During the month of June, after 20 years of hard work, winnings and windfalls, Soboba Casino of San Jacinto is celebrating its anniversary out of this world. Literally.
On June 14, Soboba Casino, with the help of JP Aerospace, will be the first casino in history to launch a slot machine into space. Nicknamed “Icarus,” the slot machine also will carry with it a special payload of commemorative 20th anniversary Club Soboba cards and a time capsule created by the casino’s team members.
Friends, family and the casino’s valued guests will have a chance to join in the celebration on June 27 at Soboba Casino for its Out of This World Party, to see the worldwide release of the online trailer “Soboba’s Mission to Space.” The entire adventure will be documented on film with production and editing done by Inman Productions of Riverside.
“Our guests have come to expect stellar service, out of this world experiences and supernova-sized jackpots,” remarked Soboba Casino’s Director of Marketing Michael J. Broderick. “What a better way to celebrate our birthday and 20 years of existence by sharing the magic and wonder of space travel with our customers. We will go to the ends of the Earth, literally, to provide a fun and unique gaming experience like no other.”
On Saturday, June 27, at the Out of This World Party, 10 lucky winners, as well as some of Soboba’s VIPs, will receive one of the 120 commemorative club cards that will be launched 20 miles above the Earth’s surface. These cards, produced by Ablecard of Azusa, will feature a hologram seal with a certificate of authenticity verifying the card’s incredible voyage to space. Also that day, Club Soboba guests can ask for and receive a similar, yet non-flight, commemorative card, too, while supplies last.
Executing this historic trek is JP Aerospace, a non-profit, independent space program and research organization founded by John Powell. For the past 31 years it has flown low-cost aerospace systems designed, soldered, tested and assembled by volunteers.
Having created some of the most innovative hardware in aerospace today, their two active projects include the PongSat and Airship to Orbi. Both have foundation-shaking impact on human’s reach into space. PongSat has already put real missions into the hands of thousands of elementary and high school age students across the world.
The “Flight” team and “Mission Control” team will consist of key casino team members including General Manager Scott Sirois, who will be on hand to view the 4 a.m. liftoff from the launch site in Lovelock, Nevada. Upon its ascent into space, the slot machine will experience the edge of outer space, zero O2 atmosphere, extreme cold, and low to zero gravity before beginning its rapid descent back home with its payload. Once the time capsule slot machine is recovered, it will be on public display at the casino and kept closed until another 20 successful years passes.
On Soboba’s 40th Anniversary, team members will open it and be able to read their predecessor’s goodwill “Messages to Space, Messages to the World.”
