Gaming’s most important trade show and conference was held last week in Las Vegas at the Sands Expo Center. More than 27,000 attendees were treated to the latest in gaming technology, cutting-edge discussions of gaming issues, and networking receptions that spread across the city, including Global Gaming Women’s “Kick Up Your Heels” extravaganza at Wynn Las Vegas.
American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller kicked off the show with a keynote address outlining the state of the industry. He hit on the successes of the past year with sports betting legalization and its spread across 20 states, an improved opinion of gaming by a large portion of the American public, and new approaches to responsible gaming.
Miller was followed by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who gave his standard speech trumpeting the state’s crucial role in the legalization of sports betting but had some warnings about the future of sports betting.
“The first and most important thing is that we need to keep the federal government out of this business,” he said emphatically. To avoid that he recommended “rigorous, responsible state regulation.”
Other keynote speakers included retired racecar driver Danika Patrick, inspirational Native American speaker D.J. Vanas, and Scott Stratten, president of UnMarketing, who took a shot at Vegas casinos that charge a resort fee. In addition, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman joined to show’s Sports Betting Symposium.
But like all trade shows, the star of the show is always the technology, and in the gaming industry, it’s the games.
Global Gaming Expo 2019 showcased the rapid advancement of technology in emerging areas such as U.S. sports betting, online gaming, mobile payment technologies and other areas pointing to the future of gaming.
But at its core, G2E’s trade show floor is all about the new slots.
Global Gaming Business magazine’s October issue contained highlights of most of the games and systems technology pouring from the major slot manufacturers, but as usual, slot-makers held back a lot of major “reveals” for the show itself. Here are some highlights of those, and more detail about the slot showcase profiled in the GGB show issue.
- AGS launched its new Starwall cabinet. This is a stunning merchandising device that places a giant LED wall behind a bank of Orion Portrait cabinets. The wall forms a canvas of game-specific animation with high-definition graphics drawn from each game theme.
The launch games for the format are Golden Wins Deluxe and Jade Wins Deluxe, featuring touch-screen wheel bonuses and a choice of volatility for free spins in the ways-to-win format. Players can pick fewer spins on an expanded array with more ways to win, or more spins on the more standard configuration.
AGS also launched its 49C cabinet, featuring a 49-inch curved portrait monitor and 3D-rendered graphics. A progressive bonus matches fireworks symbols in the color of each of the progressive prizes—which are generous, with even the “Mini” at $100.
- Aristocrat launched its Star Trek: The Next Generation game on the new Edge X cabinet, featuring multiple bonus events based on the 1990s version of the sci-fi classic. There are numerous clever takes on the series in the game. A second-chance feature gives the player another shot at the bonus with Captain Jean-Luc Picard ordering the third triggering symbol with his famous line, “Make it so.” Free games are extended by raising the shield, and the “Warp 9” feature has the Enterprise shooting its main phaser to increase credit amounts on various reels.
Another highlight from Aristocrat was a reprisal of Cash Express, the Hyperlink game series that put the company on the U.S. gaming map in the early 2000s.
But perhaps the biggest splash at Aristocrat’s booth was at the very front, with a product tentatively titled the “Canopy.” It’s a giant arc of high-definition video, ending at each side with a game on the Arc Double cabinet. The setup allows for any number of cool features, including fruit falling from trees at the top of the arc to enhance features on one of the slot games.
- Aruze featured Pachincoin, a unique pachinko-style game with no spinning reels, in three different themes. This is designed for rapid-fire play, with the player launching from coins from a “coin bank” of 50 coins to cascade over an intricate playing field of obstacles, bonus wheels and credit prizes. Players can hammer the spin button as if in a slot tournament to make the prizes fall rapidly.
The three versions are Jackpot Circus, with clowns, carousels, etc.; Mr. Galaxy, with a space theme; and Money Lab, a mad-scientist lab theme.
- Eclipse Gaming, a Class II supplier that recently added some of the top game-design talent in the business, displayed 10 new titles at the show, as well as launching new cabinets including the triple-monitor Impact 27 and the Impact 43 portrait cabinet.
Standout games on the Impact 27 include Jackpot Spins, featuring a horizontal bonus wheel on the top screen; and the Roaring Tiger Fortune and Fortune Fire Dragon Asian games, which feature a lock-and-respin bonus. On the Impact 43 cabinet is the Gem Link Series, also featuring a lock-and-respin bonus.
- Everi highlighted the Empire Flex cabinet with Crush Dynasty, the follow-up to last year’s hit game Crush, featuring a giant Aztec statue crushing iron balls to score jackpots instead of spinning reels. Also on the cabinet are Emperor’s Tree and Emperor’s Frog, unique way-to-win games in which double symbols add to wins, and a bonus in which the player is offered a choice of volatility for free games from among five scenarios—from three spins with an expanded reel array to 15 spins on a standard array.
For the popular TournEvent tournament system, Everi launched Star Struck, the first tournament game for the system featured on a portrait cabinet.
- Gamblit launched several skill-based offerings at the show. Among the highlights was a new single-player cabinet called the Espire X32, with launch games Gem Flux, a mobile-style cascading game in which the player matches gems; and Cookie Jam Blast, a reproduction of the popular mobile game.
One of the standout games from Gamblit was Pac Man Cash Chase, developed in concert with Pac Man owner Bandai Namco.
- GameCo launched its Multiplayer Arena, an esports product that allows for head-to-head competition. Launch games are All Star Hoops, a basketball shooting game, and a fighting game called SoulCalibur.
- Gaming Arts headed its sophomore display of slot product with the Wu Series, highlighted by games like Wu Xi Shi (it means “dancing”), a much more lighthearted take on the ubiquitous dragon characters in Asian-themed games. Instead of the normal mean, ferocious variety of dragon, this game features a cute “puppy dragon.” When it appears, it jumps between reel spots and adds credit prizes.
Other highlights from Gaming Arts include a new group of games featuring wheel bonuses. Perhaps the most unique is Hamster Libre, which has an animated hamster jogging along to spin the bonus wheel. The hamster characters are hilarious, including male and female hamster wrestlers.
- IGT launched a new cabinet called the Peak 49 Slant, featuring a 49-inch curved monitor that occupies the same footprint as normal slots. The launch game is Wheel of Fortune Mystery Link, with a digital-enhanced wheel that can transform into all jackpots, and is linked to a lock-and-respin free-games bonus that adds pointers to the main wheel for a frequent wheel spin. Each pointer symbol on the reels adds credits to a slice on the wheel, followed by a wheel spin.
The player gets three free spins initially, and each pointer symbols stays in place while the other reels spin again, moving back to three spins each time. Filling the entire game screen with pointer symbols returns the top jackpot.
Lock-and-respin style games were highlighted by just about every manufacturer, and IGT was no exception. Another highlighted game was Scarab Link, in which scarab symbols turn wild or trigger the lock-and-respin feature.
Finally, IGT displayed two sports-betting products. Its sports-betting kiosk is a self-contained sportsbook, offering all the functionality of a retail sportsbook in kiosks which can fit into any sports bar. Another new product, called the Crystal Now Line, places a sports betting interface in the IGT Service Window of the slot machine itself.
- Incredible Technologies launched its new Pilot cabinet, which uses the animated edge “wings” on either side of the main monitor as intricate parts of the game. Wheels extend to the edge displays, and other bonus features extend to the displays, which create a semi-private play experience. The launch game is Crazy Money Deluxe, which reprises one of the company’s most popular themes.
Another IT highlight was Roller Wheel on the Summit cabinet, with a reel array formed by scrolling sheets of cash. It is a ways-to-win game with a free-spin feature on an expanded reel array of 10 rows.
- Konami launched its new 49J cabinet, featuring a J-shaped, 49-inch portrait monitor. In launch games Piggy Pennies and Dynamite Dash, a hold-and-respin bonus features a locomotive symbol, which is collected in a free-spin bonus that extends three spins at a time until no more locomotives appear or until the symbols fill the screen, resulting in the top jackpot.
Also on the 49J is the new Silent Hill series, based on the classic Konami video game of the same name Silent Hill Return and Silent Hill Escape feature intricate graphics in reproducing the video game about an abandoned town infested with subhuman creatures; and Kingdom’s Treasures, with a bonus wheel that extends across all machines in a bank.
- Novomatic launched its own unique display with the game Samurai Beauty. A giant video wall behind the bank of games—on Novomatic’s luxurious V.I.P. Lounge cabinet—is formed by 24 55-inch monitors linked together. By forming the giant wall with linked smaller monitors, the company makes the format both economical and scalable for smaller sizes of displays.
The new display is helped out by the launch game itself, which features some of the most intricate, colorful graphics ever produced by the manufacturer.
- Scientific Games featured several groundbreaking games, including Gold Fish Frenzy, a pachinko-style game with no spinning reels. The player decides when to launch each ball from the top to hit one of several fishbowls in rows on the portrait screen. A Monopoly-themed version of the game is coming soon.
SG also launched its new Horizon cabinet, featuring a 49-inch portrait monitor topped by a 69-inch cylinder-shaped top monitor. The two monitors work together in several ways, such as in a wheel spin that determines bonus events—the wheel spins from the top screen to the bottom in a unique display. SG is launching the cabinet with the James Bond-themed Die Another Day and Monopoly Grab.
Other SG highlights are Will Wonka Everlasting Gobstopper on the Gamefield 2.0 cabinet and several exclusive Class II games, including Ultra Hot Mega Link on the J43 cabinet. The latter includes a hold-and-respin bonus on reels that expand to eight rows.
Also featured was Cash Spin, a revival of the popular game that introduced the “U-Spin” game mechanic. But instead of swiping a screen or iVIEW display to spin the wheel, the player actually reaches up to spin a physical wheel.
One of SG’s most intriguing offerings was on the table game side, with ATG, for Augmented Table Games. It features augmented reality, allowing the player to swipe a bonus wheel that appears projected on a table layout. It’s called SG Vision technology.
- Synergy Blue launched new skill-enhanced games including Locked & Loaded, a shooting game in which every shot is a wagering event; and Zombie Heat, in which the player has to shoot zombies that are approaching a castle. The latter features a unique side view of the zombie attack, in which the player shoots a cannon to pick them off before they reach the wall.
Synergy Blue also launched a new Mahjong game including a feature in which players can take or risk their awards; Blizzard Blast, a mobile-style cascading puzzle game with a three-level progressive; and Candy Cash, a mobile-style game designed exclusively as a Class II offering.
- Zitro launched three new cabinets at G2E. The Illusion cabinet features a 43-inch ultra-high-definition curved monitor and digital button deck. The Fusion cabinet is a standard dual-screen format, and the Allure cabinet features three standard monitors.
The company, which traditionally was a supplier of electronic bingo games, is making a splash with multiple linked-progressive games like the Bashiba Link, Lucky Charm and 88 Shock with a mystery progressive that links across all three of the new cabinets.
