Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | December 2011 14 Shuffle Master I t’s a truism of slot game development that creating a successful product is partly about science and partly about art. The science part is to develop a maths model and features likely to appeal to the target audience. The art part is in capturing the imagination of the players in a congested market and then holding it long enough to be able to refine the product and give it longevity in the market. But if there’s an element of luck in both the science and the art of slot game launches, then the harder a supplier works the luckier he or she is likely to get. Ken Jolly, Vice President – Asia, for Shuffle Master, has built a reputation in the industry for getting the most out of his employer’s slot titles across Asia. He’s relied not on luck, but on careful observation of player behaviour and market reaction, and then getting the development and sales team to respond appropriately to boost the games’ appeal to those players. In Shuffle Master’s case that process began with the launch in March of the company’s Asian slot offer on the Equinox platform via three ‘families’ of games—the Fortune family; the Pink Panther®Returns family and the Potion Power™ family. Shuffle Master had previously been best known for its high quality electronic shufflers and other live table peripherals. But its purchase in early 2007 of the Australian slot and electronic table games maker Stargames gave it the option of new product pipelines. It developed the multi-station electronic games line first, with particular success in Singapore’s casinos with the Rapid suite of live-dealer, multi-terminal games. That was followed by the momentous decision to go wholeheartedly after a share of the highly competitive casino slot machine market. Those products have now been successfully placed in venues across the region, including Macau, Singapore, the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. And they’re being supported by Shuffle Master’s new top box, Random Magic—described as ‘super tall’ and therefore will be super visible on Asia’s crowded casino floors soon. Inside Asian Gaming spoke to Ken Jolly for an update on the Equinox range of slot products and what the market can expect from Shuffle Master in 2012. IAG : What has the company been doing in the slots segment since the Equinox launch in March? Ken Jolly : We’ve had success with the initial three ‘families’ of games—the Fortune family; the Pink Panther Returns family and the PotionPower family.The Fortune family is being added to with a new game called Pearl Fortunes right now. That’s to complement the initial three Fortune games: 5 Fortunes, Kelly’s Fortune and Ocean Fortune. Pearl Fortunes has some new twists in the game. One is where the free game feature is similar to 5 Fortunes but has an added second feature where you get five symbols that open up to reveal a range of higher prizes which can be won many times. This feature also allows the jackpots to be won. We’re now starting to get the new Pirates Revenge™—or Lucky Pirates as it’s known in Chinese—out into the market place. We’re Standing Tall Shuffle Master is on the ascent after the successful spring launch of its Equinox slot range Like magic—Shuffle Master’s new super tall top box, RandomMagic Ken Jolly,Vice President – Asia, for Shuffle Master