Just got back from a week in Vegas for the Nascar races.
Sadly, we just missed the silent disappearance of the Fremont $40 strike machine.

Paranoid after that incident, I hauled poor Darrell down to the Planet Hollywood to get some strikes (I have none of the PH strikes and I was chompin' at the bit to get some before they disappear too!)
Darrell took one machine and I took the other next to him. As luck would have it, a friendly gentleman was there with his wife and his mom trying for some strikes on the third machine. We struck up a conversation and after explaining to him why the strike machines are disappearing, we all decided to play for strikes (4th machine was empty at that time, so the husband jumped on it and started playing). It worked out really well, as we noticed that Darrell's machine had only Stomp strikes, but the machine was hacking them out at a high rate (around $4 each). My machine had an assortment, but more Extra Lounge strikes (which the others did not). The wife's machine had several Heart Bar strikes (which mine did not appear to have). Hummmm.....hey, let's all work together as a team!
It took no time at all (with mom running around all 4 machines transfering strikes between players) and we ALL had a set of strikes in no time with very little money invested. At the end, we figured who had invested what in the machines and split the winnings - everyone got a set of strikes and $10 back.
Moral of the Story: BE NICE!!..You never know when a stranger will save your assets!!

PS - Just in case you're wondering, I did not drink that frozen drink that Darrell bought me - too strong! Every time he turned around, I dumped a slug of it into a trash can...he never caught on!

Wishing you all happy striking!