Across all the booths we visited during this year’s Global Gaming Expo, there was a confluence of themes that became very apparent throughout the conference, even more pronounced than I can recall in recent years, and that was around what I’m dubbing functional familiarity.
Slots have always had a history of borrowing from each other. In the earlier days it was not unusual for game makers to make “clones,” effectively two games with the same underlying functionality (the industry will talk about the “math” being identical) but having different visual packages. This is to give the impression of more unique games in a bank on the casino floor, even though it’s just two visual versions of the same game.
Lightning Link games, as well as its sibling series like Dragon link, have came out in functionally identical but visually different pairs. Rakin’ Bacon is a slot AGS had done in other visual packages as well with the same underlying functionality, but has now become a franchise of its own.
A second layer comes in functionally similar, but with some tweaks in format, which we see in the various collect bonuses, pots, hold and spin and so on games. These use core familiarity in how a bonus works, and layers on something new and different. This lets players have less to learn, but rewards them with something new.
A classic example of this sort of structure is many of the Wheel of Fortune slots offerings. They take a proven game mechanic that players show interest in, but modify the game to work in the ability to spin the iconic wheel. Usually that comes in the form of an ante bet, so the mechanic players already like doesn’t have to be watered down to offer wheel prizes as well.
And the final layer, which Wheel of Fortune exemplifies, is the use of familiar IP to draw players in. This, of course, is not new, but the use of IP often comes paired with one of the first two trends. Wheel of Fortune leverages proven math, and examples of new IP showcased this year, such as the Jetsons and Gremlins, leveraged foundations from a game structure perspective that have already been proven with players.
The frequency with which we heard or saw one or more of these in play has never been higher. While we did see a few examples of games that attempted to break the mold in some new directions, manufacturers were more likely to play in the familiar.
There’s some advantages here. Just like you’re more likely to see another Marvel movie if you like Marvel movies, giving players something they’ve proven to like derisks a game’s chances of failure. Dragon Link games continue to dominate casino floors because players like the format. They’re more likely to enjoy other hold and spin games too for that reason. Pot games continue to dominate the top slot charts, so it’s no surprise that game makers continue to put pots on machines. And of course, if you see a familiar brand that you like, you’re more likely going to give the slot a try.
What’s interesting to me is some of the recent successes have tried to put some new spins on the familiar. Ainsworth’s Dragon Legacy features five pots, all with different bonuses, and the game’s been a huge hit for the company. Eclipse similarly tinkered with the hold and spin format for Banana Bash, and had such a strong response they raced to launch a follow-up that they showcased at G2E with some new twists.
Here, both manufacturers certainly leveraged some of the familiar, but also aimed to offer something new. But in many cases we saw games that were very much in the vein of previous titles. Sometimes this was reskinning the math of a previous success on the casino floor, and increasingly sometimes it was leveraging the math of an online slot and building a visually different game for the casino floor.
The end result is a game that feels familiar, even if it looks different, not unlike the clone model that has long existed in game making. The risk is that all the leveraging of existing formats gets a bit stale at some point. Granted, as free spins, hold and spin, triple pots and now collect bonuses have shown, there’s surprising malleability and flexibility to these formats that keeps them exciting.
But someone had to innovate these ideas at certain points, and seeing game makers increasingly lean on the existing rather than the new runs the risk of discouraging the innovation that led to these creations to begin with. This is not unlike how some movie franchises just hit the end of their productive life at some point.
Elsewhere, we saw the growing trend of super bonuses that amp up existing bonuses. This, like pots before it, is another way to put the best bonuses in increasingly out of reach places, which just amps up the volatility. While there is certainly a place for that on casino floors, especially if the original is in another bank in another part of the casino, it does call to mind whether players really want games to be that hard, coin-in data confirming or not. But it’s another example of small twists on games that work, keeping the core format familiar.
I do find it interesting that one of Ainsworth’s biggest lower denomination hits, Quick Spin, had a frequent feature bonus (the wheel average was once in every 56 spins) that didn’t necessarily pay gangbusters all the time but kept things going. And their latest hit, Dragon Legacy, has all those pots closing frequently enough to create a similar outcome of frequent features.
This is far from the brow beating punishment that sometimes can be the case with games like Flaming Pots, where hundreds of spins without a bonus can go by and no real line hits to keep things going in between.
Of course, both can be successes on the casino floor because they call out to different types of players, but it does go to show that breaking the mold a bit can be successful, even if it’s a bit riskier. And once again, we saw the biggest risks taken by the middle tier suppliers – big enough to have a pretty consistent casino floor presence, but hungry enough to want to stand out with something unique.
Interblock Gaming has been one of my favorite booths to visit in recent years because they’ve been working to solve an interesting problem – when your main install base is electronic table games, how do you expand your reach? They’ve been tinkering with their roulette and craps machine platforms and been devising some incredibly creative ideas to make use of them, delivering the AMUSE line.
Marble Run was the visual cornerstone of this concept, and the one that still gets a lot of attention at the booth at G2E, but more quietly games like Destroyer Naval Strike and Free Fall Roulette have been popping up at casinos all over the country and showing up in online creator content. Casinos can incrementally add the same basic equipment used to offer other electronic table games to add these new options to their floor.
Some break the mold entirely while others offer new spins (quite literally) on classic table games like roulette, but the end result is something that feels fresh. Unfortunately this has been more the exception, even though Interblock seems to be reaping the rewards of their recent innovations.
Ultimately, your next favorite casino game is likely going to have DNA from a game that precedes it. While there’s a long history of that being the case, the amount of it has exploded in recent years, and until players show fatigue around repetitive concepts, it’s likely not going to change anytime soon.
