TEST DRIVE: AGT’s PAC-MAN: ‘WILD EDITION’

The original Pacman arcade game that took the world by storm was released in 1980. Far from being a poker machine game theme for young players, the children who grew up playing (obsessing over!) this game, have fond memories of this iconic character. Although the game will have a wide appeal, it should be really strong with the lucrative 40-50 age demographic – a market segment a lot of pubs and clubs want to target. This game has been no disappointment to those players, with results from all venues proving that you never outgrow your early years when it comes to entertainment preferences. The well-known graphic symbols, familiar game sounds, frequent features and even some physical interaction with the game, puts the fun and entertainment focus back on our gaming floors. This game looks great too on the new A640 machine.

Denomination: Multi-denomination (1c, 2c, 5c, 10c) game so the player chooses a comfortable investment level that works for them. The game is available in 25 lines for the higher denomination choice, and 50 line configurations for low denomination game play. The 50 line choice would be where most players are comfortable these days with many popular games at that play level.

Game Features: This is where Pac-man: Wild Edition will meet its market very effectively. There are several features in this game that trigger often. The main free game feature uses the full height of the screen to expand from 3 rows x 5 reels to 9 rows X 5 reels and increases the number of lines played to either 75 or 150 (depending on the denomination played). The bonus reel gives the player an opportunity to achieve expanding wild symbols that could cover all nine positions on the reel. And 3 scatters in the free games gives the players an extra 5 free games.

An interesting feature on Pac-man: Wild Edition is the Big Wheel feature triggered by 3 X key symbols. The screen fills with a wheel that the player initiates by physically swiping the down the screen to start the wheel spin. The player wins credit prizes or an extra chance.

Making the most of the novelty theme the extra chance feature takes the player to a map with a choice of 3 paths. Pacman then chases the ghosts along one of the paths (no need to explain this for Pacman), giving the player a credit prize (up to 50X their bet) or one of the bonus or progressive jackpot levels.

SAP Profile: The game has two scalable small bonus levels, plus two SAP levels, one Major and one Grand, that the players can chase.

Volatility:  With a number of game features that trigger frequently, and plenty of entertainment focus in this game, you can expect some volatility for the player. A large grand jackpot and an achievable major jackpot adds something for the players to chase, and increases the game volatility.

Market Fit: This is a highly visual game that will be a solid fit with regular players who like to get a good run on a machine. The frequently triggering features should give players plenty of wins to keep them in the game for longer. A high traffic position on the floor among low denomination games would be ideal. Any fan who hears those recognisable sounds will go looking for it, so don’t turn the volume down.

Performance: The market has spoken on this one already with very strong results coming in from clubs in both NSW and QLD showing that the game is a great fit for many player markets.

Across all of these regions, the game is available in multiple venues so the results are a strong indicator of current performance.

Manufacture Performance Report Results – 1 – 30 November 2017 – NSW & QLD Maxgaming

 

	Venues	EGMs	$ADT	$ADR	RTH%	Denom T/O Ratio
NSW Clubs	26	39	$2,686	$230	0.09	1.68
QLD Clubs	17	28	$3,403	$325	0.10	1.87