NEW SLOTS PARADE
The COVID-19 crisis did not interrupt game development efforts of slot manufacturers, who have a parade of new games waiting for when you return to the casino
By Frank Legato
Chances are, you did not go to your favorite casino during the past year anywhere near as often as in 2019. If and when you did return after the COVID-19-induced casino shutdowns, you found a different slot floor than last time you visited.
Every other machine disabled. Plexiglas barriers everywhere. Waiting for cleaning crews to disinfect your favorite game.
But one thing has not changed: There are new games waiting for you. The major slot manufacturers may have moved to Zoom for virtual meetings, but the creative forces continued. Game designers worked from home, tested their games in near-empty buildings, and waited for the opportunity to get them to players as the casinos were ready to again renew their floors.
We normally offer this feature to highlight new slot games that were introduced at the Global Gaming Expo, the regular fall trade event of the gaming industry. That event did not occur this past fall, at least physically. However, the usual crop of new games was displayed virtually, with video demonstrations accessed by the slot manufacturers. Some of the slot-makers took to the road to display their new games in person, salespeople and slot officials properly masked and distanced.
The result is that as the casinos gradually move toward normalcy this year, there will be no shortage of new games, new cabinets and new ways to play waiting for the customers. For this reason, we are offering our annual new game showcase now, in March. By the time the casinos return to full capacity, many of the games you will see on the following pages will be in place and waiting for you.
So here, in alphabetical order by manufacturer, are the best of the new games you will find when you return this year to your favorite casino. Stay safe, and enjoy the ride!
AGS
AGS worked through the pandemic to increase the footprint of the Orion family of cabinets, and to increase the game libraries of the two newest Orion cabinets— the Orion Rise, which features a 55- inch 4K LCD flat-screen monitor atop a standard dual-screen base; and the premium Orion Curve, which highlights 4K graphics on a 49- inch curved portrait-style monitor.
And then there’s the Starwall, the giant, freestanding video backdrop display for Orion Portrait cabinets that frames three or six Orion games in a stunning 4K video display that mimics the theme, colors and features of the game content on the Orion Portrait games. Measuring 8.5 feet tall by 5 feet deep, the merchandising display can frame a three-pack along a wall or a freestanding two- sided six-pack bank of games.
The inaugural suite of games for Starwall began with new versions of player favorites presented on the Orion Portrait cabinet— Golden Wins Deluxe and Jade Wins Deluxe. That will soon be followed by Piggy Wins and Grand Ox Wins, which are evolutions of Golden Wins Deluxe and Jade Wins Deluxe, and then some different play styles with Golden Dragon, Phoenix Magic and Lucky Panda.
Golden Wins Deluxe and Jade Wins Deluxe are new versions of the popular AGS titles featuring a wheel bonus that awards progressives, credit prizes, or a unique “coin grab” bonus that capitalizes on the 42-inch screen. Expanding reels are featured in a choose-your-volatility free-spin round.
In Golden Dragon, a multi-level progressive game featuring expanding reels and a jackpot prize wheel, the player collects credit prizes that accumulate at the bottom of the screen, won when the player lands a three-symbol-high dragon.
The games AGS has designed to fill the libraries of its newest stand-alone cabinets, the Orion Rise and Orion Curve, are similarly tailored to make the most of what each display has to offer.
The Orion Rise, the tallest cabinet AGS has on the market, will feature the upcoming theme Da Long Da Fa, part of the Blazing Wheels game family.
Blazing Wheels covers that big screen with dual spinning prize wheels. When the bottom wheel is triggered, the player spins for a credit prize, a progressive jackpot or an “Upgrade” symbol. The latter triggers the top wheel, for larger credit prizes or a progressive.
With the Orion Curve Premium configuration, another AGS player favorite is reprised in Rakin’ Bacon! Deluxe. The popular golden pig character becomes an emperor in the “Golden Blessings” free-spin round, in which a special symbol causes the reel set to expand to as high as seven rows with a 2X multiplier. In “Pirate Plunder,” the pig becomes a pirate for a match-three progressive round. For the Deluxe version, a “Boost” icon has been added to the picking field that increases the values of the four progressives.
The Curve was launched with Royal Phoenix and Sacred Dragon. Royal Phoenix features a hold-and- win feature, in which wilds stay in place while the remaining reels spin for bigger wins. Sacred Dragon features expanding wilds and a persistent feature in which the player collects yin-yang symbols, which transform into the top-paying dragon symbol.
Both games utilize the 49-inch 4K monitor for stunning 3D animation on the main game characters. Also on the Orion Curve is the Reel Tower series, and its inaugural game Jack’s Riches. The player collects Jack’s “magic beans” in a bonus that grows the “beanstalk” with a new set of reels. Up to four new reels can be revealed and played simultaneously with symbols transforming into the top- paying “golden bean.”
The Orion Portrait features Imperial 88 Tiger Lord and Peacock Beauty, which takes the hold-and- spin bonus to new levels with instant wins and multipliers.
Normally, the player would collect the credits for the accumulated coins when no coins appear for three spins, ending the feature. However, the feature in Imperial 88 includes a “Win Now” symbol that awards all accumulated bonus credits, keeping the coins in place to continue the feature— collecting again at the end of the bonus.
Ainsworth Game Technology
Last year, Ainsworth Game Technology was focused on riding the success of what has been one of the highest-earning game groups in the company’s history, the QuickSpin series. Quick- Spin games, which center around a frequent wheel bonus event, have multiplied as their popularity has increased.
Ainsworth’s other specialty is the traditional-style, high-denomination slot game. The QuickSpin series was augmented with higher-denomination entries to go with the low-volatility penny games in the market.
The cabinet ultimately destined for a softer launch a couple of months later is called the A-STAR Curve, a sleek 13- foot cabinet featuring a 43-inch floating infinity monitor under a 27-inch high- definition topper, with dynamic LED lighting and a state-of-the-art LCD button deck. The cabinet was launched with five exclusive games, starting with new versions of the first two hits in the QuickSpin series, Super Charged 7s Classic and Red Hot 7s Classic.
Last summer, those and two other games, Vault of Riches and Path to Wealth, debuted on the A- STAR Curve. Vault of Riches is a five-reel game featuring a bonus vault over reel symbols based on the portraits of presidents and Founding Fathers on cash bills. During the base game, a magnifying glass floats over the reels, randomly landing on spaces to award multipliers, free spins and wild symbols.
Path of Wealth is an Asian-style, 243-ways-to-win game featuring colorful high-resolution graphics. Above the reels is a horizontally situated board game around which the player travels during free- spin rounds, collecting credits, wild symbols and extra free games.
Finally, the company partnered with comedian George Lopez to create George Lopez Neighborhood Tour, featuring the performer’s comedy against a backdrop of a mariachi band, flaming wild symbols and other attractions. It also includes a wheel bonus.
Everi Holdings
Everi is launching games on the Empire MPX, Everi’s premium cabinet featuring a 43-inch flat-screen portrait monitor; the Empire DCX, a premium cabinet featuring dual curved 43-inch landscape-style LCD monitors; the Empire Arena, a banked product that features Everi’s E5527 cabinet (the numbers referring to a supersized 55-inch top monitor and 27-inch main game screen); and the new Empire Flex, a premium package featuring a 49-inch curved monitor, curved LED light bars and a high-quality sound system.
In the Player Classic high-denomination mechanical reel format is Diamond Lock, which takes what has been the strongest recent trend in video, the hold-and-respin game mechanic, and applies it to a high-denomination mechanical three-reel game.
Diamond Lock Ruby and Diamond Lock Sapphire are both three-reel, nine-line mechanical reel- spinners. On the Skyline version of the Player Classic mechanical reel-spinning cabinet, one of this year’s highlights has been Triple Jackpot Gems, which features three different wild symbols— including the 3X Triple Jackpot symbol, which triples the payoff when one lands in a win, multiplies the pay by nine with two in a win, and pays a progressive for three—the level depends on which of the nine paylines the three wilds land on.
On the Skyline Revolve platform— that’s the Skyline setup with a top bonus wheel added, home to past hits Casablanca and Penn & Teller—Everi is highlighting Gold Standard, which is a follow-up to the hit Cash Machine. Gold Standard uses the same numerical reel results as Cash Machine. For instance, 10-5-00 on the three reels returns the top $10,500 jackpot on the dollar game. The Gold Standard game adds a wheel bonus to the Cash Machine play mechanic.
Aristocrat Technologies
Many of Aristocrat’s new games this year are tied to new cabinet introductions. Perhaps the biggest splash will come from the Neptune Double cabinet, billed as the successor to the popular Arc Double cabinet that has become a fixture on slot floors with games like Buffalo Grand and Game of Thrones. The Neptune Double cabinet is a supercharged version of this format, with stacked, curved, 49-inch monitors replacing the dual 43-inch curved displays of the Arc Double.
The screens are angled in a way that the player can look straight up and see the top progressive meter, when seated in the custom-designed chair.
The Neptune Double debuted earlier this year with Crazy Rich Asians. Based on the 2018 romantic comedy hit from Warner Bros. about a Chinese-American professor and her boyfriend’s rich family in Singapore, the new game takes full advantage of the stacked 49-inch 4K monitors to deliver remarkable quality in footage from the film.
According to the company, Aristocrat will soon launch other major titles on the Neptune Double, including a new entry in the Game of Thrones series.
Meanwhile, Aristocrat is launching new games on its MarsX cabinet, the core cabinet launched last year, featuring dual 27-inch 4K displays. One of this year’s offerings on the MarsX is a new version of the legendary Cash Express multiprogressive slot. Cash Express Luxury Line features the familiar four-level progressive supported by three of the company’s highest-earning base games—Buffalo, Timber Wolf and 50 Lions.
The series is a direct descendant of the revolutionary progressive of the same name that in the early 2000s launched Hyperlink, in which random players were awarded progressive jackpots after the iconic steam locomotive chugged on the screen.
The Luxury Line version incorporates the “Cash-on-Reels” feature, in which a “Gold Star” symbol returns instant credit awards or “train jackpot” symbols that correspond to the colors of the Grand, Major, Minor and Mini progressives. The Gold Train symbols award repeat jackpot wins.
This year, the MarsX evolves into a new format, the Mars Portrait, which features all of the advanced capabilities and amenities of the MarsX, only centered on a 42-inch flatscreen portrait monitor.
The new Mars Portrait cabinet was launched recently with Buffalo Link, a game that draws on the main features of two of Aristocrat’s most iconic brands, Buffalo and Dragon Link—itself a sequel to Lightning Link, the game that pioneered the “Hold & Spin” game mechanic now being featured by most slot manufacturers in one form or another.
The Helix XT cabinet, the portrait cabinet with the curved 4K monitor released in 2018, this year hosts Buffalo Chief, which adds a white buffalo symbol to the iconic brand.
Aruze Gaming America
Aruze this year is rolling out new games in its award-winning Muso Triple-27 cabinet— its new Muso Curve-43 Hybrid, which had been launched early in 2019; and the community-style Muso Limited.
At the head of the list for Aruze, though, is an electronic table game—Roll to Win Craps, the radical hybrid electronic craps table that places electronic wagering stations on a standard table that features a back display formed by a series of LED panels. Technically an electronic table game, it is quite possibly the one ETG that plays most like the live version of a game in the pit. The panels can be programmed to display each point, each prop bet or hard-ways bet, and even promotional messages for the casino itself.
The “Hot Shooter” side bet builds on the excitement of a player’s sustained roll. All players placing this bet win jackpots together. There also is a “Power Odds” feature the casino can enable, which randomly increases the odds on some of the bets.
On the slot side, Aruze this year continues to launch new games on the Muso series of cabinets, starting with the distinctive Muso Limited. This community-style format is home to Hawaiian Fishing, the third game in the runaway-hit series of community-style games that started with Paradise Fishing and continued with Amazon Fishing.
The “Fishing” series became famous for the spectacle of its adjacent 55-inch top monitors, which, in a community bonus round, formed a giant fish “habitat,” allowing players to use a controller that mimics an actual fishing rod as players seek to earn credits by snagging fish that swim across the giant display formed by the adjacent monitors.
This year, Aruze follows up Hawaiian Fishing with a different style of game in Mad Mountain Riches. The giant display in this game is filled with an animated volcano character that comes to life as each player triggers an individual bonus.
During primary game play, the “Mad Mountain” character will spew “Lava Rock Wilds” that land on individual player screens. Randomly, the Mad Mountain will erupt in a lava flow that sends a “Collect Feature” to an individual screen, initiating free spins during which the object is to collect emerald symbols, each bearing a credit amount. There also is a wheel bonus that increases in value as the player wagers more.
Aruze plans a third game on the Muso Limited, called Wild Force, featuring a new wheel feature. On the Muso Curve-43 Hybrid cabinet is Fantastic Dragons, a hold-and-respin style of game that gives the player the opportunity to “buy” features. A minimum bet of 50 credits activates a single three-by-five reel set, but 100 credits buys a second reel set, allowing the player to play both sets simultaneously. A 150-credit wager adds orbs that fly onto the screen to activate special bonus features. The orbs also trigger a “collect” feature for credit icons collected in the hold-and-respin feature.
Aruze also is launching two games to its Pachincoin series of games on the Muso Curve, launched at G2E 2019 with the game Jackpot Circus. The two new games, Mr. Galaxy and Money Lab, feature unique new takes on the Pachincoin game, which combines the Japanese pachinko game with a pinball game mechanic.
All three games in the series include a “Break the Bank” feature, which releases several balls at once, causing a cacophony of prizes as all the balls make their way through the game screen. The bonus trigger is different in the three games. In the space-themed Mr. Galaxy, all awards can be doubled in the feature.
Gaming Arts
Early last year, Gaming Arts placed its first games in California in the Pop’N Pays series, a group of fun games with inventive mechanics and high-volatility math. Later in the year, the company began delivering the Da Fa Ba Series of Asian-style games.
The Dice Seeker group of games that use rolling dice as bonus game mechanics was next. But COVID-19 intervened.
This year, Gaming Arts picks right up as Dice Seeker is launching with three inaugural games— Viking Invasion, Heroes & Villains and Flappers & Dippers. All have a persistent dice feature. When die symbols land on any of the reels, the pips—1 through 6—will “hit” a symbol or character pictured above that reel, reducing the hit points on that character from six down to zero. When the symbol reaches zero, it bursts to reveal a credit prize, free games or a picking bonus.
One of this year’s biggest hits stands to be Casino Wizard.
Casino Wizard offers video versions of blackjack, baccarat, craps and roulette, with the same rules and game play as the live table games, and with operator-configurable elements such as craps odds, blackjack rules and single, double and even triple zero for roulette.
At a time when many customers are still hesitant to return to crowded live table games, this provides a perfect alternative.
Gaming Arts is launching several new game groups, including features such as the Halotop, a round LED topper for video games that adds a patent-pending persistent-style wheel feature. The first game group using this feature is the Inferno Wheel series.
Inaugural games are Aztec Awards, featuring a three-level progressive and a free-games feature offering up to 99 free spins and 50X multipliers; and Polynesian Pays, with a choose-your-volatility free-games feature offering up to 10X multipliers and a multi-level jackpot.
Other new game groups include the Wu Series of Asian-style games, featuring a lighthearted lion character in games like Dancing Happy Lion, which includes random expanding wilds and retriggering free games; and Dancing Little Dragons, which features a choice of volatility in the free- spin round.
IGT
IGT this year is launching exclusive suites of games to accompany its collection of new slot cabinets.
The PeakSlant cabinets can perhaps best be described as portrait cabinets with the comfort and ergonomics of slant-tops. The PeakSlant49 premium cabinet features a progressively curved 49- inch display and advanced technology throughout. It was launched last summer with the inaugural game Fortune Coin Boost!, which will be followed up with a content pipeline that includes Bubble Blast Link and Dragon Lights.
Fortune Coin Boost! is a sequel to Fortune Coin, which features a five-level linked progressive jackpot, a progressive picking bonus, and “Credit Boost” coin symbols in the primary game that increase credit amounts in winning combinations by 1X, 2X (“Super Credit Boost” symbol) or 3X (“Mega Credit Boost”). In the progressive pick bonus, Credit Boost coins can increase progressive levels or remove the lowest progressive from the field.
Bubble Blast Link is a game series that has been an IGT success in Australia for several years. Base games including Treasures of Atlantis, Genie’s Wishes and Spells N Whistles all feature the “Bubble Catcher” game mechanic, in which bubbles float over the reel set during a spin, and pay off if they land on a pearl symbol, with credit awards, “Bubble Multipliers” or free games. In the jackpot feature, the player can win several credit awards in addition to a progressive.
Add a wheel to the PeakSlant49 and you have the PeakSlant with Wheel, home to Wheel of Fortune Mystery Link, the first version of IGT’s venerable game-show franchise to include a hold-and-respin bonus feature and player-selectable multi-denom function.
The PeakSlant32 cabinet is a core video cabinet featuring three 32-inch full-HD monitors, all integrated for a seamless appearance under dynamic attract content. Inaugural games include core video offerings Wolf Run Gold, Treasure Box and Wu Dragon.
The first is a sequel to one of IGT’s most popular games, enhanced with modern features and more advanced animation. All the popular features of the original Wolf Run are present, including the wild Howling Wolf, with special bonus features including a “Wilds Added” sequence that can randomly add up to 16 gold wild symbols to the reels.
Treasure Box is a linked progressive with two base games centered on its bonus, which introduces a new persistent feature, and Wu Dragon is a clone of the popular theme Star Goddess.
The other Peak cabinet, the PeakBarTop, is gaining steam after being released shortly before COVID-19 hit. The advanced bar-top unit adds the company’s most popular video reel slots to the standard video poker and keno games.
ne more new product in the Peak hardware group is a new compact Peak Terminal for IGT’s portfolio of electronic table games.
Other standouts in IGT’s lineup of new premium video offerings include several games that employ the popular persistent-play mechanic in a variety of ways.
One of the highlights on the company’s CrystalCurve cabinet is Regal Riches, which introduces the new Progressive Wilds mechanic. In the base game, Blue Gems increment the Guaranteed Wilds feature, which can randomly fill the main video screen with wild symbols. In the free-spin feature, special gem symbols increment the number of wild symbols in Minor, Major and Mega Free Games pots. When triggered, the feature will award the corresponding number of wilds for that pot, and distributes these wilds across 10 free games in an explosion of wild placements that can result in huge wins.
IGT has not left its collection of mechanical reel-spinning games out of the new game mix. Focus on high- and mid-denomination continues with the nine-line 3X Wild Diamonds and 15-line 5x5x5x Jackpots, while low-denomination features several new games that add unique twists to traditional games.
Finally, the video poker field continues to be dominated by IGT. For the first time, IGT is placing video poker favorites on the CrystalSlant premium cabinet, creating a new play experience for video poker.
New video poker games this year are typical of IGT’s strategy of offering various bonus features in exchange for increased bets of six or 10 coins per hand. (The higher wagers fund the bonus features without the need to alter the pay schedule.)
Standouts this year include Super Hot Roll Poker and Ultimate X Gold.
The original Hot Roll Poker uses a random roll of video dice to award a multiplier on the deal of certain hands. The total on the dice awards a multiplier of up to 12X, which applies to all hands in play. The new version, Super Hot Roll Poker, applies the multiplier to both the current hand and the following hand.
Ultimate X Gold adds a similar persistent feature. Instead of applying the multiplier to a specific hand, it applies the multiplier to a hand on the pay schedule, which sticks until it hits.
Incredible Technologies
Incredible Technologies is concentrating this year on finishing the rollouts of new games that started at the beginning of this year. Many were out in the market only briefly. Those games will go out through the end of this year and early next year.
Those new offerings can be found in all of IT’s diverse cabinet styles, including the large-format V55 cabinet. Examples of this year’s releases on the V55 include two sets of sister games—Prize Pool Cactus Cash and Fierce Dragon; and Happy 8’s and Jolly 8’s.
The Prize Pool and Fierce Dragon games use the giant monitor above the reels to display a prize pool grid of 20 credit amounts, mirroring the 20 spaces on the reel array. In the primary game, gold “Prize Pool” scatter symbols on the reels increase the credit amounts on the corresponding prize- pool spots. Prizes remain in place and continue to grow as the gold scatter symbols land. If the player lands four Prize Pool scatters of any color, the corresponding amounts on the grid are instantly awarded.
Happy 8’s and Jolly 8’s both offer persistent-play features. The games’ main primary-game feature is “Scatter Blast,” an innovative accumulation mechanic for bonuses, progressives and added wilds over a cycle of eight spins.
On the eighth spin, all wilds are released to the 40-line reel set below for potentially huge wins. Any progressive awards or bonus meters that have been filled with their respective scatters are also awarded. After eight spins, all bonus and progressive collections are reset to start the cycle over.
On the Infinity Pilot, designed with a handy privacy chamber, one of the highlights is Crazy Money Double Deluxe. A launch title in the Double Deluxe family, the game uses the immersive setup to display a 13-line reel set including Double Deluxe Wheel Scatters, triggering a wheel that awards free spins, bonus credits plus a respin, or a progressive jackpot.
The bonuses include the interactive Money Catch bonus, where players must tap floating money for credit awards.
On the Infinity Summit cabinet, one standout is Money Roll. It is part of the Roller Wheel game family, which features two progressive jackpots that scale with the bet and three jackpots that scale with the bet level.
Konami Gaming
Konami is rolling out games in its Dimension series of cabinets. The Dimension 49J, with its 49-inch curved portrait monitor, was launched along with one of its marquee titles this year, All Aboard, at California’s Morongo Casino. (That debut occurred in mid-March. Within a week, the entire industry would be shut down.)
The brief debut of the Dimension 49J picked up where it left off when casinos reopened, by which time Konami was ready to introduce the two sister cabinets in the series, the Dimension 27 core cabinet and the Dimension 49 flat-screen portrait cabinet.
The Dimension 49J cabinet spawned the development of All Aboard, its inaugural title. Base games Dynamite Dash and Piggy Pennies feature a free-game bonus and a persistent holdand- spin bonus feature, the latter tied to the linked progressive jackpot.
The main feature in both games, the All Aboard feature, is triggered by six or more scattered train symbols. When the feature is triggered, all the train symbols transform into credit awards. After the win is registered, the credit awards remain in place on the reel array and all other spots become independent reels, respinning for three free spins.
Each time an additional train symbol lands, it reveals a new credit award, and all of the credits on the board are awarded again.
Two more titles for the Dimension 49J, Silent Hill and Ocean Spin, are set for release by the end of the year. The former is part of a series of games based on Konami’s own “Silent Hill” video game depicting a fictional ghost town; and Ocean Spin features synchronized animation effects, spanning into the topper and across multiple game cabinets. Throughout primary play, bubbles of potential bonus opportunities float seamlessly across game screens of every connected machine.
The Dimension 27 cabinet features three 27-inch high-definition displays, with all the modern capabilities of the Dimension 49J, like an interactive button deck, dual bash buttons, a USB port and a wireless charging pad.
The Dimension 27 will host the SeleXion series of multi-game machines and Konami favorites like the Quick Strike series and Mystical Temple, but will also add new originals.
Games will also be offered on the cabinet in the Quad Spin Series, on which the player can play up to four reel sets simultaneously.
The Dimension 49 is the flat-screen version of the cabinet featuring a 49-inch 4K portrait monitor and an optional 27-inch topper. Among the launch games for the new portrait cabinet are Guardians of the Aztec, a linked progressive series featuring Konami’s “Strike Zone” mechanic; Quick Strike Extreme, a link based on the Quick Strike series; and Treasure Ball Duo Luck, which takes the original Treasure Ball game to the next level with integrated progressive win opportunities.
Scientific Games
Scientific Games is highlighting games in three new cabinets. The first is Kascada, the next generation of the popular TwinStar J43, the cabinet that began the trend of J-curved monitors. Kascada presents a modernized version of the J43, with 4K graphics on the 43-inch monitor featuring an innovative new lighting package.
Kascada is launching with several inaugural games based on some of Scientific Games’ most celebrated brands, including Coin Combo, a progression of Duo Fu Duo Cai, and Monopoly Money Grab, featuring one of the most successful slot themes of all time.
Other games include Ultimate Fire Link Power 4, a multi-game unit allowing four games to be played simultaneously.
Scientific Games has “new flavors” of its hit game 88 Fortunes on tap this year, including 88 Fortunes-Lucky Gong, which takes a page from the legendary game in the addition of “Golden Gongs” to an enhanced free-games bonus feature on an alternate set of reels.
Other popular Scientific Games brands are extended in various forms. On the TwinStar 5RM five- reel mechanical cabinet is Dancing Drums Reels, a mechanical-reel version of one of SG’s top video slots.
The TwinStar 5RM also hosts a new series called Locked & Loaded, a mechanical-reel adaptation of the popular Lock It Link hold-and-respin series.
On the TwinStar Matrix cabinet is a new entry in the Penny Pier series of carnival-style games, which feature bonuses based on carnival games like “Test Your Strength” and “Drop ‘N’ Slide,” a bonus based on the kind of arcade game that has mechanical pushers shove coins to the player. (Think the old “Flip It” slot machine of the 1980s.)
New game mechanics are debuting on several games, including Cash Burst, which features a mechanic in which bubbles float over the game screen until matching up with Cash Burst symbols to award credits and multipliers.
Novomatic Americas
Novomatic Americas has actually increased its product output this year. One highlight is Golden Seas, a swashbuckling pirate-themed game and the fourth entry in the wildly popular Thunder Cash multi-level jackpot family, with two popular bonus events, including a “Coin Respin” lock-and-spin feature.
Novomatic’s Money Party link progressive family is also expanding—its Fruity Fruity and Juicy Juicy games joining Thunder Cash in the progressive offerings. Both base games are loaded with fruit symbols. The success of that series warranted a third title, Yummy Yummy, now in the pipeline.
Novomatic has also released a family of stand-alone progressive titles in its Asian Aviary series. Eternal Mandarin Ducks, Royal Crane and Noble Peacock offer richly detailed, jewel-toned graphics, and a lock-and-spin feature with a bit of a twist, including a coin-filled crimson envelope that can trigger bonuses, free spins and jackpots.
In late 2019, Novomatic introduced Dancing Tiger and Dancing Lantern to its portfolio. The latest evolutions of its successful Asian Fortunes game, the games feature symbols with timeless appeal: glowing lanterns, ferocious tigers, and an ancient emperor with a potful of money. The games’ jackpot mechanics and entertaining trigger features are designed to keep players playing.
In addition, Novomatic’s Ji Deng Gao Zhao link will be introduced later this year with Lucky Trail, a Pick & Win progressive in which a lucky lantern lights the way to fortune.
