If you’ve ever attended any sort of massive conference, one of the skills you get to work on is interpreting marketing speak. The industry develops various ways of speaking about things that is great marketing polish, but has a very transparent meaning underneath.
Before reading on, see if these sentences mean anything to you:
“This year we’re focused on fan-favorite mechanics”
“We’re targeting the traditional player”
“Casinos are more excited to bring recognizable brands to the floor”
Did you catch on? This year G2E was a lot about tweaks on existing games and new games using existing concepts, more so than lots of crazy new ideas.
Of course, brand extensions and sequels are nothing new, but when you combine those with the continued leaning in on things like three pot games, and it all started to feel somewhat same-y at times.
Even Everi, known for surprises like Lightning Zap, X&Y and their rocket concept, indicated a shift to less experimental games this particular year.
But there were some unusual and new things that caught our eye throughout the week. Here are a few of them.
Time to Bet on… Marbles?
For the second year in a row, the most left field thing I saw relative to what I expected came from Interblock, which has made a name for itself with Electronic Table Games, including stadium games and scenarios that feature live dealers but all wagering and payments happening on screens.
This year, their booth was focused on showcasing what they have dubbed their Amuse line of games. Some are fun new wrinkles on table games like roulette, designed to liven things up.
But the centerpiece, and the one that’s the most left field, is called Marble Run. The concept showcased at G2E is massive in size and impressive in appearance. The idea is simple – there’s 10 marbles, that roll down a gravitational track with various obstacles. Your job is to bet on which marble will win.
In a sense, it’s a modern take on those horse racing games like Sigma Derby and Fortune Cup, but with it being truly random, you dispense with the random number generators and let true physical randomness take root.
The payback percentage as shown at the booth was 90 percent, so it’s more like a slot than a table game in terms of that, but it’s also a much slower pace – maybe a game per minute – so it’s definitely designed for entertainment value as well.
During my chat at the booth, I was told that 100 million people watch marble races online, with some broadcasts even being announced similar to an F1 race. That blew my mind, but then again I work in a space where people record their slot play and post it online, and the popularity of that baffles some as well.
They also showcased a stadium game where you bet on which ball was the last to reach the bottom of a spinning wheel that looked like a pachinko game, with the spinning drawing out the tension of which will be the winner.
A roulette game where frequent bonuses occurred for additional prizes aimed to bridge the gap between slots and tables players, and for a game like roulette, which can for some be a slow and somewhat benign experience, it certainly looked to liven things up.
Kudos to Interblock for pushing things forward.
Konami Stays the Course
An honorable mention for me goes to Konami. They’ve been around forever, but credit where it’s due for their efforts to continue to try something different. As a company who historically has been considered a higher volatility company, they’ve also worked not to push things over the top, trying to maintain that balance.
Last year they showcased a game called Triple Tower, where the feature comes out quite frequently relative to other games. And although they do tend to feature higher volatility games like All Aboard, they still offer lower volatility ones as well.
K-Pow Pig, originating from Australia, was a game that came up among those I talked to multiple times. The hold and spin mechanic is enhanced by the ability to grow the credit prizes on a column when you fill a full reel with coins. The upgrades continue until you land a blank space, so the potential for those prizes to grow is pretty high.
Another, Bingo Frenzy, which is already making its way out to casino floors, uses a traditional five by five layout like Bingo for the bonus. You land the traditional six coins, but then the coins are collected into the center. You get your normal three spins, with additional coins resetting the counter. Whenever you get five of a kind, the prizes collect into a single coin, and those spaces are opened back up to collect more prizes. Since getting a full screen is very unlikely, the Grand is now awarded if you get 15 bingos.
The Big Wheel Keeps on Turning
Some of my favorite old school Wheel of Fortune games, like Triple Extreme Spin, had a giant wheel that you could spin, bringing that exciting Wheel of Fortune element in flashy fashion to a casino floor. IGT’s latest cabinet and display design revives the idea of a big wheel, and they showcased both a new version of Cash Link and a new version of High Roller leveraging this element, which brings some new life to the festivities.
One of the big announcements connected to IGT’s 10-year extension of their partnership with Wheel of Fortune was the leap to Video Poker and Electronic Table Games, areas which are new for the companies. Expect more expansion and innovation for the duration of the partnership, which is one of the most enduring in the casino industry.
Mechanical Reels Meets Cash on Reels
Hold and spin games like Lightning Link proliferated over the past decade with the hold and spin concept, but connected to that is the idea of Cash on Reels, where you can win prizes shown directly on the reels.
IGT’s popular Wheel of Fortune Cash Link series is seeing a new wave, but along with a video reels slot, they showcased a mechanical reels version as well. Using transmissive reels technology, which can overlay graphics on the screen over the reels, they can then insert the numbers to keep the variation of the prizes fun and exciting as part of the experience.
similar technology powers Light & Wonder’s Ultimate Fire Link leap to mechanical reels. Four fireballs still trigger the Fire Link bonus, but with a full screen topper over the reels you can play out the full Fire Link bonus as you would any other game.
But a new wrinkle is in the jade fireball, whose value is determined at the end by another spin of the physical reels. Land multiple jade fireballs during the bonus, and you’ll be awarded the prize spun for each jade fireball that lands.
The trend of classic games getting revived on mechanical reels continues as well – IGT continues to roll out new variations of some of their most popular titles, and we saw new versions of Jackpot Party and Reel ‘Em In Catch the Big One at the Light & Wonder booth.
Multi-Denom Expands on Mechanical Reels
Another mechanical reels advance is a broader array of denominations. AGS already has on casino floors their first mechanical reels slot cabinet, and some of their games feature very broad denomination ranges, going down as low as a 5 cent denomination – this opens up the accessibility of some of those traditionally higher denomination games to lower bettors.
IGT, again, with its Wheel of Fortune series also showcased a version where you can play a mechanical reel slot for as little as $1 a spin, again at the nickel denomination. Eligibility for the wide area progressive requires a higher bet, just like on video slots, but the idea that a Wheel of Fortune game can be played at those stakes (outside of those times when you can still find a five-line, quarter denomination variation) is a new development that many players will likely welcome.
Single Line… but 10 Reels?
One interesting swing at a different format I saw came from Light & Wonder. Each year Kimberly Cohn, who has been the steady hand behind the Fire Link series since its inception, has shown me something a bit different, and this year was no exception.
Money Stash puts 10 three-reel, single-line elements on the screen at once, and each time you wager, you get to spin all 10. Three dapper mustachioed gentlemen above the reels can help you with the three pot mechanic to get 10 winning lines, repeat or multiply the win, or get free spins.
Why are those faces wearing mustaches though? Someone on the game team heard the title Money Stash and said “we have to do it” – you have to appreciate the creativity and the dad joke all rolled into one!
Aliens Are Alive and Well
An interesting theme emerged this year with games featuring aliens. Everi had a triple pot game featuring aliens as the pots front and center, abducting animals as they grew. IGT has revived its Little Green Men series for a new entry they were bullish about. And the venerable Planet Moolah series sees an extension that brings the Baby Unicow to the Invaders Attack series for some additional upgrades and benefits.
A Gentle Nudge from AGS
One of the mechanical reels slots on showcase featured a time-tested nudge feature, but the wrinkle is on most nudge games, if the arrow’s pointing the wrong direction, it may not nudge at all. AGS takes the arrows, pops them on the screen above, and you get to nudge regardless of where the symbols land. The arrows point to which direction the reel will nudge, and this layout allows up to 11 nudges per spin. They came pretty frequently up during our demo.
…And Some of the Rest
- Buffalo Coin Trio
- Brian Christopher’s World Cruise
- Gold Fish Power 4
- Rakin’ Bacon Link
- Fu Dai Lian Lian Extreme
- Ultimate Fire Link Triplenova
- Tiger and Dragon Super Gong
- Plenty of Huff N’ Puff
In other words, you can expect lots more variations of your favorite themes.
