Inside Asian Gaming

May 2014 inside asian gaming 65 Wild Horses—Weike’s new Victory linked progressive The robust and highly flexible Infinity e-table is growing in popularity across Asia. max bet of up to 1,250 credits. Like Justice Bao (and Wu Ze Tian) it’s built for volatility and rewards players with a chance at increasingly more winning symbols in the feature and also doubles their wins. Cats of the Wild is geared more to time on device, a 3x5 30-line offering configurable for up to a 900-credit max bet and featuring a multiplier that pays up to seven times on a free games win. The Chinese themes include Duo Di Zhu Gold, a 50-line standalone based on a classic card game, “Fight the Landlord,” and squarely aimed at the Macau market. It features a unique 10-reel window configuration and a less volatile experience with five extra games awarded when three or more scattered “Spring” symbols appear during the feature. Whenever the “Nuke” playing card symbol appears the corresponding reel window is held for the remaining free games. Cao Cao’s play is similarly rich with symbols but in a more volatile package. It derives its theme from a warlord of China’s bloody 3rd century Three Kingdoms Period and is the newest addition to Weike’s innovative UltiWays series, where the third reel of the 4x5 configuration is divided into three windows for up to 768 ways to win. During the free games, all wins containing the “Scroll” symbol in a window on reel 3 can be multiplied up to 11 times in a single spin. “We look at what people relate to both in the past and today and apply that to design and development. It supplies a certain meaning behind our games that players can really relate to in Asia.” Weike sees its Infinity e-table series as another potent weapon in this year’s multi-pronged assault on Macau and the Philippines. Known for its innovative “squeeze-the-cards” technology, it has been a strong performer for Weike in Vietnam and Laos, where it is easily identifiable by virtue of a Super High Definition LCD billboard for streaming the simulated live dealer and its extra-wide 22-inch player interface. GLI-certified and SAS 6.02-compatible, it’s a highly flexible and customizable platform that supports TITO play, is configurable for up to 128 terminals and comes available in an optional multi- game format and in a variety of languages. “Being an Asian manufacturer gives us insights into its cultural diversity, and our game design reflects that expertise,” says Mr Kup- Ferroth. “We employ people from the market, people who understand these cultures and know what games and styles of games they want to play, because that’s where they’ve grown up. And this helps us also to focus on our relationships.” It’s a niche strategy, a very well-conceived one, and it delivered a better than fourfold increase in profits for Weike in the last year and earned it a “Singapore SME 1000 Award” as one of the city-state’s best-performing and most influential corporations. Mr Kup-Ferroth, who has held product andmarketingmanagement roles with no less than Aristocrat and IGT Australia, sees a company poised to widen that niche in a major way in the months ahead. “Our unique Asian themes and style has sustained the popularity of the company’s content with the players. This, coupled with a broadening of our slot portfolio into more generic slot themes positions the company for solid growth in the future.” Visit Weike Gaming Technology at Stand #137 G2E ASIA 2014