Super Mario 64/Walkthrough

Secret Slide
Once you get a star you can go to the room upstairs to the right. Here you will find Mario, Luigi, and Wario, but they're behind locked doors and you cannot open them now. To the right is a picture of Princess Toadstool. Jump into it and you will arrive at the secret slide. Slide down to the bottom to receive a star. Do it again under 21 seconds to receive another star! Here's a hint: to save time, you can jump over the railing on the left at a certain point early on and land on the ending portion of the slide below it. Use the map as a guide.

There is a blue coin switch behind where you start, but collecting them serves no purpose in this level. There is no star for 100 coins in castle secret levels.

Luigi
Luigi's games involve gambling. Your high score is the highest number of coins you have.

Picture Poker
This is the easiest minigame to play. You can't lose! The game uses a 30-card deck. There are six ranks of cards, with five cards per rank:
 * Cloud (lowest)
 * Mushroom
 * Flower
 * Luigi
 * Mario
 * Star (highest)

You are dealt five cards, and Luigi is dealt five cards. You choose which five cards to discard (clicking on a card indicates you wish to discard it, not keep it). Then optionally bet more coins, then discard (or hold all your cards). Luigi will also discard. If your hand beats Luigi's, you are paid according to the following table:

Note that the table does not include your original wager. For example, if you bet five coins and win with two pair, your net profit is ten coins, not fifteen.

Probably the best strategy to use for discarding is the obvious one: keep all cards that fit into one of the above hands and throw away all other cards. Or to put it another way, throw away any card that appears only once in your hand. This is the same strategy Luigi uses, therefore it gives you a 50% chance to win (not counting the 0.6% chance of a draw). It automatically gives you an advantage of over 100%, meaning on average you will win a little over one coin per coin wagered. Wow! Casinos can only dream of getting an advantage this huge. :)

If you have at least a pair before the draw, always bet the maximum five coins. Otherwise, stay at the minimum bet. This will increase your edge even further than just betting five coins every time, but not by much, since you rarely get dealt junk hands.