Recently I was reading an article about the success of Devil’s Lock, a game that has been a game changer for maker Bluberi. This is despite the fact that it isn’t even available in Las Vegas or Atlantic City yet, although the expectation is the game will make its way there in 2025.
The amount of time and attention that went in to designing the game is clear when playing it, but even more clear as shown in the article. Originally there were bonus symbols on the reels, for instance, but the opted to shift to a pots model instead. For those who love to learn how a game came together, it’s a great read.
But we also love to pay close attention here at Flip The Switch to industry lingo for various elements that appear in slot machines and casino games, and this one had one we hadn’t seen before: the “Helping Hand.”
When the devil in Devil’s Lock appears, it offers a helping hand in a variety of ways: The devil himself is wild, he can throw coins up at the perceived persistence pigs, he unlocks credit and jackpot prizes on the reels, and he can even nudge reels to bring up more credit or jackpot prizes as well.
Generally speaking, his appearance is one players will celebrate, as it usually means something good is underway.
The Helping Hand can liven up a game even when the same outcome would have occurred without it – it’s just another way to building a journey to the final result.
Take Ultimate Fire Link Explosion. The monkeys can throw fireballs onto the reels. If the game were designed without the monkeys, the fire balls would just land normally on the reels. But adding the monkeys creates a bit of extra interest. (Of course, without the bonus triggering, it also serves to create some anticipation where there otherwise wouldn’t be any.)
Helping hand elements have been around awhile, but they tend to be deployed in specific ways to build the excitement, and in that way tend to successfully liven games up.
