ALL IN
Bluberi follows up its most successful game with Devil’s Lock All in
By Frank Legato
Bluberi’s Devil is at it again. And this time, he has help.
Bluberi, traditionally a Canadian-based Class II supplier, emerged on the U.S. casino scene after Andrew Burke, former slot chief at AGS, established a Las Vegas headquarters and brought in new leadership including Mike Brennan, formerly a longtime IGT slot executive. Working with the original development team in Drummondville, Quebec, Brennan, now Bluberi’s chief product officer, devoted the company’s efforts to cracking the U.S. slot market.
Two years ago, the company hit pay dirt with the introduction of Devil’s Lock, which went on to win the company its first award in the annual Eilers & Krejcik Gaming Slot Awards as Best Performing Slot from an Emerging Supplier. In that 2023 competition, Bluberi also won the award for Most Improved Supplier.
Devil’s Lock, a game centered on an animated devil character featuring cash-on-reels symbols, free-spin bonuses and several mystery events, was featured on Bluberi’s tall Novus Series b49 portrait cabinet.
Players loved the mystery events. When the devil lands in the middle position, he unlocks all cash-on-reels coin symbols on the screen. He also is a wild, unlocks sizable jackpots—including the Grand—and can rewind other reel spots into additional prizes.
Also, when the devil symbol lands on the center reel, it throws coins up to two “Pig Pots,” which grow in size and can randomly burst to award six free games—or 12 free games, if both of them burst. During the free games, the devil locks in the center position, unlocking all the cash-on- reels symbols landing on every spin, and re-feeding those Pig Pots.
Devil’s Lock put Bluberi on the map as far as slot brands. The company picked up another EKG Slot Award this year for its game Rocket Rumble, but producing a follow-up to Devil’s Lock has been on the company’s radar since the original became a hit.
According to Brennan, the task of creating a sequel to the company’s biggest hit fell on its main studio in Drummondville (one of five game design studios the company now has). “The challenge is that you have a hit game, and how do you make a sequel that provides more?” he says. “How do you make a sequel that goes from core
to premium? And how do you do that without diluting what made the original version great?”
The sequel, Devil’s Lock All In, checks all those boxes. “I really think the team did a fantastic job,” Brennan says. “If you can get that first sequel right, you’ve created a really valuable franchise.”
Devil’s Lock All In takes the original game and piles on new characters and new features. But it has one other enhancement over the original: a premium cabinet built for launch with the game—the new Beacon, or its enhanced, “complete package” version, the Beacon Elite. It features a 49-inch curved monitor surrounded by an ultrathin bezel—a setup that makes the screen appear larger, and causes the images to pop.
The Beacon Elite adds a rounded-corner top LED sign and flashy animation and graphics both on top and on the dividers between the games, including sequences tied to game events. When set up in a four- game diamond configuration, when one of the four players triggers a bonus, “Rewind” or other game event, the animation comes alive on the entire bank.
“The Beacon Elite is our first foray into true premium video, which is the most competitive product segment,” Brennan says. “We went in knowing how hard it is, and we’ve really taken our time to nail all aspects of it. This is around 400 hours of total research by subject matter experts—casino operators, players, slot technicians, our own manufacturing teams—and we made changes based on their feedback.
We put together a banked product solution focused on lighting, movement, and sound.”
“Its goal was to create an ecosystem of fun. It’s simple, but it resonates in what we’re doing to create excitement.”
Original Game, New Character
Devil’s Lock All In keeps the same basics as the original. The base game is a five-reel, 30- line setup in which each of the 15 spots is actually an individual reel. As in the first game, when the devil character lands on the center reel spot, it “unlocks” all the cash-on-reels symbols (they stay covered by a chain and lock without the devil) and pays all cash-on-reels awards on the screen, as well as symbols corresponding to the four jackpots.
The devil also pops up at random to award wilds, multipliers or other enhancements. The All-In version actually adds characters to the devil’s “family,” including an “Evil Twin” and a “Big Mama Devil.” Randomly during the game, any of them can appear to award wilds, credits or multipliers, throw coins to the screen, or a “Rewind” to turn a losing spin into a winner.
“We’ve extended the family, and those family members work together to reinforce the pillars of the game,” Brennan says. “They create this depth and this environment where you’re never dead. Something can always happen at any time.”
The devil and Mama symbols together trigger Big Mama’s Bonus, offering spins on an oversized reel set offering credit prizes and progressives. It can compound with the Evil Twins, which can unlock and multiply Mini and Minor bonuses.
The new game also has the two Pig Pots, which can fill and lead to six free spins each. As on the original, during the free games, the devil stays locked in the center reel position, awarding coin values and prizes with a chance to win additional free games.
The Pig Pots in the new game can even throw out “Mini Pigs,” which cause a respin with all cash-on-reels symbols locked in place.
The Pig Pots also can release a “Unicorn Pig,” which triggers Mirror Free Games—six free spins on two mirroring reel arrays, which is a clever way to display double wins on each spin.
“It was important to us that the sequel to Devil’s Lock be similar enough to the original to have its essence, but look different enough for people to know it’s new,” Brennan says. “But this is a deep game—it’s got the depth of ‘I played it three times. I want to come back and play it four more times.’ Variety is the long-term spice of long-term success, so we’ve created variety with the aspect that you never know when something’s going to happen.
“Also, it’s a game that has the longest time period, when a spin is over, when something can happen. You spin the reels, and the excitement, the surprises, the bonuses, all can stretch after that. We really think we’ve embraced this ‘fun’ term and created this full ecosystem. We have a great full package with Beacon Elite and Devil’s Lock All In, reinforcing each other. We know it’s hard to get into the premium segment, but we’re ready to let the market and the players decide in April.”
April, as in this month. By the time you read this, Devil’s Lock All In should be live in the field. If you liked the original, you’ll love this one.
SLOT TYPE
Fifteen-reel, 30-line video slot; cash-on-reels symbols; primary-game
mystery bonuses, free-spin bonus events; 01, .02, .05, .10, .25 and 1.00 denominations
PAYBACK % RANGE
88%-96%
AVERAGE HIT FREQUENCY
Approximately 30%
TOP JACKPOT
$6,600
