Players and operators have a lot of questions about which slot machine to try next: High denom, pennies, or something in between? Reel or video? Progressive or fixed jackpot? Handle or no handle?
IGT’s DiamondRS cabinet on the G2E floor.
Together, two IGT cabinets debuting at the Global Gaming Expo cover all the options.
The DiamondRS cabinet, which houses unique mechanical reel games, can allow players to switch between high denomination single-line games and five-line or nine-line games starting at 25 cents per credit. The Peak65 cabinet offers four popular video slot lines of wide-area progressives, with base credits of a penny.
Anthony Baerlocher, vice president of innovation of mechanical reels for IGT, said the DiamondRS cabinet is the first in the industry to allow a multi-game configuration on a reel slot. “We had to come up with a whole new way of how we do the math to get the five-line and nine-line to work with the reel strips for the one-line game,” he said. The cabinet is due to launch in the second quarter of 2022 but on display in IGT’s booth, No. 3659.
The first step in a three-year process of developing the cabinet was player research. Baerlocher said that identified two distinct player groups: high-denom players seeking a “more subdued” experience and low-denom players wanting a video game type of experience.
The Top Dollar Triple Gold game displayed on the G2E floor lets players choose from a one-line game with a credit valued at $5, $25, or $100 and a max bet of three credits; a five-line/six-coin game with a credit worth 25 cents to $5; and a nine-line/10-coin game with a credit worth 25 cents to $2. Virtual buttons allow players to change games and credit values at will.
Operators have flexibility, too. They can choose to offer only one type of game and they can choose the denomination values. Different games use the same software, Baerlocher said, so an operator who buys Top Dollar Double Gold could switch to Pink Diamonds simply by changing reel strips. The games are for sale, not lease.
“We have a ton of flexibility in the same cabinet,” he said. “We do different lighting, different sound effects, different reel spins, and different game mechanics to cater to our different player segmentations,” he said.
Roger Pettersson, IGT’s senior director Core, PMM, Marketing Research, said the Peak65 cabinet also offers flexibility. “It’s large, but still manageable enough so you can place in a lot of different configurations,” he said. “The big screen makes it a very immersive experience.”
Titles include Wheel of Fortune High Roller, the latest title for gaming’s most popular slot line and made especially for the Peak65; Price Is Right Come On Down, which features bonus-round games replicating those played on television’s longest running game show; Megabucks Megaball, which offers a progressive jackpot starting at $10 million; and Gong Xi Fa Cai Grand, which Pettersson called a “homegrown superstar game.” All are penny-denomination machines, even Megabucks Megaball, although its top jackpot requires a minimum bet of $3.
Peak 65 is available in various configurations and on display at the IGT booth. In addition to the 65-inch progressively curved display, the Peak65 has a 13.3-inch dynamic player panel with dual bash buttons, and advanced graphics, sound, and ergonomic technology. With the electronic wheel topper on the Wheel of Fortune High Roller game, the Peak65 stands more than 10 feet tall.
Baerlocher said some of IGT’s research findings were surprising.
“Some of the things we think are extremely important, players don’t really care about,” he said. For example, researchers found that fans of mechanical slots don’t insist that their games have a handle, despite its presumed nostalgic pull. Players gave a similar unexpected answer when asked about replacing physical buttons on a stepper slot with a digital panel. That led IGT to develop what it calls the Digital Player Panel, or DPP.
“The acceptance of this segment, especially the high-denom stepper player, of the DPP vs. buttons really surprised us all,” Baerlocher said. “You just have to listen. Ask the question and listen.”
