. Torus - Sub Focus
177. Love in the 4th Dimension - The Big Moon
178. Everybody Digs Bill Evans - Bill Evans Trio
179. Arcade Fire (EP) - Arcade Fire
180. Radio Moscow - Radio Moscow
181. The Ride - Catfish and the Bottlemen
182. Chapter 7 - Ezra Collective
183. End of an Era - Nightwish
184. All Killer, No Filler - Sum 41
185. Exit Planet Dust - The Chemical Brothers
186. Sound of Silver - LCD Soundsystem
187. We're All Mad Here - Tut Tut Child
188. Feed Me's Family Reunion- Feed Me
189. The Black Halo - Kamelot
190. Chuck - Chuck Berry
191. Songs for the Deaf - Queens of the Stone Age
192. I LOVE JAN LUNDGREN TRIO - Jan Lundgren Trio
193. Enema of the State - blink-182
194. Hard Normal Daddy - Squarepusher
195. Are You Satisfied? - Slaves
196. If You Have Ghost - Ghost
197. High Priestess - Kobra and the Lotus
198. How Did We Get So Dark? - Royal Blood
199. Melodrama - Lorde
200. Slowdive - Slowdive
201. Young Chasers - Circa Waves
202. Different Gear, Still Speeding - Beady Eye
203. If You Wait - London Grammar
204. The English Riviera - Metronomy
205. Malibu - Anderson Paak
206. In Utero - Nirvana
207. Starfucker - STRFKR
208. Nubya's 5ive - Nubya Garcia
209. Gravity X - Truckfighters
210. Oddments - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
211. On The Corner - Miles Davis
212. Moanin' - Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
213. Animalia- Mammal Hands
214. Space is the Place - Sun Ra
215. Coexist - The xx
216. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
217. Death to the Planet - The Comet is Coming
218. Does This Look Infected? - Sum 41
219. In Search Of... - N.E.R.D
220. Somewhere in Between - Braxton Cook
221. Welcome Reality - Nero
222. Design Your Universe - Epica
223. Mars Red Sky - Mars Red Sky
224. Box of Secrets - Blood Red Shoes
225. Spiritual Unity - Albert Ayler
226. An Awesome Wave - alt-J
227. The Boy Who Died Wolf - Highly Suspect
228. Maybes - Mount Kimbie
229. Sketch on Glass - Mount Kimbie
230. New Eyes - Clean Bandit
231. Every Valley - Public Service Broadcasting
232. Theatre of Dimensions- Xandria
233. Music For An Accelerated Culture - Hadouken!
234. Diaspora - Christian Scott
235. Feed Me’s Psychedelic Journey - Feed Me
236. Extended Play - Baby Strange
237. The Shadow Self - Tarja
238. Keep Moving On - Friends In Tokyo
239. Wisdom of Elders - Shabaka and the Ancestors
240. I Sing The Body Electric - Weather Report
241. Sold Out - DJ Paypal
242. The Nothing - The Last Dinosaur
243. XIII - Mushroomhead
244. Dig Your Own Hole - The Chemical Brothers
245. Saint Cecilia - Foo Fighters
246. Prohibition Swing - Lyre Le Temps
247. Random Access Memories - Daft Punk
248. White Noise - The Living End
249. Eye To The Telescope - KT Tunstall
250. The Shape of Jazz To Come - Ornette Coleman
251. The Bones Of What You Believe - CHVRCHES
252. Loopholes - The Murlocs
253. Toys - Crewdson
254. Form - Battle Tapes
255. Paper Mâché Dream Balloon - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
256. Led Zeppelin III - Led Zeppelin
257. Coeur Calme- Kimyan Law
258. Cosmogramma - Flying Lotus
259. Know No Better - Major Lazer
260. Superunknown - Soundgarden
261. Prevail I - Kobra and the Lotus
262. Miles Davis and Milt Jackson Quintet/Sextet - Miles Davis & Milt Jackson
263. Dim Lit - Polar Bear
264. SBTRKT - SBTRKT
265. Miles Davis And Horns - Miles Davis
266. Pip Paine (Pay The £5000 You Owe) - Metronomy
267. Born For This - 7kingz
268. Dedication: The Start - 7kingz
269. Dedication: The Finish - 7kingz
270. After Laughter - Paramore
271. Endless Forms Most Beautiful - Nightwish
272. Overly Dedicated- Kendrick Lamar
273. The Silent Force - Within Temptation
274. Go Plastic - Squarepusher
275. Royal Deluxe - Royal Deluxe
276. Straight Outta Burbank - Stone Sour
277. Cult of the New Beat - Blood Command
278. Make Rock Great Again - Kaiser Franz Josef
279. Midnight Cometh - Wo Fat
280. Phi - Truckfighters
281. Hacktivist - Hacktivist
282. Enter - Within Temptation
283. The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam - Thundercat
284. Devil Electric - Devil Electric
285. Sketches of Brunswick East - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard/Mild High Club
286. … For The Whole World To See - Death
287. The New Sounds - Miles Davis
288. Demonstration - Tinie Tempah
289. The Way of the Fist - Five Finger Death Punch
290. Together, As One - Dinosaur
291. God Save the Teen - Strange Bones
292. The Quantum Enigma - Epica
293. Stone Sour - Stone Sour
294. We The Rats - Strange Bones
295. In A Silent Way - Miles Davis
296. One Day As A Lion EP - One Day As A Lion
297. Mother Earth - Within Temptation
298. Sun Giant - Fleet Foxes
299. She’s Here Now - Estrons
300. Experience - The Prodigy
301. Maiden Voyage - Herbie Hancock
302. Headspin - Black Honey
303. Music is Rotted One Note - Squarepusher
304. color & monochrome - bohemianvoodoo/Fox Capture Plan
305. Ouroboros - Ruby the Hatchet
306. Call Him A Doctor - GFOTY
307. Section 80 - Kendrick Lamar
308. Falling Into Pieces - Black Casino and the Ghost
309. Born For This - Royal Deluxe
310. Whip It On - The Ravonettes
311. How to be a Human Being - Glass Animals
312. Concrete and Gold - Foo Fighters
313. Mania - Truckfighters
314. Please Please Me - The Beatles
315. Night Lights - Gerry Mulligan Sextet
316. Nuclear Blast (Bonus) - Nightwish
317. Hand Us The Alpha Male - Blood Command
318. Legendary EP - Welshly Arms
319. War is the Answer - Five Finger Death Punch
320. Save Yourself - SBTRKT
321. Gold Dust - The Dirty Youth
322. AVĪCI (01) - Avicii
323. The Holographic Principle - Epica
324. Richard D. James Album - Aphex Twin
325. Budakhan Mindphone - Squarepusher
326. Come What(ever) May - Stone Sour
327. color & monochrome 2 - bohemianvoodoo/Fox Capture Plan
328. The Heart of Everything- Within Temptation
329. What Am I Going To Do With Everything I Know? - The Weather Station
330. Gang Signs and Prayer - Stormzy
331. Wild Honey - The Beach Boys
332. XX - Dawnbringer
333. Prophets of Rage - Prophets of Rage
334. Time and Space - Moses Boyd
335. Companion - Braids
336. Hailey Tuck - Hailey Tuck
337. Halestorm - Halestorm
338. Voodoo Swing - The Vaude Villainz
339. Boiling Point - Tech N9ne
340. Join the Q - The Qemists
341. As You Were - Liam Gallagher
342. Heliocentrics x GLK - Heliocentrics/Gaslamp Killer
343. Harmony of Difference - Kamasi Washington
344. Cardinal - Pinegrove
345. EP - BARTEK
346. Konnichiwa - Skepta
347. The Decline of British Sea Power - British Sea Power
348. Swagger - Flogging Molly
349. The Decline - NOFX
350. Hydra - Within Temptation
351. In A Beautiful Place Out in the Country - Boards of Canada
352. Popestar - Ghost
353. A Giant Warrior Descends on Tokyo - Feed Me
354. Snake EP - P Money
355. Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters
356. Lost in Translation - New Politics
357. The Social Network - Trent ReznoAtticus Ross
358. Frost/Nixon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Hans Zimmer
359. Party All the Way to the Hospital - Blood Command
360. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Original Score) - Tyler Bates
361. No Roots - Alice Merton
362. Audio Secrecy - Stone Sour
363. Dunkirk (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Hans Zimmer
364. USS (Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker) - New World Alphabet
365. Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
366. Back to the Future - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
367. Danger Twins - Danger Twins
368. For The Masses - Hadouken!
369. S/T - Gost
370. Toys - Broken & Remixed - Crewdson
371. Muscle Museum - Muse
372. Covers EP - Welshy Arms
373. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
374. The Storm - ZZ Ward
375. Til The Casket Drops - ZZ Ward
376. Lun - Destiny Potato
377. Dual - Sampha
378. Snake EP 2 - P Money
379. Toxicity - System of a Down
380. 13 Voices - Sum 41
381. Uh Huh - Danger Twins
382. Idiom - Joe Armon-Jones/Maxwell Owin
383. Valley of the Snake - Ruby The Hatchet
384. Petals - Darlia
385. No Bullshit - Avelino
386. So In Love - Hailey Tuck
387. OK - Otherkin
388. Lazy Afternoon - Zara McFarlane
389. Go Away EP - Milk Teeth
390. Encore - DJ Snake
391. Quiet Things - Colleen D’Agostino
392. I’m In Your Mind Fuzz - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
393. No Sleep EP - K2 World/Sir Spyro
394. Pandora’s Piñata - Diablo Swing Orchestra
395. Villains - Queens of the Stone Age
396. Health - Alpha Male Tea Party
397. Elephant - The White Stripes
398. No Talk EP - Capo Lee
399. Fly 4 Life - Route 94
400. Have Yourself A Very KT Christmas - KT Tunstall
401. Hydrograd - Stone Sour
402. Talk Like Thunder - VANT
403. Sad Sack - Milk Teeth
404. Everyday is Christmas - Sia
405. BARTEK - BARTEK
406. Twelve Tales of Christmas - Tom Chaplin
407. A Very Decent Christmas - Mad Decent
408. Pacifisticuffs - Diablo Swing Orchestra
409. Christmas at the Piano - Kevin Duncan
410. Dead Sara - Dead Sara
411. Winter Fantasy - David Arkenstone/Charlee Brooks
412. Carols from Kings - The Choir of Kings College, Cambridge
413. Christmas in Blue - Sam Sparro
414. Misunderstood - Route 94
415. Delancey Street - Hailey Tuck
416. Feed Me’s Existential Crisis - Feed Me
417. Ceremony and Devotion - Ghost
418. The Classic Christmas Album - Andy Williams
419. The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets - Marmozets
420. A Very Very Decent Christmas - Mad Decent
421. Wrapped in Red - Kelly Clarkson
422. Merry Christmas - Mariah Carey
423. Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin’ Stevens
424. Christmas - Michael Bublé
425. Funeral Beach - Blood Command
426. Every Weekend - Hadouken!
427. Dookie - Green Day
428. Opus Mar - Sumo Cyco
429. Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned - The Prodigy
430. No Grave But The Sea - Alestorm