BEST IN SHOW: AGE GAMING ROUND-UP

AGE 2016 wrapped up last week with a record attendance of 6,813 visitors attending over the three days.

There were lots of new games on show, either just released or soon to be released, giving the market a wide variety of gaming machine purchase choices. In fact, there are so many new games available that most clubs and hotels will have to prioritize their purchases. This could give a small club an advantage due to the fact that the bigger clubs will need the variety, and will probably purchase most of the new games anyway, thereby giving everyone else the chance to see what works best.

There are so many new releases, that we will just highlight a few of the more interesting ones:

Aristocrat

• ‘5 Dragons Empire’ is in the market already with only a few machines, but early results are exceptional
• ‘Players Choice – Emerald’ is an eight game pack with three jackpots, and it includes some well known popular games such as ‘Indian Dreaming’, and ‘More Chilli’, and a new game, ‘Buffalo Gold’

Both ‘5 Dragons Empire’ and ‘Players Choice Emerald’ are only available on the new Platinum Licence purchase plan, so you will need to talk to your rep as there are a number of options to choose from when buying these machines.

• Among the games that are available as a standard purchase, ‘Retro Fever’ is a multigame pack with six very successful old games that are still well known to many players, these include ‘Cash Chameleon’, ‘Enchanted Forest’ and ‘Money Mouse’, all number one games in their day.
• New ‘Wild Fortune’ range look deceptively simple but have three different animal themed (always popular with players) games in the group, all of which are multi-denom games with 2 SAP levels and a bonus based on the players bet.

IGT

• The Cash Climb Link has been in the market for four weeks in NSW and results are strong. For those clubs that are looking for something a bit different, this link is a good option. There are three games already released, one more to come soon and two more in production already so there is plenty of game support.
• A new ‘Multistar Champion Platinum’ adds to their existing Champion range of games giving you more variety on a very popular product. This new version includes ‘Blue Moon 2’, ‘Navaho Legend’ and some very strong high denom games. With three jackpots and multidenom options this game will work successfully
• ‘Multistar Champion Black’ is a high denom four game pack with three jackpot levels With ‘Taipan’, ‘Heavyweight Champion’, ‘King of the Castle’ and ‘Way of Shogun’ all immediately recognizable to dollar players. The extra 50c and 20c options provided on these games should be a hit. There aren’t many games around at the moment for a dollar area on your gaming floor so this one is an easy fit.
• ‘Megabucks Gold’ allows clubs with this statewide link to add the new Crystal machines with multigame and multidenom options. With any new purchase of these machines there are some great deals to add the new signage options, so talk to your rep for advice.

For those who were lucky enough to sneak out the back on IGT’s stand, you would have seen their 3D games. These games are really immersive and the player feels like they are in the game itself with symbols and coins floating out from the screen and 3D walkthroughs during feature play. As a way to interest millennials, this will be an interesting market release. They are due to go into the casino in Sydney soon and will roll out to other markets later, but if you missed your chance at the AGE Show make sure you give them a try at the casino.

Scientific Games

Its official, they have now rebranded as Scientific Games and the new market releases will give their machines a boost.

• There are several new games for ‘Lock It Link’. which has been successful despite being short on game options. ‘Cats Hats and More Bats’ and ‘Eureka Reel Blast’ are game themes well known to most players and they have added the Lock It feature to these games as additions to the link. There is also a new game ‘Heartland’ with an Australiana theme that will be popular and ‘Hold on to Your Hat’ an updated version of ‘Hey Presto’. These games are also available as SAPs that will provide an opportunity for smaller clubs who aren’t looking at a link to add them to their floor.
• ‘Fortunes 3’ is just in the market with ’88 Fortunes’ and ‘Fu Daddy fortunes as the base games but also ‘Echo Fortunes’ is a very interesting high denomination game. The feature starts the player with five free games and a multiplier bonus, but each “coin” symbol during the free games repeats the bonus trigger. This is a feature the bigger punters will love.

Konami

• Konami are still seeing great success with their new Concerto games ‘Mystic Wolf’ and ‘Savannah Gold’ Lucky Loot games. They have another game in this range ‘Carnival Cup’ now and ‘Tiki Charms Cash Hurricane’ will suit your regular customers.
• Konami have taken a couple of their most popular PlayStation games, with amazing graphics, in ‘Castlevania – Warrior of Darkness’ and ‘Castlevania – Vampire Hunter’ and added some strong game features. This is another game that, when released, will have strong appeal for the younger players.

AGT

• Win Storm is AGT’s latest group product with three new games that are currently popular in the market, ‘Ultimate Thunder’, ‘Wild Wins’ and ‘Hail n Diamonds’ all with two SAP levels and two bonus levels. Each of these games have unique features including stacked wilds, multipliers, respins, and expanding wilds
• ‘Fire Money’ and ‘Ice money’ are similarly themed cloned games you can bank together on your floor. These games have two SAP levels and two bonus levels for the players but also include a solid 10 free game feature with stacked symbols and multiplying wilds. Once In the feature, the players will get the perception they could achieve a really big result.
• They have a few new high denomination games that we are lacking in the market currently, built from already successful games with the new 5c/10c ‘Year of the Monkey’, the 20c ‘Thunder Money’, and 20c/50c/$1 ‘Black Bear’, ‘The Enforcer’ and ‘Crusader King’ all ready for market release.
• New Triple Shot games ‘King Rams’ and ‘Zed Lion’ are available in multi denominations for the A600 machine. These games add to the original games by having three SAP levels and three bonus levels for the players.