Video poker and slots. Cozy«auntie’s kitchen nook» décor. Sparkling clean. Soft lighting. Great classic rock music on the sound system at just right lower volume. Friendly staff person behind the«what can I get you» bar. And the libations are free as long as you put $ 10 in a machine. Stopping in Dotty’s one evening during an overnight visit to Fernley was a lot of fun as we played video gaming machines for an hour or so. Seriously. We had no familiarity with this small chain and this one newly opened in Fernley is apparently one of more of more than sixty in Nevada. But we’d just come from having delicious ice cream at Steve’s( )and Dotty’s was around the parking lot in the same Fernley Village Shopping Center. So we stopped in. Apparently the chain was started as a tavern and gaming parlor for women who like to gamble and smoke. That ferminine cozy esthetic is part of the vibe, including things like Halloween pumpkin cut outs posted on places like the door to the loo. Although it was smokey inside, and neither my husband nor I smoke, that seems to go with the territory for gaming facilities and it was no more smokey than casinos on strip in Las Vegas. And there were roughly as many men as women, all of us seemed to be forty plus in age, playing the machines. Not a complicated bar, but they had top shelf brands and do simple mixers(Tanquerey and Tonic or Grey Goose and Cranberry or Rum and Coke kinds of things.) We sipped Gran Marnier and made about $ 15 on a $ 10 «investment» each in our respective video blackjack machines. A good stop because as it turns out the entertainment was free and as my husband likes to say«free is best.» We hear Dotty’s as chain had a run in with the NV officials for liquor control that roughly hinged on the fact that they are licensed as taverns which means by state law they need to have a bar that seats a minimum of nine. You can seat far more than that at the tables scattered throughout and at the seats at the machines, but I guess that’s splitting hairs for NV officials. Not sure how this will turn out. But if smoke doesn’t bother you and you’re looking for a little gaming and a beverage. THIS N THAT: 1) Open 24 hours, after dark you need to be ‘buzzed in’. 2) Fully accessible from entry and throughout, including loo. 3) Free snacks in glass containers at beverage counter, things like M&Ms, pretzels, gummy candies… 4) Limited food menu too of things like sandwiches, including a breakfast sandwich, at low prices.
