CELEBRATE THE PIG
AGS continues to grow the family of Rakin’ Bacon games, continuously finding new ways to feature the game’s main character, “Cornsquealius”
If you’re a fan of games from slot-maker AGS, there’s no doubt you’ve seen Cornsquealius. In fact, you’re probably delighted when you see him.
Cornsquealius is a golden pig who pops up, lands on reels and grows fatter when coins travel from the reels up to his tummy. He’s the mascot of the hit AGS game series Rakin’ Bacon, and players can’t get enough of him— so much so that AGS keeps finding new ways to use him.
Rakin’ Bacon first appeared in 2018, featuring the cute golden pig in a little top hat. There was a symbol-driven free-spin round in which the player could choose the volatility by selecting the number of rows for the reel array in the bonus—more rows meant fewer free spins, but more ways to win on each spin. There also was the first inkling of what’s come to be known as the pot-style bonus—in this case, the pot was the pig, who would get fatter as coins traveled up to the image from the reels, until it burst to trigger a jackpot picking bonus.
As the pig grew, the top hat looked smaller and smaller in a hilarious effect. Players loved the character, which AGS eventually dubbed Cornsquealius as more and more versions of Rakin’ Bacon were released. He wore a pirate hat in Rakin’ Bacon Deluxe Pirate Plunder. He was a pharaoh in Rakin’ Bacon Sahara, a Greek god in Rakin’ Bacon Odyssey.
The theme has become so popular that casinos often throw special events when a new version is launched. On Sept. 5, the Peppermill in Reno was set to hold a festive “Rakin’ Bacon Family Reunion” event featuring slot influencers, pig-themed drinks, light bites and even an ice sculpture of Cornsquealius.
The event is meant to celebrate the release of three new Rakin’ Bacon game families. And as these games show, AGS continues to find clever new ways that players can interact with Cornsquealius as each new game is released.
Rakin’ Bacon Link
One of the three new games, Rakin’ Bacon Link, demonstrates how Cornsquealius is warming up to the most popular slot game features of the day—not to mention how the golden pig continues to find new ways to entertain us, and to give us lots of money.
The evidence that players are going to enjoy this game starts with the cabinet on which it is presented. It is the launch game for a new AGS cabinet, the Spectra SL49 Premium. It is a hybrid—a comfortable slant- top configuration with a 49-inch 4K curved portrait monitor.
“It’s a slant-top cabinet that is a little more ergonomic for players,” comments Mark DeDeaux, general manager and senior vice president of slots for AGS. “It provides more comfort for seating, and has a handsome, robust button deck. All of those things provide comfort and are very functional for the customer if they’re playing and they’ve got other things with them—a phone, a drink or whatever. There’s lots of space on the button deck.”
He adds that you’ll be able to spot it from across the floor. “From an aesthetic standpoint, it’s one of the tallest cabinets we’ve ever made, with an integrated topper on the 49-inch curved monitor display,” he says. “It really stands tall, and has beautiful lighting treatments.”
So find the game and settle in for a comfortable session, because this game is loads of fun.
The base game is a five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot. The game retains the popular free-spin feature from the original Rakin’ Bacon. When the feature is triggered, the player chooses the volatility of the bonus event— 15 free spins on the regular three-by-five array with 243 ways to win on each spin; 10 spins on a four-by-five array, the extra row resulting in 1,024 ways to win; or five free spins on a five-by-five array, the five rows yielding 3,125 ways to win.
DeDeaux notes that in both the primary and free-game play, Rakin’ Bacon Link also repeats one of the original game’s strongest features—a preponderance of five-of-a-kind pays.
“There are lots of opportunities to get really good base game pays with five of a kind,” he says. “That’s what we consider the bread and butter of Rakin’ Bacon.”
The heart of the game, though, is the hold-and-spin bonus, and the Cornsquealius character figures prominently in this feature. First, the single collection pot, in the form of the golden pig, provides a second way to trigger the bonus.
The regular way to trigger the bonus is by landing six cash-on-reels coins scattered on the reel array. However, during primary-game play, coins from the reels travel up to fatten the pig until it bursts at random. When that happens, Cornsquealius throws down enough coins to the reels to complete the six required to trigger the hold-and-spin event.
The golden pig also features prominently in the hold-and-spin feature. During the three-spin cycle, the player looks for cash-on-reels coin symbols, a “Jackpot” symbol and Cornsquealius.
The feature proceeds in the normal manner, locking coins and jackpot symbols in place for three spins, returning the spin meter to three as long as another of those symbols lands.
However, when Cornsquealius lands in the feature, the pig absorbs the values of all cash-on-reel symbols on the screen, becoming one new cash-on-reels symbol. He then sends the Jackpot symbol spinning until it lands on one of the lower-level jackpots—static bonuses of $10 (Mini), $25 (Minor) and $100 (Major), plus the secondary progressive, resetting at $800 (Mega).
The jackpot amount is absorbed into the big cash-on-reels award formed when the pig absorbed the other symbols, and the reel symbol returns to the generic “Jackpot.” All the other cash-on-reels coins remain in place with their original values. If Cornsquealius lands again, the process repeats—another collection of all the cash-on-reels values, and another spin of the Jackpot symbol.
“Cornsquealius provides two really exciting elements to the cash-on- reels feature,” says DeDeaux. “If you had 10 symbols worth 10 credits, you’d have 100 credits. If he lands, now you get 200 credits. But in addition to that, the other really fun and beneficial thing for the player is that if you have a progressive symbol when Cornsquealius lands, the symbol will flip around and land on one of the progressive amounts and attach that to the value of his symbol. It also keeps that progressive symbol in play so that if you land another Cornsquealius, you’ll win multiple jackpots.”
That jackpot symbol will spin once more when the feature ends, so landing it within the hold-and-spin feature guarantees at least two jackpots.
DeDeaux adds that the fact the other cash-on-reel symbols remain in place means the collections don’t impede the progress of the hold-and- spin sequence toward the ultimate goal of filling all 15 reel spots with cash-on-reels or jackpots, which triggers the top Grand jackpot, resetting at $10,000.
The Family Grows
Rakin’ Bacon Link joins the other new games to grow this franchise family for AGS to new heights. Among the other new games in the family is Rakin’ Bacon Cash Combo, on the jumbo Spectra SL75+, which uses the massive 75-inch monitor to great effect. Three pots above the reels trigger enhancements to the main holdand- spin feature. As with the Link version, when one or more of the pots bursts, Cornsquealius throws down enough coin symbols to trigger the main feature.
The pots are marked “Grow,” “Extra” and “Collect,” each adding an enhancement to the hold-and-spin bonus. Each will grow until bursting to trigger the main feature, or randomly, two or all three of the pots will trigger the feature with all the enhancements added.
Rakin’ Bacon Triple Oink Soda Fountains and Rakin’ Bacon Triple Oink San Shen Zhu, on the new Spectra SL49+ cabinet, is another three-pot game, with a ’50s diner theme. It features a trigger for enhancements similar to the well-known Triple Coin Treasures. In this case, the pots are “Add Spin,” “Reels Grow” and “Multipliers.”
“Rakin’ Bacon has been a longstanding player-favorite game for AGS, and we know there’s a lot of appeal in the character and the way the character interacts with the games,” says DeDeaux. “We really wanted to offer players who enjoy all different types of slot games the opportunity to play a version of Rakin’ Bacon, so we have built four new Rakin’ Bacon families that we’re launching this year. And they all have unique game attributes that we know are player favorites.”
And of course, at the center of it all is that golden pig. “He’s fun, lively and adorable,” DeDeaux says. “Everybody loves him. We like to say Cornsquealius is our Mickey Mouse.”
Rakin’ BACON! LINK Game Style:
Five-reel 243-ways-to-win video slot; free-game and hold-and-spin bonus events; .01, .02, .05, .10 and .25 denominations
Payback % Range:
86.1%-92.16%
Average Hit Frequency:
29.23%
Top Jackpot:
Progressive; $10,000 reset
