January 2010

What’s Hot: New Slot Games Heating Up The Casino Floor by John Grochowski

It was early in the morning at November’s Global Gaming Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and I was touring the International Game Technology booth with Julie Brown, IGT’s director of marketing. Another IGT representative came over to point out a special guest in the booth.

“Steve Wynn is over at Sex and the City. Now,” she said.

I looked over, and sure enough, the Wynn casino honcho who built the Mirage Resorts brand from the ground up was playing the game I’d just tested moments before.

IGT, the world’s biggest slotmaker, has had its thunder stolen a bit in recent years by the innovations developed by competitors such as WMS Gaming and Bally Technologies, but this time around anyone who was anyone wanted to check out what IGT had going on. At G2E 2009, it seemed the crowds couldn’t get enough of either Sex and the City or American Idol among the games casino players will be seeing in the coming year.

Of course, the competition never stands still, with slotmakers from around the world displaying their newest and coolest wares. The other two of the big three American slot machine manufacturers had plenty worth a second look —- and a third, fourth and fifth. Over at the WMS booth, two additions to the Wizard of Oz family wowed the crowds, and those who got a sneak preview of Lord of the Rings see big success when this epic joins Star Trek in the Adaptive Gaming line. Bally, meanwhile, had one of the hits of the show with its innovative U-Spin technology, introduced on the games Cash Spin and Vegas Hits.Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the IGT, WMS and Bally booths at G2E, games we can look for to spice up casinos in the not too distant future.

IGT Sex and the City has already been installed in several Nevada casinos, and early returns give IGT high hopes. With video clips, reel symbols and bonus rounds featuring all four of the TV hit’s female as well as “Mr. Big” Chris Noth providing voiceovers and essentially acting as a host for the game, fans of the show no doubt will love the game. But there’s enough entertainment with nine bonus rounds and a five-level progressive jackpot that non-watchers can enjoy it too.

It’s the first IGT Megajackpots game to feature the Multiplay system introduced a year ago, with four sets of spinning video reels on the same screen. Enhancing the package is the new MEGAfx Surround Chair with five audio channels in the wraparound head section and a subwoofer in the seat for a total sensory experience.

“I think folks were thinking it’s primarily a game for women and yes, that is the demographic we’re going after,” Brown said, “but we were at Hard Rock the other night and there was a guy playing. I walked up to him and said, ‘Do you like the game?’ And he said, ‘My wife made me play,’ and she was sitting next to him laughing. But he said, ‘I’m really having a good time, there’s a lot going on here.’ So that was really fun.”

IGT ramps up the excitement with its new Center Stage series, starting with the Wheel of Fortune Experience and, coming in March, American Idol. Center Stage is an eye-catcher as a 103-inch screen above a bank of machines draws attention to the prime-time product. A second version features a 70-inch screen. IGT’s hope is that casinos will install both versions, with the latest and greatest production going on the big screen while the previous game moves over to the 70-inch stage.

I sampled both games. The Wheel of Fortune Experience, the latest in IGT’s long, successful line based on the TV game show, features a community bonus that has three players choosing letters to complete a puzzle. The player who fills in the most puzzle spaces gets the biggest bonus. The player who triggers the bonus event goes to the game board along with two other players randomly selected by the game among all playing at the bank of five machines.

Video of Vanna White invites players to choose letters from among those displayed at the individual machine. All the letters are part of the puzzle — there are no misses. The trick is to try to solve the puzzle mentally so that on your turn, you can pick the letter that occurs the most times in the puzzle. Pick an “O,” and four “Os” will bring you four bonus awards. The player who collects the most puzzle letters gets the biggest bonus. And all bonuses are multiplied one to four times, depending on both bet size and speed of play.

American Idol uses five sets of video reels per screen along with AI personalities Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson. Its community bonus on the big screen involves auditions from the TV show. Each player picks one of three judges — I went with Kara each time. After video of the audition, each judge in turn gives assessment of the performance, with bonus meters rising and falling with the judges’ comments. In playing through, I saw both a terrific performance that led to a bonus round within a bonus round — the Golden Ticket to Hollywood — and a disaster of a performance that had judge Simon at his snarky best.

“It goes into the bonus round every two minutes, so it’s a high-energy, lots of fun game,” Brown said.

IGT put an interesting twist on the slots with its new Reel Edge series in which you can stop the reels. The game I tested was Blood Life, coffin and skull-7 symbols that gave the game a Gothic feel. Like much new IGT product, Reel Edge uses MLD — multi-layer display — technology for a 3-D look. When you stop the symbols, you actually affect where they land, as opposed to past symbol stoppers that just gave the illusion of skill. Symbols move so fast that I couldn’t make them stop on any particular symbol, but perhaps someone younger with better reflexes can take advantage.

For some entertaining group play, you’ll want to check out The Amazing Race with its four-level progressive jackpot. Group bonus events can be competitive. One “Ticket Challenge” gives you a mound of sand on the screen. You tap the screen to dig away and try to find a buried travel ticket — first to find the ticket gets the bigger bonus. A free-spin bonus is combined with a race to a travel destination. When a Mileage Meter lands on the reels, you want to tap away to collect miles faster. If you’re first to collect miles to reach the destination, you collect the biggest bonus, and just might move on to a bonus within the bonus.

I beat Julie to the ticket in the sand, she beat me to London, and I had a great time sampling new games at the IGT booth.

WMS Technology and innovation have brought success after success to WMS in recent years. If you’ve been sampling the slots, you’ll recognize the list: Transmissive Reels, with video images transmitted on the glass in front of mechanical reels. Community Gaming, with its shared bonus events. Sensory Immersion Gaming, with its Bose-speaker equipped chair for surround sound and tilting, shaking special effects. Adaptive Gaming, where the player changes the games by unlocking themes and bonus events.

WMS continues to adapt and combine the technology in new and different ways to go with its enticing game themes. At G2E, that meant two new additions to The Wizard of Oz family — The Wizard of Oz: Follow the Yellow Brick Road, and The Wizard of Oz: Ruby Slippers. Follow the Yellow Brick Road uses Transmissive Reels in Dorothy’s journey, yes, along the yellow brick road as she meets the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion. There’s a four-level progressive with a mystery launch — it’s not symbol driven, so you never know when a progressive event is going to turn up.

I spent more time with Ruby Slippers, a video Sensory Immersion extravaganza where each of the four main movie characters trigger a different bonus event. With Munchkins singing, the Wicked Witch bringing thunder and lightning to the screen and, in the best of times, Dorothy enthusing, “It’s too wonderful to be true!” Ruby Slippers will bring extra slot enjoyment to those who enjoyed the first game in the series.

“Those games are not coming off the floor,” said WMS executive director of marketing operations Candace Lucas, referring to the original Wizard of Oz games that remain among player favorites. “I can imagine these [new] games will be going onto the floor along with the games that players have come to love. Players absolutely love the graphics and the color of the Wizard of Oz. The movie is nostalgic, it warms your heart, and we’ve definitely tried to take advantage of that, to take what they’ve loved about the movie and love about the theme, and bring it into the game as best we could.”

WMS is also putting its stamp on The Price Is Right, a licensed theme that had a run as an IGT series a while back. First with a five-mechanical-reel format, then in video, The Price Is Right includes bonuses such as Punch a Bunch and Plinko, as well as games within a game such as the Shell Game, Let ’em Roll, Hole in One and the Showcase Challenge. I watched as the Shell Game led up to a free-spin event. Each walnut shell hid either a free spin amount or a “Start Spins” icon; you want to collect as many extra spins as you can before starting the event.

“We believe that the game play that we have in the Price Is Right will give the audience the opportunity to really engage in a community experience,” Lucas said. “We took the opportunity to utilize Drew Carey as the spokesman for the game and actually get him involved in the game play.”

Up till now, WMS’ Adaptive Gaming line has consisted of adding titles to its Star Trek Collection. That’s been a winning formula, with Trekkers eager to unlock each game in the series. That’s the way Adaptive Gaming works: You collect Federation medals as you play, and when you collect enough medals, you unlock a new game theme. Each time you play, you log back in with an identity you’ve created, and can pick up from the same point, choosing which unlocked theme you wish to play.

G2E 2009 brought another Star Trek theme — Live Long and Prosper, the fifth in the line. But it also brought something new to Adaptive Gaming with Lord of the Rings. This time, it’s not game themes players will be unlocking, but eight bonus packages. The sheer number of unlockable features gives Lord of the Rings the feel of a lengthy quest, just as in J.R.R. Tolkien’s original books and the hit movie trilogy.

“When we see Star Trek, we say this is episodic gaming, you actually have a series of games that take you to different activities and different phases of the series,” Lucas said. “Lord of the Rings is a story, the theme has embodied what was produced in the movies, and the Lord of the Rings game takes you through that epic adventure. It’s a very comprehensive view of the first movie. We haven’t even tapped into the second or third movie yet, and already you get an adventure like no other.”

I was drawn into the theme right away, looking at the huge overhead screen and checking out the map of Middle Earth, with points on the quest highlighted. Graphics and video from the first film are used effectively, making this game a full Lord of the Rings experience.

And as always, WMS continued to take advantage of classic themes. Monopoly Planet Go launches the perennial board game favorite into outer space, and Goldfish Race for the Gold layers Community Gaming, with a competitive seahorse race, onto the video slot hit.

BALLY Laura Olson-Reyes, Bally’s director of corporate communications, looked around the booth at Cash Spin, Vegas Hits, Blazing Hot Tournament and other new products, and started fanning herself.

“That’s why it’s so hot in our booth,” she said, “because we have a hot lineup with a lot of innovation this year.”

It was indeed a hot time in the old booth, and not just because of the fiery themes that have done so well for Bally over the years — Blazing 7s, Fireball and Hot Shot among them.

This time around, the hottest of the hot was Cash Spin, with the casino execs looking over the games crowding in to get their chance to spin the wheel throughout the expo’s three-day run. I wanted my chance, too, and Olson-Reyes launched the bonus event. The image of a wheel sectioned off in bonus amounts popped up on the screen, and as I touched it, I found it would move forward or back, depending on which direction I moved my finger. Finally, keeping contact with the wheel image, I rapidly and sharply pulled my finger down the screen and let fly. That gave the wheel a good, long spin before it finally landed on 2,500 credits.

Success! “Probably the most popular game at the show and the game that’s generated the most buzz has been Cash Spin,” Olson-Reyes explained. “What’s so unique about it is, it’s got what we call U-Spin technology in which the player actually spins the wheel, adding that whole element of interactivity that really doesn’t exist today. It also has what we call iReel [for Interactive Reels] technology.” Bally’s iReel technology overlays a video touchscreen image on the glass in front of mechanical reels, giving animation and touchscreen bonus possibilities to reel-spinning games. For Cash Spin, it’s in the V32 slot cabinet, with its elongated screen space — the same deep screen that’s used in Bally’s Roulette games.

Vegas Hits also uses U-Spin, but it’s on Bally’s Digital Tower platform, with the tall top box used in hits including Fireball and 77777 Jackpot. “It’s tall, it’s commanding, it’s got a great presence on the floor,” Olson-Reyes said. “What’s great about it is it also features the U-Spin technology.”

Vegas Hits features two mechanical wheels stacked atop the base game. In this one, you get a representation of a half wheel on video, and when you drag with your finger to spin, it starts one of the top box mechanical wheels spinning. Great fun.

Those who have played in tournaments will recognize the frenzy surrounding Blazing Hot Tournament. The base game is a five-reel video slot, with the top box featuring three mechanical reels for bonus play that mimics a tournament round. Maximizing potential tournament winnings means fast play — there’s a meter at the right side of the screen that rises as you keep the reels spinning.

“When it’s full of people, it really replicates the excitement and the action of a slot tournament,” Olson-Reyes said. “Players banging, banging on the buttons as fast as they can.”

And with tournament-like action blazing away alongside other torrid new games, what else can you say? Just hot, hot, hot.

— John Grochowski is the author of The Casino Answer Book, The Slot Machine Answer Book, The Video Poker Answer Book and the Craps Answer Book, available online at: www.casinoanswerman.com.