My husband and I love to play the slots.The simpler the game, the cuter the icons, the better. We belong to the over 60 crowd, the geriatric gamers that seek familiarity and predictability in their gambling experience. We don’t like surprises. We don’t like games that require us to skillfully maneuver past obstacles, or to shoot aliens or monsters before they can destroy us, or to ward off myriad other threats. We especially don’t like games that require speedy decisions and award us credits based on how quickly we can execute the bonus rounds. In other words, we are the demographic that most slot manufacturers design their games for - baby boomers and beyond.
Our gen-x and millennial children, on the other hand, have no use for the games we play. They frequently lecture us on the insanity of sitting and mindlessly pushing buttons hoping for a jackpot to materialize. They point out to us the futility of expecting a big win from a game that requires no skill, but only lucky timing to pay off. They talk about odds and random number generators and hit frequency and percentages of payout as if we could be educated to give up our penny slots for a more sensible pastime like blackjack. If only we would listen to what they say. We smile tolerantly and then go back to looking for the double-triple diamonds to appear.
It’s not that our children don’t love Las Vegas. They do. Just not the slots. They love the clubs, and the shows, the buffets and the trendy restaurants, the sports betting and the table games, the weirdos you see on the Strip and on Fremont Street. But they grew up with arcade games and pastimes like Facebook and free-to-play home video games. If these young adults are going to play games, they are going to do it on their mobile devices, not on a slot machine.
The average age of visitors to Vegas has been dropping since 2009, from 50 to 45. But the share of visitors who gambled during their stay has also dropped, falling from 83% to 71% during that same period. Young people still flock to Vegas to play in record numbers, but it is not slot machines they are playing. And this has the casinos worried because slots often return a 60 percent profit margin compared with the single digit margins of table games according to a San Diego Tribune article this month taken from the Washington Post.
Partly this is the slot manufacturers’ fault. They have not put much effort into designing and producing games that appeal to the skills or interests of younger players. IGT claims that the industry has been slow in developing skill-based video-game-like devices because of state regulations requiring slots to offer random outcomes.
There are a few companies that have been trying recently to come up with a gaming concept that blends both skill and manual dexterity with luck. One idea has been to combine arcade action in the basic game with bonus rounds that pay based on the random number generators, thus creating a hybrid machine that is both a game of skill and also a game of chance. Gamblit is working with casinos and regulators on concepts meshing the play of mobile games with the random chance of slots, switching from playing with virtual credits to playing with real money when connected to WiFi in an area where gambling is legal. Which brings us back to my previous post about internet gambling.
Press releases claim one current innovation for IGT’s Reel Edge series is based on arcade games. Titles include Race Ace and Centipede and the games are played on a console with an optional joystick play mechanism.
Another company, Aruze Gaming, in an attempt to appeal to younger players, has developed Dark Samurai, a game that features a fighting bonus resembling the type of action seen on most martial arts video games.
Global leader Konami Gaming has adapted its Playstation 2 game Neo Contra to the slots, marking the first ever release of video game intellectual property to the casino gaming industry. Mighty Warrior and Supreme Samurai are designed and will be especially marketed toward video game players. Konami has a forty-two year history of world wide video gaming and, with its extensive catalogue and cutting edge technology, is uniquely positioned to be a leader in the marketing for the coming generation of gamers.
Counter to this trend, Bally Technologies, the nation’s oldest slot-machine maker, has announced it would pay up to $100 million to buy Dragonplay, an Israel-based developer of games playable on Facebook and cellphones.
One fear some have in switching to these new-generation skill based slots is that a player could become so good at playing these games that the casino would end up losing money. I don’t think they will let that happen. The card counters didn’t put the blackjack tables out of business, did they? It’ll be interesting to see what changes the next few years bring.
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