The October issue of Global Gaming Business featured a report on the parade of new games planned for display at last week’s Global Gaming Expo. However, as usual, most of the manufacturers held back information on a few games, cabinets and other products to be revealed at the show.
Here are a few show reveals from various manufacturers on which we did not report in the October issue.
Ainsworth Game Technology
Ainsworth’s Train Heist Western-themed series was mentioned in the October issue, but the first game, Train Heist Robber’s Roost, was revealed at G2E. It features three collection pots that add random coins, boost cash-on-reels values, and double the reel array for the free-spin bonus. It also includes a clever second-screen bonus event that features a moving train with credits in each car, with the train robber chasing on horseback, “catching” the credits on each car. The other inaugural game in the series, Train Heist Rio Grande Pass, features Mexican banditos in similar bonus events.
Aristocrat Gaming
Aristocrat revealed the first game created under its license with Hasbro for the Monopoly title, which was the purview of Light & Wonder for decades. Monopoly Big Board Bucks, on the Baron Portrait cabinet, takes modern game mechanics including a pot collection feature, the trademark Hold & Spin feature and others, and weaves them into a replication of the famous board from the legendary game. A free-spin bonus awards properties on the game board, each holding a credit award. “Free Parking” on the reels triggers the Hold & Spin bonus. “Pass Go” triggers a wheel bonus with only jackpots and multipliers on the reels. Multipliers are awarded for collecting all the railroads or both utilities on the board. Aristocrat did the deepest of deep dives into the timeless board game to create this slot. Another show reveal for Aristocrat was Fo’ Mo’ Mummy, a four-pot addition to the popular game family. The game is a mashup of the popular games Bao Zhu Zhao Fu, Mo’ Mummy and Spooky Link. Finally, Aristocrat celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the landmark Lightning Link game with Lightning 10-Year Storm, incorporating a part of each of the derivatives of the Lightning Link franchise. It was displayed alongside the first-ever Lightning Link game placed in the U.S., tracked down at the Hard Rock Tulsa and refurbished for the celebration.
Aruze Gaming Global
AG2 unveiled a groundbreaking cabinet presentation called Reach. It is a portrait cabinet with an attached LED canvas display of animation from the game, synced with the actual live game events. It is available in banks of up to five games, and in the multiple configurations, the backing LED panels combine into one giant display reflecting game graphics and events. The launch title is Fantastic Dragons Mystery, the first gaming operations title for AG2. It features a hold-and-spin bonus in which symbols collect toward a giant “prize reel” that reaches up to the LED display above, landing on credit prizes and jackpots. Other show reveals for Aruze were Triple Treasure Wheel, a three-pot game centered on three bonus wheels; and Wealth of Coins Trio, another pot collection game, on the Lightscape Signature cabinet, which features LED edge displays with synchronized animation.
Bluberi
Bluberi unveiled a follow-up to its first licensed slot, a Class II game released in 2018, Sir Mix-A-Lot. The theme modernizes the first game, which includes sound bites of the hip-hop artist’s 1992 hit “Baby Got Back,” and images that include peaches clad in panties. There are two base games in the new release. Anaconda features a dual-screen hold-and-spin event in which the booty-shorts-clad peaches serve as cash-on-reels symbols. Filling a row with cash-on-reels or jackpot symbols spells out one of the letters in “WHEEL,” triggering a wheel of multipliers. The multiplier that lands is applied to both cash and jackpot symbols. The other base game, Hot Hot Cherries, features similar game mechanics, with cherries instead of peaches. Another show reveal for Bluberi was Colada Cash, a follow-up to the Berry Bucks slot game that features three pots, each triggering a bonus event. In the free games triggered by the “pineapple” pot, a boxing glove appears at the end to “punch” the credit award several times, increasing the bonus each time. Finally, Bluberi unveiled El Super Caliente, with three pots appearing as baskets of peppers and multiplying wild symbols applied to cash-on-reels awards.
IGT
IGT showed one of the first collaborations of its recent merger with Everi. Wheel of Fortune Cash Machine Jackpots is a mashup of the IGT Wheel of Fortune brand and Everi’s popular Cash Machine game. The base game is Cash Machine, with its digit reel symbols forming a “what you see is what you get” pay, but added is the familiar “spin” symbol to activate the famous bonus wheel on top.
Incredible Technologies
Incredible Technologies unveiled a new cabinet at G2E, the Prism Spark. It is IT’s first curved-screen cabinet, with an integrated light box along with the 43-inch curved portrait monitor and a floating button panel. Featured on the cabinet is Double Stack-Up Pays, which features expanding reels and the ability to trigger two bonus events at once, or win two jackpots in a single pick ‘em game.
Interblock
Interblock displayed several electronic table games in the AMUSE line, all RNG-based amusement/arcade-style ETGs. One particular standout was an improved version of Marble Run, a race of different colored marbles on a moving Rube Goldberg-style racecourse. This was shown last year in a huge version, but the new version is a more compact ETG, with six play stations, each equipped with a love seat, surrounding the moving, glassed-in racecourse. Players bet on the winner, the top two finishers, and/or the top three, with fixed odds on each. The racecourse includes milestones like the “Horseshoe Curve” and the “Vortex,” with pinball-style pegs affecting the marbles’ trajectory. Other new AMUSE games include Coin Pusher Extreme, a coin-pusher game that actually pushes piles of casino chips, with the ability to use branded casino chips; Gold Rush, a roulette game that can release up to 10 balls on one spin; Money Wall, a giant pachinko board; and Battle for Earth, which has players guessing when a spaceship will explode on a video monitor—the closer you get to the actual event, the higher the multiplier of your wager.
Konami Gaming
Konami launched a new cabinet at G2E, the Solstice 49C, featuring a 49-inch curved portrait monitor. The company unveiled five launch games for the new cabinet. Bomberman Boom feature three bombs as collection pots, each triggering a different bonus event. Free Games triggers a free-spin round with the lower-paying royals removed and expanding wild symbols with multipliers. Jackpot Pick is a match-three picking bonus that results in one of the game’s jackpots. A hold-and-spin feature is the third bonus. During this latter bonus, bombs break down walls in the grid to reveal extra spins and combine cash-on-reels awards into a single symbol. Among the other launch games is China Shores Link Majesty, a three-pot game in which the pots are pandas. The pandas trigger enhancements to a free-spin bonus. Red Fortune Rail is a train-themed game in which the hold-and-spin feature include accumulating yin-yang symbols that trigger a second hold-and-spin feature within the feature. Bells collected in the main feature serve as multipliers for the secondary feature, which awards the Grand jackpot for filling five spaces. Other games featured on the new cabinet are All Aboard Diamond, a new version of the popular brand with added metamorphic piles of coins; and the three-pot games Dragon Firecracker and Dragon’s Law Super Fortune Bags.
Light & Wonder
Light & Wonder unveiled three new cabinets at G2E, including a new large-format cabinet called the Cosmic Sky, with two stacked 55-inch monitors and LED edge displays. The launch game is Willy Wonka Sweet Selection, a four-pot version of the long-running franchise that includes both a free-spin bonus and a hold-and-spin feature. The latter feature, called “Golden Goose,” includes a dial on top that throws down enhancements including a cash-on-reels boost, multipliers, and “win all” for the cash-on-reels. Another show reveal was the Landmark 7000 Jackpot Wheel stepper cabinet, featuring games in the Monster franchise. It features a lightbox in the top display, and a wheel that includes a “hand” slice that triggers three “Monster Spins” with guaranteed wins on the center payline. The company also unveiled four new games on the Cosmic Dual-Screen cabinet. Among the games is Fortune Doors, a new brand featuring a secondary hold-and-spin bonus—a feature within the feature. Filling a six-spot grid with cash-on-reels symbols returns a “Prosperity Bonus.” L&W also unveiled two new games in one of its hottest franchises—Huff ‘N Puff More Money Mansion, with the “Little Bad Wolf” feature; and Huff ‘N Puff Lots of Puff, with three collection pots and a bonus wheel.
Novomatic Americas
Novomatic unveiled Wish of Riches, a genie-themed game with several innovative features. In the free-spin bonus event, cash-on-reels symbols appear as locked, but all pay off if the genie character lands in the center spot of the third reel. Those cash-on-reel symbols include all of the game’s jackpots, including the top Grand. The game also gives players the option to skip the reel-spinning and go directly to the bonus—for free. According to the manufacturer, developers were able to offer this feature with no additional bet because the bonus offers a lower overall return and hit frequency than the game overall. Novomatic also unveiled a new cabinet, Dream, for VGT markets, including a three-hand video poker offering; and De La Isla Jackpot, its first wide-area progressive game for the Puerto Rico market.
Sega Sammy Creation
Sega Sammy launched a new cabinet at the show, the Genesis Nova 43-inch portrait cabinet, along with eight launch titles. Among the standouts was Railroad Riches Link, including a hold-and-spin feature with three extra rows of symbols on top, locked with railroad-crossing gates. Special “Gate Lift” symbols unlock the additional rows on the grid. Unlocking the top row triggers a feature within the feature, the “Railroad Riches Bonus.” In a home video-style sequence, the player rides along as a train crashes into piles of coins for an accumulating bonus award.
Zitro
Zitro unveiled its new Fantasy cabinet, a visually striking portrait presentation with unique illuminated curves and dynamic, color-shifting edge lighting, all surrounding a central 55-inch C-curved monitor. There are five launch games for the cabinet, all revealed for the first time at G2E. Fantasy Mine features a gem-collection bonus in which dynamite symbols explode to accumulate gem values in a mining cart. Brave Dragon is a three-pot game with the Bonus Link hold-and-spin feature played out on two independent reel sets. Lion Falls sends waterfalls over any of the five reels, causing values in the hold-and-spin feature to rise with every spin. Gold Space includes a hold-and-spin feature in which “Up” symbols unlock additional rows leading to the top jackpot, and rocket symbols that boost cash-on-reels values. Rockin’ Raccoons has record albums as the cash-on-reels symbols, and a raccoon character that randomly increases the cash values in the hold-and-spin feature.
