Spinning2Win: G2E 2016 Preview

Slot players and game lovers of all kinds will be heading to Las Vegas the last week of this month September 26 - 29 for this year's Global Gaming Expo (G2E) at the Sands Convention Center. There will be seminars to attend, industry leaders to network with, fellow slot lovers and manufacturers to talk with about your favorite games. But the best part of all for most of us is the opportunity to walk the floor and see first hand the new games that have recently made their way into casinos and the even newer ones that we'll be seeing in the months to come. The seminars are pricey, but there are YouTubers like Random$$slots who will be filming the talks and showing them in installments to the rest of us on their YouTube Channels. The games are free to see starting Sept 27 for most viewers who have some connection to the industry, slot fanatics, the blog writers, the YouTube videographers and video creators, the casino workers, and the managers whose job it is to predict which of the many games and displays and cabinets will attract players of all ages to stay and play. I've been reading articles on the internet by Frank Legato about what we can expect to see when we go this year, and I'll share as much as I've learned with you before I go. Because many of the games we were shown last G2E have not made it to the many of the casinos where we play, there is some history and information in the 2015 G2E Previews posted in September 2015 that might be of interest too. We'll start with a popular manufacturer relatively new to the North American market - Ainsworth.

Ainsworth

G2E Booth # 2059

Ainsworth is an Australian company founded in 1995 by Len Ainsworth who also founded Aristocrat Technologies two years earlier. When you fly into Las Vegas from the west, you've probably seen the sprawling industrial complex with an enormous stylized A emblazoned on the roof. That A is the logo of Ainsworth Game Technology, a company that has made tremendous inroads into the American gaming market over the past two years. Ainsworth has been in the North American market in some form since 2008, but in the two years since breaking ground on its new Vegas facility the company has gained market share of upwards of 5%, and the number is still growing. You can view the facility on YouTube. Video creators Alberts Slot Channel, Shinobi Slots, Beam Me Up Slotty, and Slot Lover (and maybe others I'm unaware of) were invited to visit the new facility this summer, and there are YouTube films they posted in late July and August of the building and the new slots they viewed and commented on. Links to these films showing the facility and new games filled by these video creators will be at the end of the write-up.

With the construction of the new Las Vegas facility, has come marked improvement of Research and Development, including the company's first US based game design studio. Early this year the company closed on a $38 million acquisition of South Carolina-based Nova Technologies. One of the benefits of the acquisition of Nova has been an instant presence and strong growth in the Class II (Bingo slots) market especially in Oklahoma and California. At the time of the acquisition Nova had an installed base of 1,425 units in 11 states. Many people can not tell the difference between Class II and Class III slots. That is intentional. Nova's team has technically developed Class III games for more than a decade. At Nova, the Class II games are actually developed first as Class III according to the design staff. According to the company, 12 Nova Class II titles will be added each year to the 30 now available. They also say that two new Class III titles are being made available in the Class II library each month.

So, what can we expect to see at Ainsworth's booth at G2E this year? Frank Legato says there will be more than 120 games on display at Ainsworth's booth (#2059). Those games will include between 60 and 70 new titles and they will be shown in all the company's various cabinets. The new A600 cabinet is being launched with six dedicated themes and more than 50 legacy titles, an enormous library right from the start. (The old A560 cabinet will be serving as a workhorse for the entirely new Class II products.)

The new A600 cabinet will debut at G2E with "Cash Odyssey" -- a series of three games based on literary classics -- Gulliver's Travels, Huckelberry Finn, and Robinson Crusoe. Part 3 of Slot Lover's Ainsworth demo includes these games if you'd like to preview them yourself. Sources say these Cash Odyssey series games feature base games on two separate reel sets, on each of the cabinets dual 24-inch monitor. Each monitor has a Blue Zone and a Red Zone on which a credit prize is awarded every time a Cash Odyssey symbol lands.

Other new games include two series of multiple-progressive video slots under the themes Quackpot and Thunder Hits. Albert (affectionately called Mr. Ainsworth by his friends) of Albert's Slot Channel has filmed Quackpot and Thunder Wilds to show us. His films also include Fortune Fox and Action Dragons. The new legacy cabinet will include Dragon Lines, Mustang Money, Roaming Reels, Twice the Money, Glitter Diamonds, and Dolphin. Take a look at the films shown by the YouTubers who were invited to visit the company and see what is new-to-you there.

Press releases say by the end of the year, the company will release win-at-any-bet progressive games. And in the first quarter of 2017 the "hit before" progressives. This type game is very difficult to do with bingo-math (Class II) but Ainsworth plans to be the first to do it in Class II.

What about licensed slots? There will be the usual releases - The Three Amigos, King Kong, Showgirls, and The Sound of Music -- by no means their best offerings according to many players -- but there will also be new licensed brands that are being kept secret until show time. The company realizes this is not their strong suit but they say they will make an effort over the next 12 months to do more with licensed slots.

What does the future hold in store for Ainsworth? Well, one thing we should see is its expansion into other markets. There is a pending purchase after regulatory approval of the majority of Ainsworth shares by Austria's Novomatic Group. The process will take about 12 months and should benefit both companies. It will open new markets in Europe for Ainsworth where Novomatic dominates. Novomatic has committed to placing 2,000 Ainsworth games in casinos the Austrian company owns and operates.

It's nice to read about all these coming releases, but nothing compares with seeing it all for yourself. It's not too late to plan a trip to Las Vegas to enjoy the excitement first hand. If you can't attend, take a look at Albert, Slot Lover, Shinobi, and BMUS' films and then watch the demos filmed by various YouTube channels at G2E. You'll be surprised at how many there will be. In the meantime, I'll try to find another slot manufacturer to spotlight in the next day of two.

Here are Slot Lover's three demo films: