There comes a time in every adventurer's life where their pockets feel lighter, and their equipment is lacking. Conventional wisdom would tell people to sell their extra items or fight monsters. Unfortunately, that not only takes a lot of time, but it's not exactly the most fun or efficient way. Thankfully, there's always the casino!

While gambling is hardly the best way to make money, Dragon Quest VII's casino is ironically the best place to get some early game dough. Not only that, but if you play certain tables you can win some higher level gear that will put you ahead of the game! Here's two tricks you can follow to get some extra money, and some nifty gear while you're at it!

The Process

In order to do the casino exploit, you first need to find yourself a casino. The first casino you can find is on the island of Alltrades. You can find the casino by going to Pilgrim's Rest (as indicated by the blue dot on the map on the right) and interacting with the well on the northern side of the area.

NOTE: While these exploits can be done at any casino, we will be using the Pilgrim's Rest Casino [Past] for the purposes of this guide.

Before You Begin...

As with any exploit, saving ahead of time is very important. Since we are running a casino exploit, it only makes sense that there's a certain level of luck involved. As such, saving before attempting the exploit will spare you from any spells of bad luck. Make sure you have at least 2000G on you before you begin as this will make the process a lot easier. It can be done with less, but a lot more soft resetting will be involved.

Step 1: Buy some coins

Since we want to get the most out of the casino without breaking the bank, spend about 2000G to get 100 casino tokens. These tokens are used for the games, as well as cashing in for gear and other cool stuff at the prize corner. You can buy more if you like, but remember that the more you spend, the less of a profit you are making.

Optional Step: Play the Slots (Only works at Pilgrim's Rest [Past])

Depending on how greedy you are, you can try your hand at playing the slot machines to win some extra coins. Your best bet is to try using the slot machine on the far right side of the Pilgrim's Rest Casino [Past Version]. The reason is that this machine in particular has 2 rows of Lucky 7s.

The amount of coins you win is shown on the bottom screen, and is multiplied by the number of coins you put in. Press up on the D-Pad enough times so that all three lines are lit up. This should only cost 30 coins. You can put more in if you like, but once again this puts you at the risk of early resets.

Once you win a comfortable amount of coins (or come out even if your luck is terrible) move on to the next step.

Step 2: Play Lucky Panel

Lucky Panel is a game where you have to match pairs of items together. Every casino has a different Lucky Panel deck. There are also rare cards that get placed onto the board randomly, so you will rarely get the same prizes you did last time. In order to win, you must find every pair in the set.

Since the game only costs 5 coins, it's fairly easy to walk out with much more money than you did walking in. There's a strategy that can guarantee that you win at least 90% of your games, and goes as follows:

When the game first begins you will be able to select any 6 cards without penalty. This is a great chance to clear up a good portion of the board without getting the deck shuffled by a shuffle card (the hand with all fingers extended). To make the game easier, select the top 5 cards, then the leftmost card on the second row (as seen above).

Once these cards are revealed, write down the names of every card visible on a piece of paper, a notepad/word file, or on a convenient grid such as the one on the right. If you don't know the names, write down a memorable description instead. Once you have written them down, you'll move onto the next phase of the game where you will get 4 chances to pick out the next few pairs.

With any luck you will find the shuffle card in your first 6 picks. Avoid this card at all costs as it will ruin your strategy for the rest of this trick. You should have enough picks to fully clear the top two rows with one more pair search remaining. At this point - provided you have found no pairs or only a few - you should be able to select any of the bottom two rows and find the corresponding cards on the top rows.

Make sure you win at least once before you run out of coins. If you have trouble winning at Lucky Panel, just reset the game and repeat steps 1 and 2 until you do. Keep playing the Lucky Panel game until you run out of coins, and once you do, move on to the next step.

Step 3: Cash In!

Once you have spent all your coins, return to the nearest shop and unload all your winnings onto them. Make sure to equip any weapons and armor you won that you want to keep beforehand. If you won Lucky Panel at least once or twice, you should have collected enough prizes to double your original wallet. The more wins, the more money you will get!

That's All Folks!

This trick can be done infinitely, so be sure to exploit it to your heart's content! It's a great way to get money without leveling up excessively since being overleveled in the early game can ruin your ability to level up your vocations. Grinding for money can make the game overly easy and dull as well, so any chance to avoid it is a good one. Remember, your money can also be used to purchase more coins, and that means getting rare items from the casino's prize corner as well!

Other Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past Guides