Review of Maryland Lottery's Win $50 or $100 Scratch Off Game

The Maryland Lottery came out with what has to be one of its most unique scratch off games. It's called Win $50 or $100. The game brags that it has 9 times more $100 prizes than their other games. What they don't brag about is that the game also has the WORST overall odds I've ever seen in a Maryland Lottery scratch off game - 1 in 9.23! Prior to this game, the worst overall odds I'd seen were in their $1 scratch off games which were usually around 1 in 4.5. I suspect the reason the odds are so bad is because of the prizes in the game - you can only win $50 or $100 which is also different from other past games. Because of these prize amounts, they have to sell a LOT of $10 tickets to make up for the prizes. I heard of 1 case where a person bought 20! tickets and didn't win ANYTHING. In my own experience and shock, I had to buy 17! tickets once before I hit for $100. I was so stunned by all the losers that I went back and double checked them all. This game really is a GAMBLE to play because of the poor odds though you never know in this game. At Friendship Liquors in West Friendship, Maryland, I had 7 losers before I hit for $50. With a different book in the same store, I hit for $100 on the FIRST ticket I bought. This game is very hard to predict because of the terrible overall odds.

Because of the terrible odds and my experiences with this game, I give it a thumbs down. You really are taking a big gamble playing it. Thankfully, they didn't make it a $20 or $30 game as the amount of losers you can hit in this game would really be horrendous. I'd definitely look for another $10 game to play like their Willie Wonka game which I've particularly enjoyed. Good luck to all those players out there.

Update November 9, 2020: This game is back in Maryland. I would guess the game sold well enough that they decided to bring it back. It has the same terrible odds and the same 2 prizes: $50 and $100. It remains a huge crap shoot if you play it (I have). If you're feeling particularly lucky, it might be worth 1 or 2 plays otherwise, I stay away from this game. You have really good chances of coming out a loser in this game.

Update April 8, 2026: This game is on its 3rd Edition and has been changed where they added a $200 prize. It's now called win $50, $100 or $200. Its overall odds of winning are 1 in 9.15 (Source: a ticket I bought from Maryland Lottery with my own money 💰). This is the cheaper version of win $100, $200 and $500.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Lucky 777 Game

On May 19, 2025, Maryland Lottery launched its Lucky 7's games. The games have similarities to Maryland Lottery's Hot 7 games. For starters, There is a family of games starting at $1 and going up to $20 like Hot 7's. They offer most of the same multiples i.e. 3X up to 7X (on the $20 game), the same prize amounts $1,000 to $1 million dollars. They have the same junk symbols when you don't win. The games differ in that on the Hot 7's games, you had to hit a fire symbol whereas on the Lucky 7's games, you must hit either a black 7 or a red 7 (if you hit this, the prize is doubled). Another difference is that at the top of the ticket on the Lucky 7's games, there will be chances for instant win prizes depending on if a symbol shows up example: piggy bank which wins you $57 or Please Try Again. The prizes on the instant win windows start at $57 and go up to $507 depending on the price of the ticket. At the time of this post, all six $1 million prizes were unclaimed. Losing tickets do qualify for spins with Lottery Rewards where you can win free money ($1 or $2), free play (the various number games), prize points (where you can get various stuff) and draw points (where you can get entries for various drawings). Entering the losing tickets can be work at times BUT, at least this way, you can get something back for your losing tickets. Kudos to Maryland Lottery for that. Overall odds on the different games can range up to 1 in 3.10 for the $20 game (source: a ticket I bought with my own money).

That's it for my review. Good luck to all players out there. Please play responsibly. All comments on here are my own and, I'm not in any way connected with the Maryland Lottery. I didn't receive any compensation for this review (I felt it was time to post a blog entry. It's been over a year since the last one. Time flies.). Cheers!

Review of Toby Dinner Theater's Disney Beauty and The Beast Show

On March 15, 2024, Toby's Dinner Theater in Columbia, Maryland started its show run of Disney's Beauty and The Beast (it runs to June 16th). The show is obviously based on the Disney cartoon and features characters and songs from the famous cartoon. For those who don't know the story line, it tells of a spoiled handsome prince who because he refuses to help an ugly hag who in reality a power enchantress is transformed into a hideous beast. As the beast, he must win the love of a lady before the last petal on an enchanted rose falls or be doomed to be a beast forever. The lady who he ultimately wins over is a local beauty named Belle who dreams of adventure and far off places and gets more than she bargained for when it really happens. She will find out who the real "beast" is in the process.

On March 19, 2024, I went to Toby's to see the show. I expected it to be very good and, I wasn't disappointed. Toby's does an outstanding job of bringing this cartoon to life. The cast's costumes make them look very much like the characters in the cartoon. Also, the cast absolutely nails a number of the songs example: the actress (sorry I gave my program away and so can't cite the name of the wonderful actress) who plays Mrs. Pott does a fantastic version of the title song Beauty and The Beast. Another interesting thing about Toby's is that your waiter or waitress will actually have a part in the show. In my case, to my total surprise, my waitress Rachel (will cite her last name when I find out what it is when I go back, the show webpage didn't list it) played the part of Belle and was both a great waitress and Belle. She made sure my glass of Sprite didn't run empty while wowing me with her singing and acting.

Food wise, they had a nice salad bar as well as cole slaw, pasta salad, cubed pieces of 2 kinds of cheese, macaroni and cheese, fish, meatloaf, ham, roast beef (with optional horse radish sauce), and turkey breast, cheese cake, chocolate cake, rainbow sherbet and vanilla ice cream with sprinkles and other toppings. There are undoubtedly more food items that I haven't noted here. Your waiter or waitress will let you know when you can go to the salad bar and to the dinner buffet. Sodas are not included in the price of the ticket. I believe my Sprite cost $3.14 and included free refills. Coffee and Tea are included.

Tickets cost $79 on Tuesday through Friday, $86 for Saturday and $85 for Sunday brunch and evening shows for adults. For children, the prices are $60 Tuesday through Thursday and $63 Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There is a Senior ticket price on Tuesdays and Wednesday (matinee and evening) of $67.15. For those who bought a subscription, you must make a reservation before hand and then present one of your subscription tickets when you check in. Doors open at 6 p.m. There is decent parking. On the show I saw, the show started at 8:00 p.m., had a half hour intermission where people paid their drink bills, got 1 last drink and the second part of the show finished around 10:30 p.m. (Source: the Toby's website)

Overall, I was really delighted with this show and look forward to seeing it again (I'll cite the names of the people I noted in this review in an update). One last note: Toby's will also be doing Jersey Boys (tells the story of Franki Valli and the Four Tops), The Addams Family and The Sound of Music. I plan to see the Jersey Boys and Sound of Music so stay tuned for more show reviews on shows at Toby's. Ciao.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Electric 8s Game

The Maryland Lottery recently came out with 3 new games: Triple 333 ($2), Winning 7 ($5) and Electric 8 ($10). Because they're new, I recently played all 3 to see what they were about. This review will give the particulars on their Electric 8s game.

The game costs $10, has overall odds of 1 in 3.43 (per 1 of the tickets I bought) and has a grand prize of $88,000. At the time of this review, there are all 8 grand prizes out there. The game was launched on November 24, 2023.

The game has instant win features as well as the standard matching 1 or more of the 5 winning numbers. The game is unique in that at the top of the ticket are 8 Electric Bonus spots which the player scratches off. If any of them reveal a prize amount, the player automatically wins that amount. According to the ticket I'm looking at while writing this review, you can hit more than once in these bonus spots. There's also a instant win feature in the standard winning numbers part of the ticket. In the area where you scratch to see if any of your numbers match 1 or more of the winning numbers, if you see an 8 symbol, you automatically win double the prize shown. Prize amounts for this game per the ticket I'm looking at are: $10, $20, $50, $100, $200, $500, $1,000, $10,000 and $88,000. Any prize amount of $1,000 or more must be validated at the Maryland Lottery Customer Resource Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

Overall, I found the game a nice game to play though not necessarily any better than some of the other games Maryland Lottery has. The game has decent overall odds of winning though you can always do better or worse. Those odds are the OVERALL odds, not guaranteed odds for every book of ticket though usually the books will follow the odds. Maryland Lottery is promoting the game this month with their lottery rewards program. For every $25 worth of losing tickets for this game and the other 2 mentioned at the beginning of this review, you get a spin on the app wheel where you can win a coupon, draw points or prize points. You can get up to 4 spins on the app wheel ($100 worth of losing tickets). Please be responsible in your playing if you decide to play. Remember, you're not guaranteed to win a fortune if you decide to play. Good luck to you and thanks for reading my ad free blog.

Disclaimer: I wasn't provided any free tickets or remuneration from Maryland Lottery for writing this review just like my other personal reviews on other games I've reviewed. I spent my own money to play this game. My sources for this game are 1 of the tickets I bought and the Maryland Lottery app which has a function where you can call up any of their scratch off games and see when the game was introduced, game number and how many prizes are left for each prize amount. I do recommend this app as it's handy for seeing how many prizes are left. Plus, you can check your ticket with it to see if it's a winner. I recommend you ALWAYS double check your ticket with this or one of the ticket checkers at any location that sells Maryland Lottery tickets. It's easy to miss something while playing. You don't want to throw away a winning ticket by mistake.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Win $100, $200 or $500 Scratch Off Game

On October 23, 2023, Maryland Lottery launched the win $100, $200 or $500 for the second time. I remember this game because I did have some luck with it the first time it came out, The game features just 3 prizes: $100, $200 and $500. Like its previous version, it costs $20 to play. Also, like it previous version, it has some of the worst odds of winning among scratch off games: 1 in 9.14 per a lottery ticket I bought.

On the ticket, it claims to offer 3 times more $100 prizes. I don't know if that's true or not. At the time of this post, there were 348,041 $100 prizes left as well as 142,070 $200 prizes left and 17,338 $500 prizes left. Like the previous version, it has the same $$ instant win symbol. Also, it offers 30 chances to win though that doesn't mean as much as the 1 in 9.14 odds. The game is very like its cheaper $10 version. 

At the time of this post, Maryland Lottery is offering a second chance drawing where you could win $100,000. The lottery is offering multiple drawings on this prize. Unlike the previous version, Maryland Lottery is promoting this game as a holiday game. The ticket has Christmas tree ornaments and streamers on it but, it doesn't have any other connections with the holiday. In that way, it's like its previous version. It's a decent game but, it can be a real gamble. I've played this latest version and, like its previous version, you can get clobbered on this game if you're unlucky. On my thumbs up scale, I'd give it a 1 out of 2. Good luck to you if you decide to take a chance on this game.

Please see my standard disclaimer for any reviews I write and post about various Maryland Lottery games. This disclaimer is valid for this review too. Like all games I post on this blog, I bought the game ticket with my own money and didn't receive any remuneration from Maryland Lottery nor do I have connection with them.

Update May 26, 2025: This game must be very successful for Maryland Lottery because it's on its 3rd Edition at the time ⏲️ of this update. The overall odds in this edition are 1 in 8.84 (Source: a ticket 🎟 I bought.).

Update April 8, 2026: this version is still for sale. I don't know how many $100, $200 and $500 prizes are left. It still has the same lousy odds of winning BUT, that doesn't stop me from playing it. It is NEAT to hit a $500 winner 🏆.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Fast Play Games

 I don't remember when the Maryland Lottery first came out with their Fast Play games. The games are a cross between the number games on paper tickets and scratch offs. They come on a paper ticket like the number games Example: Cash For Life but they offer the gambler the instant win feature that comes with scratch off tickets without the scratching.

The games start at $1 and go up to $20 with the prize amount increasing as the ticket price goes up. Some of the games offer a set prize while others offer the gambler a progressive jackpot that appears to go up $1 for every losing ticket; The most expensive games that cost $20, have progressive jackpots which start at $250,000. The jackpot steadily increases until someone wins it where upon it resets to $250,000 and starts its way back up again.

There are posted odds on each game but, these odds are irrelevant. The reason I say that is because the gambler is playing against all the other gamblers that are playing their game at the same time. So, if the stated overall odds are 1 in 3, 1 ticket could go to someone in Baltimore, a second ticket could go to someone in Hagerstown and a third ticket could go to someone in Cumberland and it's pure luck who gets the winner. The only time the odds might be relevant is if the gambler is playing when a lot of others aren't. In comparison, with scratch offs, you're playing against the book. It's just a matter of time and luck until a winner shows up. Conversely, the gambler playing the Fast Play games could potentially buy 10 tickets and not get a single winner as they could go to other players in the state who were playing at the same time.

One plus of this feature of the Fast Play games is that it is also possible to get back to back winners. I've had on a number of occasions where I paid for 2 tickets and, I happen to pay for them at the right time so both came up winners. Back to back winners are rare in scratch offs.

Overall, the games are more of gamble then scratch offs because you are playing against all the other players that are playing at the same time. Still, they can offer some jackpots that the scratch offs would be hard to match. The jackpot at the time of this post for the Fast Play Diamond Mine game is over $1,000,000 and unlike the scratch offs where you would get the $1 ($20 game) or $2 million ($30 game) over 20 years, in this case you'd get it ALL barring the taxes you'd have to pay.

Ultimately, it depends on how much of a gamble the gambler wants to take. Also, some of the games offer games the scratch off don't like Blackjack ($2 play) which I particularly enjoy. I wouldn't recommend you buy a lot of these tickets because if lady luck isn't with you, you could get your clock cleaned. However, the games are worth a play for the would be gambler. Out of 2 thumbs, I give them 1 because you are playing against everyone else in the state at that time which makes it more a gamble then the scratch offs. If you want a more likely chance of winning (relatively speaking), play scratch offs. 

Good luck to any gamblers out there and please remember to gamble responsibly.

Review of Super 24 Market

 A small but very nice Hispanic market has opened in Jessup, Maryland. The store's address is 8530 Washington Blvd and is called Super 24 Market. The store is aiming for different Hispanic groups like Peruvians with its Inca Cola. It has a small produce section as well as small butcher section. Yesterday, I bought some cooked shrimp from there for approximately $8.40 a pound. The shrimp were very good. It offers various baked goods, some dairy and some frozen items. It can send money transfers for various customers who wish to send money back to Mexico, Central America and South America. It has 2 checkout lines which is enough considering how busy it gets. Parking is ample though it is shared with other shops in the strip mall (don't know its name). Both cashiers can speak Spanish and 1 may not be able to speak any English.

Overall, I've been very pleased with this small store. I like going here to see what they have. I doubt they're the cheapest around but, they do offer a convenience of not having to go to a full blown supermarket. I think Hispanic customers would like the particular Hispanic products and, that the staff do speak Spanish. I give this quaint store 2 thumbs up. Happy Shopping all!

Review of Jessup Maryland MOM's Organic Market

I don't know the exact time but, the MOM's Organic Market store at 7351 Assateague Drive in Jessup, Maryland underwent a major renovation. The renovation increased the space of the store, installed it's own bakery, created a break area as well as a small dining area. The store also has a new sandwich shop though I haven't tried that yet. The renovation did a great job of improving this store in my opinion. It's a big improvement from what it had been before. I particularly like the fresh baked items like their big cardamom oatmeal butterscotch cookies which sell for $2.99 each. Another plus is I believe they have more items for sale now including a bigger selection of Kettle Brand potato chips. I tried some Honey Mustard flavored ones for the first time since I like honey mustard. I felt the flavor of those were too faint.

Overall, I really like the improved store. It's definitely gotten me to shop there more. If you like their products and are in Jessup, Maryland, you should check out this store. I give it 2 thumbs up! Happy shopping all!

Review of Maryland Lottery's Gold Rush Family of Scratch Off Games

On May 20, 2019, the Maryland Lottery came out with a family of scratch off lottery games called Gold Rush. The tickets start from $1 and go up to $20. Below are the overall odds of winning for each game (Source: Maryland Lottery Website), the top prize and the number of top prizes remaining as of the day this blog entry was posted:

$1 - Overall Odds: 1 in 4.57 - Top Prize: $1,000 - Top Prizes Remaining 29 (started with 30)

$2 - Overall Odds: 1 in 4.24 - Top Prize: $10,000 - Top Prizes Remaining all 5

$5 - Overall Odds: 1 in 3.84 - Top Prize: $50,000 - Top Prizes Remaining 7 (started with 8)

$10 - Overall Odds: 1 in 3.44 - Top Prize: $100,000 - Top Prizes Remaining all 5

$20 - Overall Odds: 1 in 2.89 - Top Prize: $1,000,000* - Top Prizes Remaining all 7

* The $1,000,000 prize is paid out over 20 years. There is a cash option but the winner won't receive $1,000,000 if they take that option.

On the overall odds, these are the odds for the entire game meaning that OVERALL, there will be 1 winner in so many tickets. Players can do better at times and at times they can do worse. I saw that today when I played $2,000,000 Richer. The overall odds for that game are 1 in 2.82 BUT, the book I played was averaging 1 winner in 5 tickets. Conversely, I played the $20 Gold Rush game and hit 3 winners in 5 tickets!

All these games have 2 instant win features. The first is a wad of money symbol. When you uncover this symbol, you automatically win the prize below. The second is a gold bar symbol. If you uncover this symbol, you automatically win the prize times whatever the game multiplier is. Example: you uncover a gold bar symbol on the $1 game and the prize amount is $2. The multiplier for that game is 5 so, you've automatically $20. The more expensive the ticket the bigger the multiplier is with the top one being 100 times whatever the prize is ($20 game). Below are the different instant win multipliers for the different games:

$1 - X5 - 5 times the prize shown

$2 - X10 - 10 times the prize shown

$5 - X20 - 20 times the prize shown

$10 - X50 - 50 times the prize shown

$20 - X100 - 100 times the prize shown

Another interesting feature of this new family of scratch off games is that Maryland Lottery is promoting it for the month of June with their rewards program. Normally, you would need either $50 worth of losing tickets for each spin on the rewards wheel (up to 5 times) or $125 in losing tickets for each spin on the rewards wheel (no limit on spins as long as you have $125 worth of losing tickets for each spin). However, for the month of June, if you get one losing ticket for each game i.e. one $1 losing ticket, one $2 losing ticket, one $5 losing ticket, one $10 losing ticket and one $20 losing ticket, you get a spin on the rewards wheel (a maximum of 5 spins) where you can win either reward points or draw points. Also, please note, you must be a member of Maryland Lottery's Rewards Program to get the spins and, you must enter the losing tickets via the rewards website or via the app.

Lastly, for those who are interested, here are the number of winning numbers you get that you could potentially match and the number of chances you get to hit for each game:

$1 - 2 numbers - 6 chances

$2 - 3 numbers - 10 chances

$5 - 4 numbers - 15 chances

$10 - 5 numbers - 25 chances

$20 - 5 numbers - 30 chances

Overall, I found this a nice family of scratch off games that was easy enough to understand and play. I was surprised that Maryland Lottery didn't extend it to the $30 games as well however $2,000,000 Richer hasn't been out that long and that may be why they didn't. As these games are the newest and latest games out, players may want to give them a try though please do gamble responsibly if you do. You aren't guaranteed to win your fortune playing. Good luck to you!

Disclaimer: I don't have ANY connection with the Maryland Lottery and all comments on this post are MY own. I didn't receive ANY remuneration of any kind for this post or any free tickets so, I could play each of the games. The source for the overall odds and prizes remaining is the Maryland Lottery website. I got the top prize amounts and the multiplier numbers from the tickets I bought with MY own money.

Review of Benton's Caramel Coconut Fudge Cookies

One discovery I made at ALDI Supermarkets is Benton's Caramel Coconut Fudge Cookies. The cookies remind me of cookies called Samosas by the Girl Scouts in the United States of America. They seem VERY similar. One way they're not similar however is the price. The last time I bought cookies from the Girl Scouts, they were $3 a box. They may have gone up since that time. ALDI's sells these cookies by Benton (whoever they are) for just $1.35 box in Maryland (I don't know if the price would be different in some other state). This is a great price for these cookies as you get 18 of them for that price. And these cookies are REALLY good. These were my favorite with the Girl Scouts and now they're my favorite at ALDI.

If your local ALDI supermarket has these in stock, I would definitely recommend you buy some. I give them 2 thumbs up. Happy cookie munching all!

Review of ALDI Supermarkets

A couple months ago, I decided to check out the new ALDI supermarket in Laurel, Maryland. I'd heard of them from a friend but, I'd never been in one. The supermarket was different from what we're used to in the United States of America (USA). For starters, they're smaller than most supermarkets here. Also, their selection is more limited (you would have 8 or 9 types of snack items vice an entire row of them. One surprising thing about them is their choices of genuine German items example: Moser Roth chocolate bars. I have a friend who is a Germanophile and really likes a lot of their German items. I've enjoyed some and handed off others to my friend when I haven't been thrilled with other trial choices. Also, I've heard the chain is German owned (don't know if this is true though it would explain the number of genuine German food items).

The chain has shown some real smarts in that they keep their shopping carts chained together and, you must insert a quarter coin (25 cents U.S.) to detach the chain so, you can use one of the carts. This is really smart as it gets people to return their cart instead of them ending up all over the parking lot and nearby neighborhood.

On shopping bags, you must pay 9 cents for one of their plastic shopping bags unless you bring one of your own.

The chain appears to be expanding in the USA as they've also opened a store in Columbia, Maryland which is bigger than the Laurel, Maryland store and consequently has a better selection including some baked goods.

Overall, I've been really pleased shopping at the Laurel and Columbia, Maryland ALDI supermarkets. I enjoy trying their various German items as well as their own brand items. They do have good prices on many items at their stores. I give this chain 2 thumbs up and will be a regular shopper at their stores. Happy shopping all!

Photos of Baltimore, Maryland Cruise Ship Terminal

Once you past security at the entrance, this may be your first stop i.e. parking your car at the terminal. There are lots on either side of the terminal and, you pay before you drop off your luggage and enter the terminal. The area is locked up when there aren't any ships at the terminal.

This will be either your first or second stop depending on whether your leaving your car at the terminal. If you're not, you should get whoever is driving you to bring you over to this part of the terminal so, you can easily drop off your luggage. I believe they later transfer the luggage from these containers to the ones the ship uses.

This part is pretty obvious i.e. you go in through the front entrance. When you disembark the ship, you'll come out the side of the building.

This picture shows the security scanners you'll have to pass through. I found security tough and no nonsense.

This picture shows the different lines boarding passengers will go through depending on their level of membership with Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society (frequent cruiser program) or lack of. Also, it shows some of the seating in the waiting area. Depending on when you arrive (I arrived earlier than expected), you may not have a wait.

This picture shows the entrance to a special lounge for those who are staying in suites and or are Pinnacle level members with Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society. Presumably, they got to board first once boarding started. There is a separate seating area in this area for Diamond and Diamond Plus members who are the second ones to board. They did offer water and maybe something else here. I don't remember seeing any soda or snack machines.

This last picture is of the standard mobile gangway you'll take to get on the ship. You'll walk out of the terminal building and zig zag up the gangway to where it connects to Grandeur of the Seas.

Overall, I feel Baltimore does a good job of getting you on and off the boat during your cruise. They claim they'll have you on the boat within an hour of arrival though this depends on when you arrive. I arrived around 10 a.m. and, they were still busy getting people off the boat so, I had to wait. I forget when they finished getting all the departing passengers off. For those who didn't bring their car or arranged to have someone pick them up, there are taxis outside the front of the terminal though I wasn't wowed by the one I took. I'd recommend you take Uber or Lyft as I think you'll get a better vehicle and maybe a better price. If nothing else, you should be able to get a decent quote from them on what it'll cost you.

I hope you find this post useful. I'll be cruising again out of Baltimore on Grandeur in January 2019 on a slightly different itinerary i.e. 1 day in Nassau, Bahamas and 1 day at Coco Cay, Bahamas. Royal Caribbean does offer cruises out of Baltimore on Grandeur of the Seas to Maine/Canada, Bermuda, Southern United States of America & the Bahamas and the Caribbean. I hope to do a Caribbean cruise in 2020 with my favorite aunt and uncle. One big down side to the ship's Caribbean cruises (in my opinion) is how much time you'll spend at sea getting down there and back (3 days each way).

The other major (in my opinion) cruise line that cruises out of Baltimore regularly is Carnival (Royal Caribbean's great rival). Their ship is called Pride and does 7 day cruises that leave and arrive every Sunday (as far as I know). As I've only cruised with Royal Caribbean, I don't know how that ship's cruises stack up. I have heard Carnival is the party line where Royal Caribbean tries to offer something for everyone.

That's all for now. Happy Travels and Happy Cruising!

Update: November 9, 2020 The Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal is closed due to the coronavirus at the time of this update and, I don't have any idea when it'll reopen and cruising will start back up again. As I understand, cases of the virus in Maryland are going back up making it very unlikely they'll start offering cruises out of the terminal again any time soon.

Update: August 4, 2021 The Baltimore Cruise Ship Terminal has reopened HOWEVER no cruise ships are sailing as far as I know. I am keeping an eye on when Royal Caribbean plans to start cruising out of Baltimore again but, I haven't seen a date so far. I suspect Royal Caribbean is going to go with the bigger ships first as they would make more money for them. Also, there is the issue of having to do a trial cruise first on the ship to test their virus procedures.

Update: September 3, 2021 Royal Caribbean announced Enchantment of the Seas will start sailing out of Baltimore on December 23, 2021. Before it does that cruise, I believe it has to do a trial cruise to show the Center for Disease Control (CDC) that the ship has its procedures in place to their satisfaction. I haven't heard when the the trial cruise will be.

Update: October 31, 2021 Carnival started sailing again out of Baltimore on September 12, 2021 with a 7 night cruise to the Bahamas.

Review of Royal Caribbean's Scratch Off Games

I fancy myself something of an expert on lottery scratch off games as I've played a number of them in Maryland and a few in Virginia. I knew Royal Caribbean offered scratch off lottery tickets in their ship's casinos. While on my April 2018 cruise on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas, I visited the ship's casino and proceeded to play each of their scratch off games.

I wrote a review previously on Royal Caribbean's scratch off games and, this review is a bit of an update. The biggest change I found with Royal Caribbean in this way was they added $10 and $20 games. The $10 game offers a top prize of $50,000 and, the $20 game offers a top prize of $100,000. In comparison to Maryland Lottery's scratch offs, these prizes are low. Maryland Lottery offers a top prize of $100,000 for $10 games and, $1,000,000 (paid over 20 years) for $20 games.

Another downside I found to the Royal Caribbean games is the odds get worse! as they get more expensive. According to one of the tickets I bought, the overall odds of winning something in their $20 game called Glittering Gold are 1 in 5.09. In Maryland, the normal odds for a $20 game are 1 in 3 or slightly less. This confounded me a bit.

Overall odds for the $5 and $10 games are the same at 1 in 4.48 which in my opinion is also poor. These odds are more in line with Maryland Lottery's $1 games which offer the worst overall odds of all their games.

Their $10 game called 20X THE CASH offered the most instant winner chances. This game is very similar to Maryland Lottery's 100X game except the instant win symbols go from 2X to 20X whereas in the Maryland game, they go up to 100X. The instant win symbols are 2X, 5X, 10X and 20X where you win the prize instantly times the instant win symbol example: if you hit a 5X symbol, you win 5 times the prize shown below the symbol so, if it was a $20 prize, you would win $100 in this case.

The $20 game does have a one instant win chance on this game. At the top of the ticket is a round covered chance which you scratch off and if you scratch off a coin with a dollar symbol on it, you instantly win $100. Otherwise, this game is like ALL the other games in that you try to match 1 or more of the 5 numbers at the top of the ticket to win some prize.

Another gripe I have with Royal Caribbean is they don't show the various prize amounts in their games except for the top prize. Presumably, you have a chance of winning at least what the ticket cost you but, it's anyone's guess what prize amounts are in between that and the top prize.

One last note: if you win a prize of $100 or higher on ANY of the games, you will have to provide the following information on the ticket: sign your name, print your name, the prize amount, your cabin number and the date. Also, the cashier will have to sign the ticket.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with Royal Caribbean's scratch off games. Like all scratch off games in general, they're easy to play and probably the easiest games in the ship's casino. Still, the poor overall odds and smaller prizes are a real downer for me. I can't recommend them. I think players in the United States of America at least could find better games in their home states. Best of luck to any gamblers among my readers. Cheers!

Update February 3, 2019: I did another Royal Caribbean cruise last month on their Grandeur of the Seas. While on-board, I played some of their scratch off games again. I found another annoying thing about their games. They don't have a system where you can check the ticket electronically i.e. have a box figure you can scan where it'll tell you if you have a winner or not. This is standard in Maryland and helps prevent the player from mistakenly throwing away a winning ticket. Also, it helps the cashier as they have to check each number on the ticket to see if it matches vice just scanning the ticket. I mentioned this to the cashier and, they recommended I mention it in my end of cruise feedback which I subsequently did. Hopefully, Royal Caribbean will come out with such a system which will help both players and the casino cashiers with the games.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Willy Wonka Golden Ticket Scratch Off Game

One of the newest games to come out of the Maryland Lottery is their Willy Wonka Golden Ticket scratch off game. The game costs $10 and offers a top prize of $100,000 (common among $10 games). The game was launched on April 23, 2018 and has all 8 $100,000 prizes as well as all 12 $10,000 prizes at the time of this post. Four lucky winners have won the third tier prize of $1,000 though 48 of those remain at the time of this post.

The overall odds of this game are 1 in 3.44. The game has 3 instant win symbols: a top hat which causes the winner to instantly win 5 times the prize shown (minimum $50 prize), a lollipop which causes the winner to instantly win 10 times the prize shown (minimum $100 prize) and a ticket which causes the winner to win ALL 25 prizes shown on the ticket (figuring on $10 per prize, that means if you hit this symbol, you've won at least $250!). Barring these instant win symbols, you have to match 1 or more of 5 numbers to win a minimum prize of $10.

One very unique feature of this game is its second chance drawing. There will be 6 drawings on:

May 28, 2018
July 2, 2018
August 6, 2018
September 10, 2018
October 15, 2018
November 19, 2018

The winner of each drawing will be flown to Las Vegas, Nevada with a guest for a Billion Dollar Challenge contest where they will compete against their other winners as well as other winners from other states that participate in this contest. The winner will have a chance to win from $1,000 to $1 Billion dollars.

Besides getting flown out to Las Vegas for the contest, the winner and their guest gets free airport transport, free hotel accommodations for 3 nights and $1,000 spending money.

Overall, I think this is one of the more interesting scratch off games that Maryland Lottery has come up with. I think the second chance drawing will attract a lot of interest too as who wouldn't like to win a BILLION dollars. Personally, I've played this game twice using my own money and had a little bit of luck with it. I do like the Willy Wonka theme. The tickets feature a Willy Wonka character on the ticket that to me looks like Gene Wilder who played the character in the first Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory movie. I very much liked that movie and feel Wilder was excellent in it. This is one game I'd recommend to would be players though do remember to play responsibly please.

Sources: 1 of the scratch off tickets I bought with my own money and the Maryland Lottery website. I haven't received any compensation for writing this review and all opinions expressed in this review are my own and not reflective of the Maryland Lottery nor do I have ANY association with them.

Update November 12, 2018: If you haven't done so already, you should enter any remaining losing tickets in this game so, you can get in on the last second chance drawing their having which happens November 19th. Also, this game is wrapping up. The last time I checked, all but 1 of the $100,000 prizes were gone and all the $10,000 prizes were gone. Now, you'd be playing for $1,000 and, you can do that for a lot less than $10.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Triple 333's Game

On February 26, 2018, the Maryland Lottery came out with a new $2 scratch off game called Triple 333's. The game features 8 top prizes of $10,000. Other prize amounts start from $2 and go up to $5,000. At the time of this post, no one has claimed any of the top $10,000 prizes.

The game gives you 10 chances to win. In order to win, you must reveal either a single "3" which means you have instantly whatever the prize amount is to the right of the number OR get three 3's i.e. "333". If you get a triple 3, you win triple the prize amount shown.

Overall odds of winning in the game are 1 in 4.04 which is normal for the cheaper games.

The game is incredibly easy to play as all you have to do is scratch straight down on the left side that has the numbers and see if you have either one 3 or three 3's.

Losing tickets do qualify for lottery reward points.

Overall, this is a very easy and quick game to play. For those who can't afford the higher priced games, this is a more affordable way to play for some reasonably big money. I think it's an ok game.

One final note: if you need to find the ticket numbers in order to enter ticket for lottery reward points, you'll find them along the right side of the ticket just past the prize amounts. I was wondering where these numbers were and had to search for them.

Review of Dollar City & More Store

Another dollar and above type store has opened in the place of what I believe was a store called Dollarman. I saw the signs a while back announcing it's grand opening and later got around to visiting the store to see what it's like.

The store reminds me of a Family Dollar store. I has stuff for a dollar and, it has stuff that costs more than dollar. As far as I could tell, if there isn't any price tag on it, it's a dollar otherwise there should be a price tag saying how much the item is. There is a chiller unit in the store offering cold drinks that don't have prices on them BUT, there is a price list for the drinks at the top of the unit (I bought an Arizona Orangeade out of it).

Appearance wise, the store is well kept up. I've seen Dollar Tree stores with stuff strewn all over the place. This store is neat and items were kept in good order by its staff.

The store's staff was courteous and, I believe they would've been helpful if I had any questions about items or their prices.

Brand wise, I did notice the store carries a lot of stuff from the Forelli brand which I've never heard of. I tried some of their honey and lemon flavored black tea and found it decent. For a $1, I got a box with 20 tea bags in it which I thought a good price.

Parking wise, there's plenty as it's part of the Laurel Plaza (next to Laurel Centre) complex in Laurel, Maryland. If you're using a Global Positioning System (GPS), it's address is 361 Montrose Avenue, Laurel, Maryland 20707.

Overall, I think it's a decent store. This was my second visit to it and, I found it nice. It did seem a little small compared to other dollar type stores I've visited but, the staff does try to offer a good selection of items in the space they have. I'd give it at least 1 thumbs up. If you're in the area and want to find some cheaply priced stuff, you may want to check it out.

Review of Maryland Lottery's Betty Boop Scratch Off Game

I've been meaning to write a review on this game for a while. I've played it a number of times myself. I find the game noteworthy because in my opinion, it's second chance prize is actually better than it's top prize. I'll explain.

Maryland Lottery's $2 Betty Boop scratch off game is one of the few games it offers that has a second chance drawing. In this case, they're having 4 separate drawings where the winner can win a 8 day/7 night stay in Belmont Towers (condominiums that can sleep 8) in Ocean City, Maryland. The winner also gets a $1,000 Visa gift card for spending money.

2 of the drawings have already been done with the next one happening on July 24th. The winner will get to stay at Belmont Towers from August 26th to September 2nd. The final drawing will be on August 21st with the winner staying at Belmont Towers from September 23rd to September 30th (the end of the season at Ocean City). Considering what it can cost to stay at Ocean City, in my opinion, this is a very nice second chance prize.

How would be players get entered in the drawings is by entering their losing tickets with Maryland Lottery Rewards. Every losing ticket gets 1 entry for 1 particular drawing (whichever one you get the ticket entered by). Entries don't carry over as far as I know.

Top prizes for the game are: $10,000 (4 remaining), $1,000 (9 remaining), $500 (93 remaining), $200 (214 remaining) and $100 (670 remaining) at the time of this post.

You get 2 winning numbers and, you get 10 chances to match those numbers. The game does have an instant win feature. If you discover a BB symbol, you automatically win double the prize shown.

Overall odds of winning are (to be filled in later by me as I forgot to write this down from one of my tickets, sorry about that).

I've found this game to be very easy and quick to play. As I've stated, I really like the second chance prize. I visited Ocean City once during the off season and found it nice though I'm really not a beach person and that is largely what Ocean City is about though they do have a very nice boardwalk. If you want a cheap and easy game to play with a really nice second chance prize, this might be the game for you. Good luck and please remember to gamble responsibly. Remember, the odds ultimately are in the Maryland Lottery's favor.

Review of National Harbor Cariloha Store

I'm a big fan of Cariloha. I think they make some neat stuff out of bamboo. Also, I have found their t-shirts softer and cooler than cotton t-shirts. Recently, I decided to visit their National Harbor store to get some more of their t-shirts. I'd visited the store a few years back though I couldn't remember exactly when. Because of that, I was somewhat familiar with the parking near the store.

If you're lucky, you can find a parking spot right on American Way Street which makes it really easy to visit the Cariloha store. They have parking meters by the spots and, they charge $3 an hour with a maximum of 2 hours at a time. If you can't find a spot on American Way, they do have multi-level garages where you can park your car though I don't know how much they charge.

The store is the usual Cariloha store. It isn't particularly big and is right next to and part of a Del Sol store. It has a decent selection of their stuff. T-shirts were selling for $34 each and their white crew socks were selling for $12 a pair. They had other items but, these were the ones I was interested in and actually bought.

I found the store staff helpful though there was only 1 lady running both shops at the time of the visit. I feel she could've used some help. Still, she did the best she could and, I was able to get the items I wanted. I lucked out in that I visited the day after July 4th and, they were still having their 25% off July 4th sale.

Store hours are Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The store's address is 160 American Way. I have seen 2 different town locations for the store. One is National Harbor, Maryland and the other is Oxon Hill, Maryland. If you use a Global Positioning System (GPS), you may have to see which town your system will take.

Overall, I was very pleased with the store. I've since worn the t-shirts and socks and, they've performed fine. I do wish they had more t-shirts that said National Harbor on them (they only had 1 in my size). I may go back there some time in the future as I'd like to get one of their bathrobes. If you like Cariloha stuff and live in the Washington D.C. area, I think you'd like this store. Plus, as far as I know, it's the only one in Maryland. At one time, they had one in Annapolis but apparently that one closed. Happy shopping all!

Review of Springfield, Virginia Trader Joe's Store

The church I go to is located in Springfield, Virginia. While down there, I've taken advantage of some of the stores they have in Springfield. One of them is their Trader Joe's store (store number 651) located at 6394 Springfield Plaza.

The store is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. It has plenty of parking and really good staff. The thing I really like about it is it's outstanding deals on various wines and beers. I live in Maryland and due to the state's liquor laws, Trader Joe's stores in Maryland can't sell anything alcoholic. In Virginia, thankfully, that isn't the case.

One particular stellar buy they have at this store is Charles Shaw wines. The wines come in 750 milliliter (ml) bottles. Apparently, they've earned awards at a wine tasting in San Francisco, California. I've tried their Pinot Grigio and found it pretty good though I'm definitely not any kind of wine connoisseur. The thing I particularly like about these wines is the price. A 750 ml bottle at this Trader Joe's store will cost you just $3.29. This price is good as of this post on their Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and White Zinfandel (I bought a bottle of each and have a receipt to prove this price is valid at the time of this post). Give them a gold star for these deals.

Another plus about this store is their staff on how they keep the check out lines short. This store does get a fair amount of business but, I found the staff did an excellent job of keeping the check out lines short so, you don't spend a lot of time waiting to pay for the stuff you want to buy. I don't know about others but, when I go shopping, I want to get what I want to buy, pay for it and leave. I don't want to spend a lot of time waiting at check out. So, they get another gold star for this.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this store and plan to shop here again. I give it 2 thumbs up and definitely recommend it to others who are fans of Trader Joe's stores. If you're nearby, you might want to give this excellent store a look. Happy shopping all!

Review of Maryland Lottery's Ultimate Riches Scratch Off Game

On April 24, 2017, the Maryland Lottery came out with it's latest $1,000,000 prize scratch off game called Ultimate Riches. Like all $1,000,000 prize games, the tickets sell for $20 each. The game features 5 so called games with 25 chances to win a prize though the thing that really matters in my opinion is the overall odds of winning which are 1 in 2.96 (Source: one of the tickets I bought with my own money i.e. I don't get paid any compensation from the Maryland Lottery and I don't have any connection with them) which is average for this kind of scratch off game. Most games of this sort tend to have an overall odds of winning of 1 in 3.

The tickets resemble Maryland Lottery's previous game called Instant Millionaire with a winning number at the top of 5 columns and 5 numbers below each winning number. You try to make the winning number with 1 of the numbers below in 1 or more of the columns/games. There is 1 big difference in the Ultimate Riches tickets vice the previous Instant Millionaire game - there isn't any chance of an instant win. In the Instant Millionaire game, Maryland Lottery offered the player a chance at instantly winning either $100 or $50. In the Ultimate Riches game, there isn't ANY instant win feature which is a surprise to me. It's common to have one in the games I've seen.

Top prizes for the game are $1,000,000; $50,000; and $10,000. Interestingly, the Maryland Lottery continues its trend of offering more top prizes in the $1,000,000 prize games. It used to be standard that there would be 3 such prizes. In this game, the Maryland Lottery offers 7! Also, they offer 13 $50,000 prizes and offered 59 $10,000 prizes (there are 57 left at the time of this post). Keep in mind, that with more top prizes, there will be more tickets put out overall for the game (based on the increased number of prizes I've seen and the overall odds of winning anything). One nice thing for those who like this game is that it also means the game will be out longer because of the increased number of tickets.

Overall, the only thing I was impressed with concerning this game was the increase in $1,000,000 prizes. Otherwise, this is a pretty boring game though if you want a game where you'll find out quickly if you won or not, this might be the game for you. This game doesn't take a lot of time to play unlike other games like Maryland Lottery's $2,000,0000 Fortune game where you have to check 40 numbers to see if you matched. Due to the high number of tickets, this game should be very easy to find throughout Maryland. Good luck to all players out there!