Casino Journal

RISE of the MACHINES

by Paul Doocey

March 1, 2011

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Each year the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) conference and trade show attracts the best and brightest the tribal gaming industry has to offer. This year’s show should be no different.

It’s estimated that representatives from 200 tribal governments and 400 Indian gaming facilities will attend Indian Gaming 2011 Tradeshow & Convention, which will take place April 3-6 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona. They’ll gather to participate in the 200 hours of training, workshops, roundtables and caucuses covering everything from economic development to slot surveillance. Attendees will also have ample opportunity to network at Indian Gaming 2011’s receptions, luncheons, banquets and three scheduled golf tournaments.

Equally important to the event is the trade show, where gaming industry vendors display the latest games, systems and technologies designed to either save or make casinos money. Here are some recent product releases that will likely be featured on the NIGA trade show floor.

FEVER PITCH

Aristocrat Technologies’ Cashman Fever is a feature-rich gaming experience with four high-frequency Cashman Fever bonus features and an exclusive Cashman Fever Progressive Link that offers 20 jackpot pools. Cashman Fever comes to the floor with two base games – Top Croc and Amazon – and a dazzling signage and plasma sequence that will add spark to and entertainment any casino floor.

The four bonus features are the Cashman Multiplier, a randomly triggered event on any bought game in which Cashman may appear at the start of the game and award a two to 10 times multiplier; the Cashman Added Wild is another randomly triggered event on any bought game in which Cashman appears and places stacked Cashman symbols on all the position of one or more reels; Hold and Respin is also random triggered — if four Amazon symbols appear on reel one, Cashman may appear and will award one to three re-spins; and Cashman Nudge, which occurs following any spin or re-spin if any reel has three Amazon symbols, and involves Cashman appearing and nudging that reel to reveal four Amazon symbols.

For more information, visit www.aristocratgaming.com.

EASY MONEY

EASITRAX Soft Count is the latest cash handling product from bill acceptor and validator pioneer MEI. It’s is an integrated software/hardware solution that extends the security and acceptance offered by the company’s CASHFLOW SC bill validators into a casino soft count room. EASITRAX Soft Count places information collected from bill acceptors into a database that can be networked to multiple locations and accessed to analyze slot floor performance.

For more information on MEI, visit www.meigroup.com.

NET RESULTS

The PromoNet Promotional Couponing Solution from FutureLogic enables gaming operators to tailor different reward programs to carded and non-carded players; rewarding the property’s most valuable players, boosting club membership and reaching out to all players with promotional coupons. PromoNet uses promotional triggers based on real-time game play metrics so that slot promotions are directly linked to customer behavior. With the PromoNet solution installed across the floor, casinos will be able to boost membership in their Players Clubs, raise the percentage of carded play and increase slot revenues.

The template-based PromoNet solution helps casinos design and manage a wide range of promotional campaigns from the convenience of a workstation PC, turning ordinary slot tickets into eye-catching coupons. These campaigns can be downloaded via a secure network to the slot floor, Players Club, restaurants, hotels and shops to provide an integrated couponing solution across the entire operation. Business analytics applications monitor the success and return of individual couponing campaigns, enabling operators to identify which promotions are the most popular and to customize them to reward their most valuable players.

For more information, visit www.futurelogicinc.com.

FLIGHT OF THE CONDOR

Experience thrills and excitement as you guide Cranky Condor through his life as he attempts to fulfill his dream of becoming a billionaire.

This G-Deluxe multiple bonus game from Aruze Gaming is a five-reel, 30-line video slot with a large interactive top box that includes a 19-inch LCD display with an exciting game board representing different stops in the game of Cranky’s life.

The bonus game, Cranky Condor’s Life, is triggered when three bonus symbols appear on the first, third and fifth reels. The player rolls the dice and advances an amount of spaces on the board game determined by the outcome of the dice. Players must face critical decisions for Cranky Condor, such as going to college, getting a job and where to build an oil mine. Credit amounts are earned in mini-games on the way to the goal of becoming a billionaire.

For more information, visit www.aruzegaming.com.

FILM STAR

Ainsworth Game Technology’s highly innovative link progressive Lights, Camera, Action! captures Hollywood’s glitz and glamour in the company’s new widescreen A560 cabinet. The game offers three levels of progressives and thrilling free games features. In addition, all three stand-out game titles Action Packed, Hollywood Hype and Sweet Dreams provide a combination of long arrays of stacked wilds and frequent free game retriggers for large coinciding wins designed to keep players enthralled and involved in the action.

The link progressive is complemented by the new widescreen Super A560 cabinet and striking signage package, according to the company. Lights, Camera, Action! will be available in one cent, two cent and five cent denominations and in 40-line and 50-line configurations with fixed line play options.

For more information, visit www.ainsworth.au.com.

PRESS GANG

Featuring next-generation graphics and an impressive top box, WMS Gaming’s Press Your Luck, based on the hit game show, is back in a completely new video slot experience. Spin the reels for a shot at free spins, credit awards and even a chance at the Press Your Luck board.

In the free-spin bonus, players are awarded as many free spins as possible until the “Whammies” appear. In the Big Board Bonus, the interactive top box brings the Press Your Luck board to life as players hit the STOP button to try to stop the flashing board on the big prizes. Players have the chance to multiply their Big Board wins by up to five times.

For more information, visit www.wms.com.

HIT MACHINE

Quick Hit Platinum-Black & White Wild Jackpot is one of the latest offerings from Bally Technologies’ Class II gaming line. Like Bally’s other popular Quick Hit titles, it offers players the excitement of winning both progressive jackpots and free games at a rapid-fire, pulse-quickening pace.

Hosted on the ALPHA game platform, which provides an unparalleled gaming experience along with unsurpassed reliability and the flexibility to convert from Class II to Class III with minimal costs or downtime, Quick Hit Platinum-Black & White Wild Jackpot features five reels with 30 lines and a 150/300 maximum credit bet and a top prize of 5,000 times total bet. This game features Bally’s signature Quick Hit fast-pay progressive with five progressive jackpots that can be won when the player is awarded five to nine Quick Hit symbols.

Quick Hit Platinum is available in one cent to $25 denominations, includes a six-level internal/external progressive option and a free games bonus feature.

For more information, visit www.ballytech.com.

REEL TIME

Fish in a Barrel is a five-reel, 20-line, 500-credit upright bingo machine offered by International Gaming Technology on its award-winning AVP platform. The machine features Bettor Chance wagering, a side bet bonus system exclusive to IGT that rewards consistent players – as bets increase, Bettor Chance symbols activate. These free games keep players entertained with adjacent scatter pays and high retrigger rates.

For more information, visit www.igt.com.

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

Multimedia Games’ Kingdom of Siam is one exotic five-reel, 30-line video game that will take players to far-off lands where gold can be found in the form of bonus credits. Three bonus rounds transport players to winnings: The Festival Respin is triggered by random winning reel stops, so the player never knows when it will come up; in the Siam Dancer bonus, players can win up to 2,500-times their bet per line when five Dancer symbols land scattered on the reels; and the Water Goddess bonus round is triggered when three Lantern symbols land scattered on reels one, three and five — players are prompted to choose four of nine lanterns to win bonus credits.

The game is driven by Multimedia Games’ Class II Reel Time Bingo Gaming System, is SAS compatible and has multiple payout template options.

For more information, visit www.multimediagames.com.

THINKING BIG

Mega Money Maker is a multi-level local area progressive developed by Cadillac Jack. The five-reel, 25-line game offers players increased excitement and participation through five independent Mini Game bonuses linked to five multi-level progressives. The one cent denomination machine has a max bet of 250 credits and has a payback ranging from 86 percent to 95 percent.

Mega Money Maker is available exclusively on Cadillac Jack’s Genesis next generation dual-screen game cabinet.

For more information, visit www.cadillacjack.com.

DIVING FOR DOLLARS

Players will love diving in and helping Jewel recover the treasure from the sunken Neptune in The Hunt for Neptune’s Gold slot from Video Gaming Technologies.

The five-reel, 20-line machine has five bonus features: In Diamond Hunt, Jewel randomly uncovers diamonds during game play and once she has found all 10, the player is taken to a second screen where they pick until they match two prizes; Mine Field lets players select mines as they explode into wins; in Shark Attack, players pick one of three sharks from a reel that in turn chomps reels revealing credit amounts; Neptune’s Maze make the player snake through an underwater grid to a treasure chest, picking up gems along the way; and Newton the Nudger is a crazy credit-dispensing gremlin that randomly appears to change a losing spin into a winner.

For more information, visit www.vgt.net.

Paul Doocey
is editor of Casino Journal magazine. He can be reached at dooceyp@bnpmedia.com.

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