G2E 2016 Preview - 6 - IGT

Anyone who has been attending G2E these past 5 years knows where to find the booth for slot manufacturer International Game Technology and what it looks like.  This year, however will be different. IGT's booth will be different and will be in a different location. Shaped like an L it will occupy a prominent corner of the Sands Expo Center. The display will look different because the company is different. IGT's merger with slot and lottery giant GTECH which included the former Spielo International Games has resulted in a a more diversified supplier, one ready to recapture market share.  IGT says they will be showing new premium cabinets, never-before-seen licensed brands, and updates of existing ones. Working around the clock, the company is on a mission to bring IGT back to the top position it once enjoyed.

International Game Technology

Booth 3659

The company says it will be bringing 400 different products to G2E, marking the best in the company's history. The company is not making life easy for the videographers who film slot games and post them on YouTube. Heading the list of new cabinets is CrystalCurveUltra, featuring huge monitors in a unique configuration. The main screen is a 32 inch monitor situated horizontally rather than the usual vertical style, topped by a super-size curved vertical monitor, a full 50 inch screen.The company will launch new titles for the CrystalCurveUltra -- there will be a new version of the popular Ellen franchise and a game based on the Goonies, the 1985 adventure comedy film, IGT will return to the stepper slots, a staple of IGT for many years,  Modernized versions of old games like Top Dollar will be shown alongside new titles starring Marilyn Monroe: "How to Marry a Millionaire" is one and "Gentlemen Prefer Blonds" is the other.  There will also be a new version of the Mega Bucks wide area progressive. The large format mega tower Crystal Wheel + Stepper cabinet will also house Wheel of Fortune Gold Spin and  Double Diamonds Deluxe.

This year marks the debut of Wheel of Fortune in 1996. To celebrate its 20th anniversary of the game that ushered in the era of themed games, IGT is releasing a a complete lineup of new entries in the Wheel franchise. Besides Wheel of Fortune Gold Spins, you might look for Wheel of Fortune New Orleans.  Gold Spins uses a three-reel base game in 25 or 50 cent denominations. It offers incentives for raising the bet beyond 3 credits. Betting 5 credits or 10 credits per spin increases the frequency of the signature wheel spin up to an average of a wheel bonus every 36 spins.  There is also a wide-area progressive jackpot - a bonus spin on a video wheel with a jackpot slice.  To celebrate the brand's 20th anniversary, there will be a booth visit from TV co-host Vanna White.  I have not yet seen the specifics of date and time.

Double Diamond is also celebrating an anniversary this year -- its 25th -- and the new Double Diamond Deluxe will be a new version of the classic three reel game including a nudge feature to increase the overall hit fequency.

Other titles to look for will include a new game based on Sherlock Holmes, Baywatch, and Treasures of Olympus based on the Spielo game Icarus. IGT hopes the new Betty White game proves to be as popular as the actress. The new ZUMA 3D will be joined by Jurassic World 3D.  The true 3D technology, developed by the legacy GTECH team produces a glasses-free 3D effect unmatched by any other slot maker since its introduction with Sphinx 3D three years ago. Another feature to look for when you visit IGT is the ZUMA 3D "Dynamic Attract" sequence that actually beckons passing players inviting them to play.

At G2E IGT will have a special section of games now ready for placement after successful field trials.  Among the core offerings are Valley of Gold which includes a "must-hit-by" progressive that features a mystery reset, not always starting over at the minimum level. Also Ocean Magic with the Bubble Boost feature activated with an ante wager. And Keystone Kops an entertainment slot built around silent film slapstick police. There is also be a new type of cascading reels game with symbols on the second and fourth reels cascading and disappearing when stacked called Kayo Dragon.

Last year at G2E the company showed TMZ Video Slots with the photo booth feature letting players include their image in the game. The feature is starting to appear in casinos and has been well-received by players.

There is much, much more to talk about but you will have to visit the IGT booth and see it for yourself.  The last thing I will mention is not a game. It is their new Cordless Connect technology.  Already being implemented in Vegas, Detroit, and Australian casinos, cordless connect replaces the mag-strip loyalty card with a smartphone app that permits loading credits on a machine to earning loyalty points to be handled via smartphone.  The other new bit of mobile technology is called On Premises which allows players to take slot games and other features with them to any approved location within a casino property - and beyond, in approved jurisdictions.  I'm not sure I want to think too much about the implications of that bit of technology.

More previews will be coming soon - but there's not enough time before I leave for Vegas to cover it all. You'll want to see everything for yourself anyway.

UPDATE:  I was watching today's subscriber videos a few minutes ago on YouTube and ran across a game by TheBigPayback that you may want to take a look at .  https://youtu.be/yW3ZmSLgr3A

I have read that IGT is going back to their roots with stepper games. The most popular of their old games according to Frank Legato was Top Dollar, a game that IGT fortuitously held onto when it sold Barcrest. My source says a modernized version of the legendary game will be launched on a new cabinet at G2E.  I wish I knew if the new game is the one TheBigPayback was playing today.  Guess we'll know soon.

G2E Preview - Part 5: IGT

This July the Italian gaming equipment company, GTECH, acquired London based IGT for $6.4 billion. Retaining the familiar name IGT, the new company, now officially called International Game Technology PLC after the merger, is sure to draw a large crowd at G2E this month. Look for them at Booth #2139 at the Sands Convention Center. Here’s some of what you can expect to see there.

IGT

igt.com

G2E Booth #2139

When they think of IGT, most people think of Wheel of Fortune. IGT launched the popular Wheel of Fortune slots in 1996. It is said to be the most successful slot of all time, making 1,000 millionaires and paying out over $3 billion in jackpots throughout its history. There are more than 200 variations of the game in more than 200 countries.

This August 30, a new millionaire was crowned at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, known only at James M. The anonymous winner’s game, Wheel of Fortune Double Diamond, paid him $1,271,032. No wonder everybody wants to take a chance on the big wheel! The game that James M. won his million dollar prize on combined the popular Wheel with IGT’s long lasting signature game Double Diamonds. Double Diamonds was introduced by IGT in 1989, and it is the favorite of older gamers everywhere.

This year IGT’s will showcase its newest 3D combination of both of its winning concepts in  Wheel of Fortune Double Diamonds 3D.  No 3-D glasses are needed to play this game. The company is expanding its 3D series with two new titles: Wheel of Fortune Gold Spins Double Diamonds, and Wheel of Fortune New Orleans with Mardi Gras inspired game play.

Here’s something IGT has for you younger viewers. The company is continuing its tradition of bringing pop culture’s most touted licensed brands to the casino and convention floor. They are partnering with the number one brand in entertainment news to create TMZ Video Slots. I have to confess I didn’t know what TMZ was, but I’ve looked it up, and you can even watch it on YouTube if you like. TMZ has been a popular source of celebrity news for a decade. IGT claims this interactive theme will introduce never-before-seen gaming technology, putting players in the middle of one of TV’s most famous newsrooms and on tour to several hot Hollywood celebrity hangouts. 

IGT will also introduce Netflix’s most watched series with House of Cards Power and Money Video Slots and House of Cards Welcome to Washington . There are also some new Orange is the New Black and Avatar games to look for at G2E.  Ellen DeGeneres will have a new game too, Have a Little Fun. I hope you do,

Another cornerstone of IGT Success is Video Poker. I have a lengthy post you can link to published on May 19 titled Mega Progressive Video Poker if you are interested in the history of Video Poker and Bally’s big mistake giving away the game. At G2E you’ll want to see Ultimate X Poker Tournament Game in IGT’s dedicated in-booth tournament arena. The company will lead dynamic demonstrations  of its products under IGT’s premium tournament technology line, TournXtreme. If Video Poker is your game, be sure to stop by Booth #2139 and check it out.

Class II games and live and electronic table games (ETGs) from LT Game, a subsidiary of Paradise Entertainment, will also all have dedicated areas in IGT’s booth.

Desktop and mobile gaming are not being neglected by IGT. In addition to the new online poker, casino, sports betting, and bingo platforms, the company will demonstrate OnPremise, an integrated mobile technology solution that enables players to wager via a single mobile app anytime within set boundaries. Their Play-for-Fun solution allows players to play with virtual currency, positioning them for the expansion of the Real Money Gaming segment. IGT will be spotlighting its Double Down Casino. The future isn’t just coming. It’s here.

Still to come are Konami, Scientific Games, and Video King. Stay tuned for more G2E Previews.

Video Poker Class II Machines

We’ve spent a lot of time in the past few days talking about the differences in Class II (Bingo type) and Class III (Vegas type) slot machines. But slots aren’t the only gaming devices people play in the casinos. There are also video poker (VP) machines, and these VP machines are also either Class II or Class III games under IGRA. The odds, the playing strategy, the outcomes are different for these two types of machines. I won’t repeat the prior information about Class II slots. You can take a look at Parts 1 - 4 of the series on Tribal Casinos if you haven’t already done so or if you want a review. Today we only play Poker, video poker. 

I always try to throw in a little history when I write so you can learn a little something in what you read. Today’s history lesson, class, is a review of the origins of video poker. Some of you might have read some of this when I originally wrote about video poker in May.

In the mid-70s, in the infancy of personal computers, a gaming distributor for Bally’s named Si Redd had an idea for a new game. The game he pitched to company executives in Chicago was video poker. Bally’s rejected his idea of an electronic version of draw poker. They decided they did not want to take a chance and branch out from slots to a whole new untested game. Si Redd had confidence the electronic version of the popular card game would be a success. He convinced Bally to let him take the patent on video poker, probably one of the biggest mistakes Bally Gaming ever made, and as they say, the rest is history.

Within months, Si had made a deal with Fortune Coin Company in Reno to form a new company known as Sircoma (Si Redds Coin Machines) and to mass produce the new video poker machines for him. By 1981 the new game was the most popular new addition to casinos everywhere. Just a year later, Sircoma went public with a name change instantly recognizable to casino players everywhere - IGT, International Game Technology. Soon after, IGT introduced video slot machines following the video poker machine’s success. 

Myriad variations of the popular VP games are found today on casino floors everywhere. Your machine may even let you play many, many games with the same spin. Video poker games are popular with players for two reasons. First, your money usually lasts longer playing video poker than it does playing slots. Second, and more importantly, players can actually beat the machine if they know the odds and make wise decisions about which machine to choose and about which cards to keep and which cards to throw away. 

What machine should you choose when you sit down to play video poker? If you don’t want to play Class II VP, make sure you don’t choose one with a tiny bingo card anywhere on the machine’s display! If you see a bingo card on your display, your odds of winning will not come from the odds of randomly drawing cards from a 52 card deck. They will be the odds of filling a certain pattern on a bingo card.

If you’ve picked a Class III - Vegas style VP game, take a look at the payable for the machine. You can determine the expected return (ER) of your machine from the figures there. There are 2,598,960 hands of 5 cards that can be produced with a 52-card deck. The random number generator in Class III video poker machines is set to simulate the probabilities of drawing any one of these hands. Because this is a fixed probability, the house gets its edge by adjusting the payable of the machines. By comparing payables you can choose the one with the best return. My thanks to slot fanatic Random $$ Slots who taught me how to do this. 

The key to the Jacks or Better game is in the payout for the Full House and for the Flush. The very best machine to play will be one that pays 9 for a Full House and 6 for a Flush, a 9/6 machine. This machine, according to blogger Bill Burton, has an expected return of 99.5%.

Casinos lower the payout and increase their hold by reducing the coins paid for the Full House and Flush. The average machine will pay an 8/5 return - 8 for a Full House and 5 for a Flush. When they do this, the expected return drops to 97.3%

When the payout for a full house and a flush are lowered to 6/5, the expected return will drop to 95%.  A quick rule of thumb is that the payout will be reduced by 1.1% for each 1 coin reduction from either hand. 

You will have no idea what the expected return for a Class II video poker machine is. The results are predetermined based on the bingo game. Mathematicians at IGT are able to calculate the odds for millions of different bingo patterns on a bingo card. Theoretically they can choose a bingo pattern that mimics the odds of getting any winning hand from a RNG in a Class III machine. But keep in mind when playing Class II video poker machines that Native American tribes are sovereign nations. Their casinos are not subject to state regulation or to public reporting of their machines’ return percentages. They could set their payouts to anything they want as long as they could stay competitive.

What should be your strategy playing these games? With a Class III machine, the skill of the player can determine the outcome of the game. The more you know, the better your choices, and the more you can win. You strategy is to learn as much as you can about the odds of achieving various results. There are a lot of sites on the internet that will help you do this. One good one is The Wizard of Odds written by Michael Schakelford. He’s got a lot to share — odds, calculators, analyses, anything you want or need to master the game. 

As the Gambler says: “You got to know when to hold, ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run…”  The more you know, the better you’ll do. on a Class III game.

However, skill has nothing to do with the outcome in Class II video poker. The result is determined by the results of a ball draw, not by a machine’s random number generator. Poker knowledge and playing skill means nothing because the result of your hand is already predetermined by the pattern of the winning bingo game. Therefore, deciding what cards to hold and what cards to draw does nothing to improve your chances of winning. 

In fact, if you make a mistake, intentionally or accidentally, and throw away the wrong cards, if your display can not bring up the cards required by the ball draw, a strange thing happens. A “magic genie” will appear on the screen and change your choice to the one required by the bingo-ball draw.  If the bingo game determines you win a certain prize, you will get it with this special feature, regardless of what you do.

I guess this might be good for the novice player. Correcting a playing mistake and showing the player the optimum strategy might help him become better at the game.  Who knows, it might even improve my poker game. Maybe I should look for a Class II VP machine and see.  :)

But if you are actually skilled in the game, avoid these Class II games like the plague and stick to the Class III poker games with the best full house/flush returns. If you are really good, you might want to forget them both and switch to table games instead. 

Mega Progressive Video Poker

     In the mid-70s, in the infancy of personal computers, Si Redd, a gaming distributor for Ballys, had an idea for a new game that he pitched to the company executives in Chicago: Video Poker. They rejected his idea of an electronic version of draw poker, deciding they did not want to take a chance and branch out from slots to a whole new untested game. He convinced them to let him take the patent on video poker, probably one of the biggest mistakes Bally Gaming ever made, and as they say, the rest is history.

     Within months, Si had made a deal with Fortune Coin Company in Reno to form a new company known as Sircoma (Si Redds Coin Machines) and mass produce the new video poker machines for him. By 1981 the new game was the most popular new addition to casinos everywhere. Just a year later, the company went public with a name change instantly recognizable to casino players everywhere - IGT, International Game Technology. Soon the first video slot machines were introduced following the video poker machine’s success. Myriad variations of the popular game are found today on casino floors everywhere. 

     IGT is coming out with a bigger and better paying version of video poker this year: the Super Times Pay Poker Mega Progressive. This wide area progressive is designed for interstate links between New Jersey and Nevada, New Jersey and South Dakota, and the Native American link: Tribal Casinos. The game was initially rolled out March 28 and 29 of this year at the Golden Nuggets Casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. The unveiling included special events, merchandise giveaways, and free play at both places.

     When you play the poker progressive, you are playing three hands at once. An extra coin is required for each of the three hands to activate the multiplier feature so it takes 18 coins to be eligible for the big reward. That’s $4.50 a spin for the quarter machines, four times that much for the dollar ones.

     Jackpots start at $50,000 on 25-cent games and $200,000 on dollar machines. A royal flush, which usually pays $1,000 for a 25-cent game and $4,000 on a dollar machine without multipliers or progressives, can theoretically pay as much as $193,179 on quarters and $772,716 on dollars according to IGT and slot guru John Grochowski in CasinoCityTimes.

     Statistically, according to Mr. Grochowski, royals occur roughly once every 40,000 hands and the multiplier once every 15 hands. The multiplier can be 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, or 10 times the usual pay. One in 25 of these multipliers would be the times 10 multiplier. Payback, according to his article is between 91.7% and 92.4%. 

     So your chances aren’t really that good — but then neither are your chances to win the MegaBucks or the State Lottery. And still we try. The Southern California Gaming Guide says to look for the Super Times Poker Mega Progressive in a casino near you within the next six months.

San Manuel Native American Casino's Newest Millionaire

     I always advise gamblers not to play the mega progressive slot machines because there is so little chance you’ll ever hit the jackpot, and it takes max coin bets to hit the big win. I imagine there’s a happy gamer in Highland, CA this week that is glad he didn’t take that advice! 

     IGT reported this morning that a lucky player at San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino won the mega-payout April 29 on a favorite IGT Megabucks game “Double Diamond Deluxe.” The winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, takes home the biggest jackpot won at the casino since 2006, when a guest won $7,329,995.01 on IGT’s “Wheel of Fortune” progressive. His $3,285,849 win is the third largest paid out by San Manuel since the casino opened in 1986.

     Those of you who own my book “Spin to Win: Your Guide to Winning Penny Slots” know that the California Progressive slots are all linked together on a different system than the Nevada ones. The game doesn’t cross state lines, so IGT runs separate Megabucks games with separate independent jackpots in New Jersey, Mississippi, and the California Native American Casinos as well as the big one in Nevada.

    There used to be a website that I referred my readers to where they could see the current  jackpots for all the Nevada progressives at any time. It was a lot of fun to watch the numbers roll up and to dream about maybe winning the Megabucks mega-jackpot someday. 

     Since the site has changed, I have found another link: igtjackpots.com that will give you the same information for the current jackpot figures for the various IGT progressive games. 

     If you readers from Southern California plan to visit San Manuel to see if lightening can strike twice - strike four times actually I guess - I wish you luck. I’ve never been to San Manuel. Maybe I’ll  use this as an excuse to visit and try my luck too. 

     Maybe Shinobiyt and VegasLowRoller will have the Megabucks “Double Diamond Deluxe” challenge for their LV vs. NA competition one of these weeks! I wonder how long their $20 will last if they do!

Slots for a New Generation

    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.