Rapid Thunder, the in-game jackpot bonus feature that was a sensation at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow, Juegos Miami and the recent Peru Gaming Show, has successfully completed a series of development tests in Mexico.
From Tijuana and Ensenada to Guadalajara and Queretaro, development test events were run in five operations. Four of these were run with promotional support and one, Casino San Nicolas in Ensenada, run purely as a “blind” test with a bank of machines simply installed and switched on to await players.
The players did indeed come and, with their choice of six highly popular base game titles—plus the built-in Rapid Thunder Jackpot Bonus feature—the play was intense, with all machines being played repeatedly and often with other players waiting for a vacant slot to take their turn.
With the added attraction of the Merkur Mexico officials helping to build the atmosphere and also giving away prizes and running cash draws each evening, Rapid Thunder had a very special buzz during each of the promotional nights.
That atmosphere built dramatically as each and every venue saw players win big. By either filling the screen with 15 Rapid Blocks or by successfully playing through the free game phase through to the maximum of 35 games, players won the Grand prize of 5,000 times their bet.
“This was the clear proof of the statement that ‘The game has a jackpot bonus and the jackpot bonus IS the game,’” wrote Merkur in a press release. “So, across all five venues, there was attraction, there was excitement, there was a high level of player engagement … and there were winners.”
A sixth development test was run on the same two-night format one week later at the Logrand Entertainment Group’s Jubilee Casino in Monterrey, with big winners once again and with similarly encouraging results.
“As Rapid Thunder rolled across Mexico, the conclusion was that Rapid Thunder is well on its way to becoming both an operators’ and players’ favorite, and a gaming entertainment success that will surely continue to build ahead of the product’s full commercial rollout in the very near future,” said the release.
