Jean AKA Jeannie AKA Jeanie is a film, book, and magazine reviewer for a national magazine. Most of Jean’s work is done through email, which means he doesn't have to go into the office.
On a trip to find a gift for his girlfriend, Jean found an empty Genie Bottle. Upon picking up this bottle, Jean became the bottle’s new genie-powered occupant. Not only was Jean turned into a genie, but the bottle turned him into what he believed a genie of the bottle should look like. Which, due to his fascination with a classic 60s TV show, turned him into a busty blonde woman.
A junior engineer working for a small engineering firm in Cocoa Beach. The firm focuses mostly on NASA projects.
Neil is Jean’s best friend. When Jean was turned into a genie, Neil became Jeanie’s master.
That’s the default assumption of anyone who goes to Vegas. If the vast majority of people didn’t lose a ton of money there every day… there would no longer be a Vegas.
Why would you say that? Magic is cheating by it very nature. Besides if you can poof fish to gold why not poof a roulette ball to black 13 for the win.
Jean probably used way more magic to make the fish gold and the crew of the ship rich than she will use on the entire trip to Vegas.
Djinns are not allowed to own property of their own.
Jean can cheat, but not keep the profits.
As for the gold fish, they have no certificates of origin and no serial numbers. Someone will very carefully check for tungsten, and then try to track them to the source.
It does seem like that particular rule might still apply, but there’s nothing in canon that makes that explicit (up to this comic anyway, I’ve only read up to this point).
I don’t think he’s cheating, he said “dealers”. I think he plays blackjack and he counts cards. This is what real gamblers do. You need some method of tricking the house into thinking you’re a fool so the heat is off you. Of course they can figure it out in a hurry by taking the average value of the product of the truecount and your bet size, and dividing by the average value of your bet size, and if the result is more than 2 after 1000 hands, you’re a card counter. Waiting 1000 hands to let the quotient of these averages converge is also excessive. They can be reasonably sure long before this, though it depends on the type of game, they’ll know sooner in a 2 deck game than a 6 deck game because in a 6 deck game you won’t be betting big so often and it could be a while before you even do it once.
I thought for supernatural creatures they would say:
“I’m sorry. I can’t gamble.”
“Is it forbidden?”, says their human friend.
“No. It’s just I can’t.” And demonstrates by rolling dice that
always comes up 7.
A very significant proportion of the dealers in casinos are female these days. It’s also not clear how distracting a dealer might allow a patron to win, unless the dealer fails to enforce the rules. And the pit crews and pit bosses keep their eyes open for shenanigans like that, because it is tried all the time. Dealers who make “mistakes” (like overpaying a bet made by an accomplice) are soon unemployed. I’m not sure where Jean(ie) was able to get away with anything, anyway. Craps is run by a crew of about five, blackjack is basically mechanical in that the dealer has no options about anything (hit on 16, stand on 17, shuffle up when the yellow card is reached, etc.), and other games (roulette, baccarat, etc.) are pure chance. I don’t think a slot machine would be impressed by a tuxedo, either.
Another casino scam that might be effected by distraction is basically theft–that of stealing other players’ chips when they are not watching. Casino security is very watchful for this, as well.
I don’t think that casino security is on the q.v. for outright cosmical magic powers, however. But Jean(ie) doesn’t seem to be too good at using her powers in any way with subtlety and would probably get caught.
On casino security, Yes, you are correct…in the real world, yes, this wouldn’t be allowed, or issued. I had a female friend who’d go to vegas, and dress as a waitress, tack gum to the bottom of a glass, and tap chip stacks, stealing one off the top. Even though she was careful, and wouldn’t be obvious about putting the gum on the bottom of the glass, she got caught for impersonating staff. She’d then dress slutty and tap stacks with her drink, and they caught her doing THAT as well. IRL Vegas basically has eyes everywhere, and also pays criminals to bust other criminal activity.
HOWEVER, this is CD’s world. What he says, goes, if he wants his Vegas to be loose and gullible, then so it shall be. Just keep that in mind…his world, our entertainment. Otherwise, Jean wouldn’t be a Jeannie, and this strip would be boooooring. Maybe not…it could happen 😉 Just my opinion…and ya know what they say bout opinions, they’re like rectums, everyone has one, and they all stink. *laff*
@slacks315 – You need to check sailorsun.org’s comic, also by CD, the character Crystal in the last panel of #707 is just…awesome. CD’s expressions in his characters have gotten so that a twitch of the ‘pen’ and they can have a whole different expression. The way CD does his characters are (imo) a simple line style, and to make the characters ‘pop’ out of the simple line style, the expressions need to be better than the norm, and CD has nailed it. Not many others (artists) have figured this out, yet.
I have been reading for a while, but I never really post. I just wanted to say, I absolutely love her expression in the last panel. It is just too cute.
Well…they could be used in the bubble (Security Monitor Room) to keep an eye out for mischief…maybe do a cheesy stage show now and then, or the most obvious, restocking the buffet…I mean, come on, blink and it’s all cleaned up, another blink and it’s like untouched. The really bad ones who like hurting people could be in the loan department or part of the collections department, in fact, hmmm…A friend of mine went into a casino with fake ID and burned them fairly bad, and he barely escaped…five years later they caught up with him and pretty much made him wished he was dead.
They might already HAVE majikx working for them, as he did NOT see that coming, the fake ID and stuff were from another state, under NORMAL circumstances, they shouldn’t have been able to track him down like that.
Along those lines, there is a William H. Macy film called “The Cooler.” Macy plays a guy who brings bad luck to anyone he gets near. So, he works for a casino and they have him go play at any table that is getting too hot for the players. As soon as he gets there, everyone at the tables starts having bad luck.
I believe I saw that…it was great. Also recall an ep of either Twilight Zone or Outer Limits that was along the same lines, a gal who’s nickname was Lady Luck, they’d send her over to some bigwig that they were supposed to pay off, and she’d bring him luck. Then she met a poor waiter, and fell in love, they’d go to different casinos every night and clean them out, and then once he had a big enough stash, he dumped her and left with some “other” woman – broke her heart so much that her power vanished, and I won’t spoil the rest of it for you…let me know if you find it!
Why do I think that usually Jean lost a lot of money in Vegas?
That’s the default assumption of anyone who goes to Vegas. If the vast majority of people didn’t lose a ton of money there every day… there would no longer be a Vegas.
Lol no he doesn’t he can just lean forward and distract them now.
ware a red dress with a very low cut
Using magic to cheat, is probably forbidden by Djinn law.
Why would you say that? Magic is cheating by it very nature. Besides if you can poof fish to gold why not poof a roulette ball to black 13 for the win.
Jean probably used way more magic to make the fish gold and the crew of the ship rich than she will use on the entire trip to Vegas.
I meant for Jeanie, to make herself rich, it’s obvious she can make others rich.
Djinns are not allowed to own property of their own.
Jean can cheat, but not keep the profits.
As for the gold fish, they have no certificates of origin and no serial numbers. Someone will very carefully check for tungsten, and then try to track them to the source.
The list that contained the “djinns can’t own property” rule was declared obsolete by Lord Guano in this comic: https://jeaniebottle.com/?comic=jeanie-bottle-73
It does seem like that particular rule might still apply, but there’s nothing in canon that makes that explicit (up to this comic anyway, I’ve only read up to this point).
I don’t think he’s cheating, he said “dealers”. I think he plays blackjack and he counts cards. This is what real gamblers do. You need some method of tricking the house into thinking you’re a fool so the heat is off you. Of course they can figure it out in a hurry by taking the average value of the product of the truecount and your bet size, and dividing by the average value of your bet size, and if the result is more than 2 after 1000 hands, you’re a card counter. Waiting 1000 hands to let the quotient of these averages converge is also excessive. They can be reasonably sure long before this, though it depends on the type of game, they’ll know sooner in a 2 deck game than a 6 deck game because in a 6 deck game you won’t be betting big so often and it could be a while before you even do it once.
I thought for supernatural creatures they would say:
“I’m sorry. I can’t gamble.”
“Is it forbidden?”, says their human friend.
“No. It’s just I can’t.” And demonstrates by rolling dice that
always comes up 7.
Not only does it come up 7, but it comes up 7 on a SINGLE six-sided die. ^_^
Heh…a lil black dress that’s both low cut and high hemmed, might be able to clean out every dealer there that isn’t gay or female.
But then again…she might turn the gays and even influence a few of the lady dealers…heh…
CD, again I must comment on your expressions…you have been nailing them Perfectly, keep it up!
A very significant proportion of the dealers in casinos are female these days. It’s also not clear how distracting a dealer might allow a patron to win, unless the dealer fails to enforce the rules. And the pit crews and pit bosses keep their eyes open for shenanigans like that, because it is tried all the time. Dealers who make “mistakes” (like overpaying a bet made by an accomplice) are soon unemployed. I’m not sure where Jean(ie) was able to get away with anything, anyway. Craps is run by a crew of about five, blackjack is basically mechanical in that the dealer has no options about anything (hit on 16, stand on 17, shuffle up when the yellow card is reached, etc.), and other games (roulette, baccarat, etc.) are pure chance. I don’t think a slot machine would be impressed by a tuxedo, either.
Another casino scam that might be effected by distraction is basically theft–that of stealing other players’ chips when they are not watching. Casino security is very watchful for this, as well.
I don’t think that casino security is on the q.v. for outright cosmical magic powers, however. But Jean(ie) doesn’t seem to be too good at using her powers in any way with subtlety and would probably get caught.
On casino security, Yes, you are correct…in the real world, yes, this wouldn’t be allowed, or issued. I had a female friend who’d go to vegas, and dress as a waitress, tack gum to the bottom of a glass, and tap chip stacks, stealing one off the top. Even though she was careful, and wouldn’t be obvious about putting the gum on the bottom of the glass, she got caught for impersonating staff. She’d then dress slutty and tap stacks with her drink, and they caught her doing THAT as well. IRL Vegas basically has eyes everywhere, and also pays criminals to bust other criminal activity.
HOWEVER, this is CD’s world. What he says, goes, if he wants his Vegas to be loose and gullible, then so it shall be. Just keep that in mind…his world, our entertainment. Otherwise, Jean wouldn’t be a Jeannie, and this strip would be boooooring. Maybe not…it could happen 😉 Just my opinion…and ya know what they say bout opinions, they’re like rectums, everyone has one, and they all stink. *laff*
@slacks315 – You need to check sailorsun.org’s comic, also by CD, the character Crystal in the last panel of #707 is just…awesome. CD’s expressions in his characters have gotten so that a twitch of the ‘pen’ and they can have a whole different expression. The way CD does his characters are (imo) a simple line style, and to make the characters ‘pop’ out of the simple line style, the expressions need to be better than the norm, and CD has nailed it. Not many others (artists) have figured this out, yet.
It’s not about distracting the dealer, it’s about making the people in security behind the eye in the sky think you’re an idiot.
Jean should just wear the Jeanie outfit.
… and distract them with Barbara Eden facts.
Jean may have just been naturally lucky and attributed it to his bond persona, or just have a low opinion of what constitutes a bundle.
On another note the two of them make such an adorable couple in these recent strips.
I have been reading for a while, but I never really post. I just wanted to say, I absolutely love her expression in the last panel. It is just too cute.
I am fairly certain that Vegas casinos may employ mages and djinn of their own.
Mmmmm the old what does a mage do for a job in the modern world.
Well…they could be used in the bubble (Security Monitor Room) to keep an eye out for mischief…maybe do a cheesy stage show now and then, or the most obvious, restocking the buffet…I mean, come on, blink and it’s all cleaned up, another blink and it’s like untouched. The really bad ones who like hurting people could be in the loan department or part of the collections department, in fact, hmmm…A friend of mine went into a casino with fake ID and burned them fairly bad, and he barely escaped…five years later they caught up with him and pretty much made him wished he was dead.
They might already HAVE majikx working for them, as he did NOT see that coming, the fake ID and stuff were from another state, under NORMAL circumstances, they shouldn’t have been able to track him down like that.
O well 😉
This was the topic of the Dirk Gently novel The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, except it was not mages, but ancient gods.
Along those lines, there is a William H. Macy film called “The Cooler.” Macy plays a guy who brings bad luck to anyone he gets near. So, he works for a casino and they have him go play at any table that is getting too hot for the players. As soon as he gets there, everyone at the tables starts having bad luck.
I believe I saw that…it was great. Also recall an ep of either Twilight Zone or Outer Limits that was along the same lines, a gal who’s nickname was Lady Luck, they’d send her over to some bigwig that they were supposed to pay off, and she’d bring him luck. Then she met a poor waiter, and fell in love, they’d go to different casinos every night and clean them out, and then once he had a big enough stash, he dumped her and left with some “other” woman – broke her heart so much that her power vanished, and I won’t spoil the rest of it for you…let me know if you find it!
I can think of two things that could used to distract (male) dealers…