G2E 2016 Preview - 2 AGS

Yesterday we looked at Ainsworth Game Technology and some of what we can expect to see on the Global Gaming Expo floor the last week of this month.  Today we want to take a look at another popular game manufacturer whose name you might not know - AGS, American Gaming Systems. You might not recognize the new name, but, especially if you play in Native American casinos, you will certainly be familiar with its popular Cadillac Jack games.  AGS acquired Cadillac Jack as part of it acquisition of rival Canadian company Amaya Gaming for $382 million dollars a year ago this summer. Their goal was to broaden the company's market in both Class II and Class III machines, and the company has been making great strides in this endeavor in the past two years. Information in this preview comes from Frank Legato's articles on the web.

American Gaming System - AGS

Booth 1253

I have never paid much attention to the cabinet slot games are housed in - except of course for the huge displays three screens tall - but slot manufacturers do, and they use G2E to show off the improvements in these cases as well as their games. After AGS acquired Cadillac Jack - a Class II company with some Class III hits - they began work on the new platform which they named the Icon cabinet, a dual -monitor format with state of the art lighting and sound.  They launched the new cabinet last year at G2E 2015, and titles began appearing in our casinos in May of this year. At G2E 2016 this year, AGS will display 36 titles on Icon, part of a launch of 40- 45 new titles.  A second cabinet, called Orion, will make its debut at G2E this year and will house another 10-12 new titles. It will feature a 42-inch flat screen, a high def monitor, providing a continuous screen for expanding reels, bonus features, and other interactive features on a touch sensitive surface. It has been compared to a billboard with LED lighting.

The Orion will be launched with games that have proven to be winners for the company - games like FireWolf II. The original FireWolf series was a hit for the former Cadillac Jack company. It is a PowerXStream game with a 3-4-4-4-3 setup with 576 ways to win and lines that pay both left to right and right to left.  A clone of FireWolf called River Dragons adds interactive animated features like fish that react at the touch of the screen.  The new version will be called Gold Dragon Red Dragon Extreme Jackpots.  Other games include Fire Bull, Fu Panda, and Wolf Queen.  Shadow Sirens is another new game featuring Streaming Stacks. Great Gorilla is another game with the Streaming Stacks feature. You can find thumb shoots of AGS's games at playags on the internet.

Kevin Reilly, the director of slot products, says AGS is aiming for medium-to-high volatility. They want a variety with core high volatility games (gamblers' games) and some entertainment games as well. They say they are still going after the high-limit player, and will be showing 3 or 4 specific high limit games at G2E.  Most of AGS's licensed brand games are about to expire, and the company is debating the future of this type game. Current titles include it Pays to Know Series - Family Feud, Are you Smarter than a 6th Grader, Ripley's. These are not games that get a lot of play in the casinos I visit. 

The company will also be displaying its table games at G2E- with an array of blackjack side bets, progressives, original poker derivative games, and Des, the company's first card shuffler.

If you would like a sample of the demos YouTube videographers will showing us next month, here's a sample of an AGS/Cadillac Jack video filmed by Random$$slots at last year's Global Gaming Expo 2015.

This game is in casinos today, but the video demonstrates not only the game but also gives you a feel for AGS's approach to gaming.  There are several videos of the FireWolf games you can watch on YouTube also.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of these previews in another day or two.