"That is a whole other game. You get a bunch of your own cards and stick them in the $1 or $5 machines and hope someone plays them"

The days of leaving your card in a machine and hoping somebody comes along and plays it are over. The machine will reset if no play is recorded in a set amount of time. But I still keep extra cards on me and if I see somebody next to me is not using a card I say do you mind if I put my card in. Also some casinos will not record more than one or two cards at at time.
Barry