THE DROP TEST DRIVES ARISTOCRAT’S NEW ‘WILD WILD’ GAMES
With the focus on the Aristocrats Dollar Storm games released in NSW and QLD soon, a gaming manager would be forgiven for missing the soon to be released Wild Wild game range, exclusive to the Helix XT cabinet: Wild Wild Nugget, Wild Wild Pearl, Wild Wild Samurai and Wild Wild Emerald.
Filling a gap in our gaming market that has been requested for some time, the Wild Wild range is designed specifically as entertainment style games for our regular players who are looking for fun games they can spend some time on. Our lower tier players don’t mind spending their money, and they enjoy gaming, but they expect some fun for their investment. For them, the value proposition is the time the game allows them within their budget.
Importantly, this is not a Hold & Spin style game, so the Wild Wild games offer variety for these regular players who are increasingly offered less game style choices in many clubs.
The four games in the Wild Wild game range will give them that time, cover a broad market of art theme preferences, and with a high frequency feature hit rate, a single 1c denomination and all the wins in the base game and feature (no SAPs) these games are sure to be a hit for these players who make up a high proportion of our regulars.
Denomination:
In keeping with the target market for the Wild Wild games they are available only in a 1 cent denomination, on a 50-line game, so the cost to cover is only a 50c bet. While players are free to increase their play level to suit their budget, the lower tier player is not penalised, with the game featuring a regularly occurring Wild Wild trigger opening them up to a potential win and adding to the fun factor.
Game Features:
To achieve the game feature, players are looking to land a Wild symbol on Reel 1 and a Wild symbol on Reel 2. Once this double symbol trigger has occurred the other reels are spun with ‘cash on reel’ amounts. Players must achieve the cash on reel symbols from left to right on reels 3, then 4, then 5 to keep the reels spinning. The extended time of each spin increases the anticipation of reel wins. Each of the reels include increasing cash levels so reel 3 has smaller winning credit amounts than reel 4, with reel 5 containing the largest potential credit wins.
Once the reel spins have concluded the credit amounts are added together in the same way that they are collected in a Hold & Spin game, so the players are comfortable with this method.
Additionally, there is also a 15 free game feature that is triggered by three scattered “free game” symbols. When in this free game series, the Wild symbols multiply the wins X 2. If a player achieves the double symbol Wild Wild feature in the free games all the wins are multiplied X 4.
Jackpot Profile:
None…yes that’s right, there are no SAP levels on the Wild Wild games.
This means that all the pays are in the base game and ultra-high frequency Wild Wild double-symbol trigger which hits on average every 1 in 18 spins. There are still rewards, with increased cash on reel amounts, for the player willing to lift their bet, but the regular players on a more limited budget will enjoy the regular feature play.
Volatility:
The Wild Wild games are less volatile than the most popular games in the market, but with an ultra-high hit rate should give the lower tier players an opportunity to have some longer play sessions and lots of fun. Players can still attain large wins with the increasing cash on reel amounts on Reel 4 and Reel 5, but the focus of this game is the player experience and excitement around the Wild Wild feature that doesn’t extend the players budget.
Floor Position:
Exclusive to the Helix XT cabinet this tall portrait screen lends itself to the expanding reels and graphic animations on screen in the Wild Wild games, and they should be placed to take advantage of this and be easily visible across the gaming floor. With frequently occurring feature play, ideally you would want a bank of these machines so that players see constant winners achieving the Wild Wild feature and adding to the excitement across the bank.
Aristocrat has given these games a GER (game entertainment ranking) of 2 out of 4. So, these games would work most effectively in high traffic areas of the gaming floor, both inside and outside.
Performance:
First launched across the US in 2019, Wild Wild has quickly found its place across hundreds of casino floors. This series has rewarded operators with stellar and consistent performance ranging from 1.3 – 2.0 floor average, which should give our operators here plenty to be excited about when the games are due for release around AGE. For the many clubs with Helix XT cabinets, these games will be a welcome conversion option boosting performance of the cabinet. With a focus on the lower tier regular players, the entertainment nature of these games will ensure their popularity and performance levels are strong for a long time.
Our regular players in clubs have told us over and over again they are not playing to win big: they want to be entertained. They want their budget to last as long as the time they have allocated for gaming and these Wild Wild games will tick that box for many of our members.
