The Global Gaming Expo provides a venue every year for suppliers in every sector of the casino industry to showcase their new innovations. However, much of the attention every year goes to the new games rolled out by the world’s slot suppliers.
More and more, those games include electronic table games (ETGs), not only from dedicated ETG suppliers, but by a few of the top slot companies, who are easing in their own product lines to compete with the likes of ETG leader Interblock.
Every October, Global Gaming Business publishes “Global Games,” a complete overview of the new games to be displayed at G2E. However, as those articles are compiled in the summer, invariably, most of the suppliers hold back information on games earmarked to be released at the show itself. Also, nearly all of the games highlighted in October GGB are slot machines, as the magazine publishes a separate feature on ETGs every year.
For those reasons, we offer this, a roundup of games revealed at G2E, covering both slots and ETGs. Here, in alphabetical order by manufacturer, are the innovations launched at last week’s show.
Ainsworth
Ainsworth revealed Five Fortunes, its first game to feature five collection pots as opposed to the usual three. Pots displayed above the reels on the A-STAR Raptor cabinet are “Cash Boost,” “Power Boost,” “Cash Blast,” “Power Blast” and “Power Boost.” Each pot, when burst, adds an enhancement to a free-spin round, including extra cash-on-reels awards, multipliers, boosts in cash-on-reels amounts and more.
Ainsworth also revealed Neon’s Bonus Blast, a three-title game family on the Raptor featuring funny animation, where the pots are fuel pods in an alien spacecraft, which burst to trigger an enhanced free-game feature; and QuickSpin Electric Pots, which adds a wheel bonus to the popular free-spin feature of the original QuickSpin game.
AGS
AGS rolled out the first games on Revel, its new three-reel stepper cabinet. Diamond Nudge is a three-reel mechanical game with a unique repeating nudge feature. If a symbol nudges to a payline for a win, the pay is evaluated, and another nudge occurs, repeating until no win results. There can be up to 11 nudges on a single spin.
Sister games Diamond Reels and Flaming Reels are high-denomination steppers featuring cash-on-reels symbols, rare on a mechanical-reel game. On the video side, AGS launched Rakin’ Bacon Jackpots, a three-reel nine-line game featuring a collection pot (“Cornsquealius,” the game family’s golden pig mascot).
Another show reveal, on the Spectra 49 Upright cabinet, was Mighty Drums, which includes a re-spin feature when cash-on-reels symbols land on the first three reels. The reels re-spin until no more cash-on-reels wins appear. There is also a “Golden Drum” feature that can lead to credits, multipliers or one of the four jackpots, including the top grand prize. There’s great animation here—a monkey character bangs on a giant drum to generate icons representing the prizes until one is awarded.
Aristocrat Gaming
Aristocrat showcased its new Baron Portrait cabinet, hosting the games Coin Trio Buffalo, Fa Fa Fa and Spooky Link, a follow-up to the hit game Mo’ Money.
Spooky Link, with the base game Yo Yetti, is unique in that it is a five-pot game. “Mo’ Spins,” “Yo Yetti” and “Mo Symbols” are joined by “Free Spins” and “Jackpot” pots. When triggering a free-spin feature, Mo’ Spins adds three free spins with a possible retrigger, and Yo Yetti creates a bonus within the bonus inside a two-by-two box at first. Landing cash-on-reels symbols within all spots in the frame expands the box—to five-by-five, six-by-five, seven-by-five and eight-by-five, as the spots are filled by cash-on-reels. The “Jackpot” pot triggers a match-three picking game for a guaranteed jackpot.
Another show reveal for Aristocrat was Whisker Wheels: Kismet Spins, on the MarsX Portrait cabinet. This game features dual bonus wheels, with enhancements to a wheel spin by bursting any of four collection pots, adding extra pointers, boosts of wheel-slice prizes, extra spins and sticky multipliers.
Aruze Gaming Global
Aruze Gaming Global (AG2) launched its Muso Summit cabinet, featuring a 49-inch main monitor, a 27-inch topper and side LCD displays.
Among the game reveals was Devil Panda, a clever game that substitutes an evil panda for the normally cutesy game mascot. The three pots in this game are displayed as evil jack-o-lanterns. In triggering the hold-and-spin bonus, “Boost” increases cash-on-reels values, “Expand” raises the reels, and “Multiply” adds multipliers to random cash-on-reels symbols.
AG2 also launched the Horrific game family, including four “Monster” base games—Monster Lab, Monster Forest, Monster Castle and Monster Crypt. Instead of the normal pot-style feature, these games allow the player to pick the enhancement for the hold-and-spin round. Also launched was Fortune Key, with base games Jade Express and First Emperor. These games feature a hold-and-spin round in which the first two reels lock in place and the other three spin. Filling all nine of those reel spots unlocks additional reels.
Bluberi
Bluberi did a show reveal of Shoot from the Loot, a unique pot-style game on the new Beacon Elite cabinet featuring a central cowboy gunslinger character. The pots are six-shooter pistol chambers, triggered when all six are filled.
Also new, Lucky 6 Bonus features a bonus within the bonus. During the hold-and-spin round, a special symbol opens up a separate six-chamber display. If coins fill up all six chambers, it triggers the extra “Lucky 6 Progressive.” This all happens to the backdrop of a song Bluberi licensed for the bonus—ZZ Top’s “La Grange.”
Bluberi also launched the newest sequel to the mega-hit Devil’s Lock, Pirate’s Lock Slice & Dice. At the bottom of the primary reel set is a “Shark Reel,” a sixth reel that spins horizontally. When a shark on the reel lines up with the signature devil symbol on the main reels, it triggers a mini hold-and-spin round, first on a three-by-three grid. Filling that grid triggers a four-by-four grid, and filling that, a five-by-five display. Filling that final display triggers the Maxi bonus, a tax-friendly $1,198.
Everi
Show reveals for Everi included mechanical-reel and video slots. On the stepper side, Cash Machine Lock applies a true-persistence feature to the familiar “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” win mechanic. As with the original, reel results spell out the awards in numbers, with 10-0-00 triggering the top $10,000 prize. On this version, when “0” or “00” lands on the third reel, the reel locks in place for subsequent spins, remaining in place until the next winning combination.
On the video side, Everi launched Wasabi Lock, which transforms the button panel into a video selection of enhancements for a hold-and-spin feature, including expanding reels, extra spins, credit upgrades, instant awards of all cash-on-reels prizes and treasure chests, which open at the end of the feature to reveal more awards. The base game takes place on two reel sets.
Other show reveals on the video side were Casper Triple Threat, with three collection pots triggering corresponding bonus wheels (the “Spooky Wheel,” the “Ghostly Wheel” and the “Haunted Wheel”); and Tasty Trio, a funny three-pot game in which the pots are represented by sushi chefs—a pig, a rabbit and a panda—which get fatter as they suck noodles every time a coin is sent up until bursting to trigger a free-spin round. The enhancements include expanded reels for 3,000 ways to win, a free-spin round with all lower-paying royals removed and a progressive picking bonus.
IGT
IGT featured its “Wheel of Fortune Zone,” a collection of Wheel of Fortune titles in various formats that took up nearly a third of the supplier’s expansive booth.
Prominent was Wheel of Fortune Big Money Wheel, the first use of the Wheel of Fortune franchise in an electronic table game. It is a combination of a Big 6-style prize wheel, themed as the familiar bonus wheel central to the game family, and the puzzle game from the Wheel of Fortune TV game show. There are three sizes available for the unit including the physical wheel—the largest is a nine-foot display that can be seen 200 feet away.
The game involves betting on the wheel slices, as in Big 6, with random letters revealed on the game-show puzzle along the way. Solving the puzzle boosts the multipliers on the wheel. When the familiar wheel spin is triggered, the higher the triggering bet, the more arrows are activated on the wheel for multiple wins.
IGT also launched the three-reel stepper Wheel of Fortune SkyRise on the Diamond RS Wheel cabinet, with the transparent Diamond Glass that adds animation over the mechanical reels, and pots enhancing free spins and “Jackpot Spins.” In the latter, the reels spin to reveal a number of pointers for the wheel spin, and the wheel slices change to the four jackpots, including the top Grand, plus extra spins of the wheel.
Interblock
The ETG leader showcased new traditional electronic table games at G2E, but the highlight was the Amuse Line, a new family of games that combines table-game wagering with prominent features borrowed from the amusement/arcade world.
At the top of the list is Marble Run, a giant machine displaying a race of different-colored marbles through a transparent mechanical Rube Goldberg-style course. Based on a similar online game, Marble Run offers bets on the winning marble, the top three placing marbles and other propositions. Players can place up to 40 bets on each 30-second race. The house advantage is 8.15 percent.
There’s also Stadium Marble Maze, which sends 10 marbles through a giant pachinko-style pegboard.
Other games in the family apply amusement elements to traditional roulette. Free Fall Roulette features balls falling through a pachinko-style pegboard into a spinning wheel. The arcade-style Dragon Roulette includes a “Dragon Challenge” slot on the wheel that can launch additional balls, and a “Multiplier Mode” that can increase wins.
The Amuse treatment extends to Bingo, with a game featuring a central air chamber that shoots bingo balls upward into a chute, with players wagering on up to six bingo cards displayed on video player stations.
On the traditional roulette side, Interblock displayed the first Class II roulette ETG produced in partnership with Class II supplier Eclipse Gaming Systems; and Frenzy Roulette, which adds a slot-style bonus to roulette. In the latter, every eight games, a bonus spin is initiated. The numbers on the wheel become locks, and players making a side bet can unlock a multiplier up to 100-1 on their bet.
Konami Gaming
Konami revealed several new video slots at the show. What the Duck is a funny game in which the central Stetson-wearing animated duck character interacts to trigger a hold-and-spin feature enhanced by pots represented by a rope and a belt of bullets. The bullets increase cash-on-reels amounts; the rope has the duck “lassoing” the “bounty”—collecting all cash-on-reels amounts on the screen. The hold-and-spin results include a wheel that triggers a bonus within the bonus.
Also revealed at the show was Double Envelopes, a combination of the hit games Lucky Envelope and Triple Sparkle. During the main feature, envelopes lock on the first two reels and the other reels spin to cash-on-reels and jackpot symbols. The envelopes then reveal multipliers. During the free spins, if the triggering wager is more than the minimum, all prizes are doubled.
Konami also revealed Falling Coins Link, an Asian-themed version of the hit game Charms Full Link; and SYNK Vision, facial-recognition software added to the company’s SYNKROS casino management system, currently being tested in Asian markets.
Light & Wonder
Light & Wonder showcased games in several different categories as show reveals. Heading the list was Dracula, the follow-up to the hit game Frankenstein in what’s called the “Universal Monsters” game family. Both games feature the monsters as seen in the original Universal films, in this case the vampire as portrayed by Bela Lugosi. Featured on the large-format Mural and Cosmic cabinets, the game uses the large monitors to great effect in screen-wide animation.
As with Frankenstein, the animation here is spectacular, with Lugosi-as-Dracula nodding menacingly at the player to initiate enhancements to a bonus wheel like jackpot slices and additional wheel spins. The bonus wheel is initiated by a wheel symbol plus one, two or three Dracula “heads”—the number of heads determines the number of spins on the wheel.
Also at the show, L&W revealed the latest in the Wizard of Oz franchise, Wizard of Oz: I’ll Get You My Pretty. Also featured on the Cosmic and Mural cabinets, it is a darker-themed version than previous games in the franchise, with the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West providing a spooky screen backdrop. Flying orbs on the screen land as cash-on-reels symbols. During the hold-and-spin bonus, orbs progress toward unlocking mini-bonuses related to the film’s four main characters.
L&W also revealed the Cosmic Upright cabinet, a portrait version of the successful cabinet with the same 49-inch screen and distinctive edge lighting as the original slant-top version, on an upright base. Several launch games were highlighted, led by Invaders Attack Again from Planet Moolah, a hilarious sequel to the theme involving flying saucers attacking a farm, abducting cows and other farm animals with tractor beams. At the top of the screen are two flying saucers acting as bonus wheels, one piloted by the “Baby Unicow,” reprised from the original game.
Also on the Cosmic Upright are Huff & Puff Highrise, the next game in the hit franchise based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale; and Gold Fish Respin Party, applying a hold-and-spin bonus to the classic title.
Finally, L&W revealed new versions of two of its most popular game franchises in Dancing Drums Link and Ultimate Fire Link Triple Nova. The former employs a triple-pot feature to the classic single-pot Dancing Drums, including a “Jackpot” pot that can yield multiple bonus and progressive jackpots. The latter features different-colored fireballs that feed pots to trigger a hold-and-spin event. The hold-and-spin event includes random “meteor showers” that rain cash-on-reels symbols to the reels, and big fireballs that trigger “hot zones” in which cash-on-reels awards are increased.
Novomatic
Novomatic had several show-reveal games, such as Piggy Prizes: Wand of Witches, with its two “pig pots” (“pop a pig to win six free games”), and a central mustachioed character resembling Snidley Whiplash that awards all cash-on-reels symbols when it lands in the center reel spot (it remains in place on the free games).
But the real star of Novomatic’s show was the cabinet hosting that game, the V.I.P. Galaxy. “Cabinet” is not really the right word to describe the hardware. “Living room” may be more appropriate.
The V.I.P. Galaxy is basically a leather recliner in front of a flat-screen TV disguised as a monitor. There’s a button to recline the seat, and another to raise the foot rest to full-relaxation mode. There are dual bash buttons at the player’s fingertips, right next to the drink holders. It is quite possibly the most comfortable slot hardware ever manufactured, and it hosts electronic table games as well as slots.
Zitro
Zitro featured several game reveals, plus the launch of its new Concept, a large-format cabinet family including a 55-inch flat-screen, 55-inch curved screen, and a dual-screen display. Lighting on the perimeter changes according to the game event. LED strips provide a seal between machines, eliminating the need for video spacers.
Game reveals included Merging Fu Pots, a follow-up to last year’s popular Fu Pots that adds a revolutionary feature: for an ante wager of 25 credits per spin, the three collection pots are merged into one, meaning that every time the hold-and-spin feature is triggered, the feature is guaranteed to have all three pot enhancements.
The enhancements themselves include multipliers on the cash-on-reels symbols; an extra spin to continue the feature after three spins without a coin symbol; and a double feature, which expands the screen to two independent reel sets for the hold-and-spin feature. With the extra bet to merge the pots, all hold-and-spin rounds are played out on two independent reel sets. Filling either 15-space array triggers a wheel spin guaranteed to award one of the top two progressives.
Also revealed at G2E was Lucky Vault, another three-pot game, in this case with the pots as bank vaults. Vaults crack open to add multipliers to cash-on-reel symbols during a hold-and-spin bonus, increase the cash-on-reels awards, or add a progressive feature in which different-colored coins accumulate to award one or more of the jackpots.
Another show reveal for Zitro was Cash Totems, a three-pot game with the pots displayed as Norse gods. When triggered, each provides an enhancement to free spins. The “Thor” pot adds sticky wilds to the reels that stay in place until they figure in a winning combination. “Odin” triggers a wheel that spins to a guaranteed one of four jackpots, including the top progressive. “Freyja” rains wilds on the screen.
