Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2013 18 HOT GAMES Alibaba on the Innovator Deluxe platform More Than Fun Aruze Gaming America strives to offer players a more “fun” slot experience, establishing a clear brand proposition. But also critical to the company’s mission to become one of the world’s leading gaming machine manufacturers is tireless innovation and pragmatism—especially in terms of flexibility with math models A ruze Gaming America’s marketing campaign proclaims its products are “Designed to Engage Players, All in theName of Fun.”And the fun is ever-present, with exceptional graphics, bright, flashing lights and bells and whistles, coupled with unique interactive elements often based on touch—such as the Reel Feel™ Gaming Technology rod controller used in Paradise Fishing and Amazon Fishing, and the “magic lamp” players rub during the bonus event in Aladdin & the Lamp. In Asia, however, players are often drawn more to the underlying math of games than their fun value, and so Aruze has accordingly tweaked the math packages of its games to broaden their appeal in the region while maintaining and enhancing the fun elements that underlie the company’s brand proposition and draw attention to its games on crowded slot floors. At every step of the game development process, Aruze seeks to imbue its products with fun, says the company’s vice president of marketing, Steve Walther. “You cannot go and see the Dancing Reels [a unique concept where the game reels appear to ‘dance’ by moving back and forth in synchronization with the background music] on the Catch the Money game without smiling. You cannot see Sancho Panza [on Knight of La Mancha] fall off the reel, spinning the reel while he’s falling, while still holding on to his meat on his bone that he’s been eating while he’s riding his horse behind Don Quixote, without smiling. So there’s all types of entertainment. The 40 thieves in Alibaba, they’re in a cartoonish way, and they all stack up and jump together out of the top box and land on the reels below, and the reels spin. It’s highly interactive—lots of entertainment, lots of fun.” Just one of Aruze’s many unique product categories is its Innovator steppers, which, according to Mr Walther, “are an innovative match or a fusion of technology from mechanical steppers to video presentation. So we are getting a crossover effect with people that normally play traditional video and people that normally play traditional slots but now are having a good combined experience between the two platforms.” The Innovators beckon to players with their Radiant Reels—large reels dynamically illuminated by multi-colored LED lights and variable spin speeds designed to build anticipation for winning combinations. Building on Innovation Seeking to parlay and augment the success of the Innovators, Aruze recently introduced the Innovator Deluxe, which not only features an attention-grabbing top box (akin to the company’s G-Deluxe series of games), but also includes unique interactive elements. In addition to the “lamp” used to beckon the genie in bonus rounds of Aladdin & the Lamp, actions that occur in the top box impact the spins of the Radiant Reels below. The four titles the company expects to roll out on the Innovator Deluxe platform near the beginning of this year are Gold, Crystal, Aladdin and Alibaba. At G2E in October, Aruze launched around 20 new video titles, including Knight of La Mancha, Franken Mama and Shen Long Fever on the G-Deluxe platform, which features distinctive oversized top boxes. Mr Walther believes the Knight of La Mancha theme in particular, based on the adventures of Don Quixote, could have mass appeal: “Don Quixote is the second most published book in the world, behind