The skill-based shooter games produced by startup manufacturer GameCo, which made their debut two weeks ago in Atlantic City, are set for field trial in Nevada, according to state gaming regulators.
GameCo’s games provide Xbox-style game play with a controller, on cabinets that resemble arcade games dubbed the Video-Game Gambling Machine or VGM. Danger Arena, the first game launched in Atlantic City, uses 10,000 “maps” of varying difficulties to achieve payback percentages within state guidelines that are higher for more skilled players.
Speaking to the Las Vegas Sun, Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett said field trials of Danger Arena will begin soon.
“If I could guess, I would say in a couple of months we could see something on a field trial,” Burnett said. “Maybe sooner. But it depends. I’ve been in communication with our lab guys and dialoguing with the independent test labs in terms with where they’re at. They are in the system, but we all are aggressive and want to get to field trials as soon as possible.”]
Blaine Graboyes, founder of GameCo and one of the holders of the pending patent on the game, told the newspaper the game’s only random element is selection of the map by a random number generator. After that, it’s up to the skill of the player. The hedge to advantage play is that some of the maps are unbeatable.
“Even the best blackjack player sometimes gets a hand that they can’t beat,” he told the Sun. “So in this game there are more than 10,000 maps. And the only random element to the game is which map you’re playing in each game session.”
