Inside Asian Gaming

July 2014 inside asian gaming 23 Feature Importantly, Emperor’s Seal embodies all the best of that lure of the “chase” that so intrigues Asian players, and Macau’s Chinese players especially. It has been a learning experience for Bally. “With Bally games the criticism has kind of been that it’s based a lot on free games math,” Mr Trask noted at the show. “That’s not necessarily so popular over here. So we’ve added a lot of things like Block Pays, like mystery stacks, so a lot more going on in the base games, along with the mystery progressives that are so popular.” Key lessons all and each of them turned to good account in an array of artfully themed titles—Fu Dao Le, Super Red Phoenix, Super Rise of Ra, Fu Lion and Aztec Dawn among them—shown at G2E Asia on the unique Alpha 2 Pro Wave, a cabinet unlike anything on the floor, a sleek, almost liquid extension of Bally’s workhorse Alpha 2 Pro Series V32 but with eight inches added to the portrait-style LCD touchscreen monitor in a player interface that curves inward a full 40 inches in height. The Asia focus is notable in the prominence of stacked symbols, in Fu Dao Le, for example, where they appear as game logos at first and then are revealed as a line or wild symbol, and with the Reel Blast concept incorporated in Aztec Dawn, a free games mystery feature in which reels 3 and 4 become a single big reel with one symbol covering 12 game spots on each of three reel sets. Fu Dao Le, translated as “Good Fortune Has Arrived,” was a highlight of the show, a five-level standalone with an engaging play package aimed squarely at the Macau market. It offers eight re-triggerable free games and jackpots that are awarded in the Progressive Pick feature, which is triggered by three stacked wilds that can be “nudged” up or down. Players pick from among 15 “Coins” until three of the same kind (“Mini, Minor, Major” or “Maxi”) are matched up to a top prize of 888,800 credits. But the big-money action doesn’t stop there. Every spin at any bet level has the potential to land a player in the Red Envelope Banked progressive when any combination of two scattered “Red Envelope” symbols appear on reels 1 and 5. Bally’s reputation as a leader in licensed branded games was on display as well, led by Titanic and Michael Jackson Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, both available as wide- or local-area progressives and geared to providing the casual player with an experience that is truly theatrical in scope. July 2014 inside asian gaming 23 Fu Dao Le (below) was a highlight of the show, a five-level standalone with an engaging play package aimed squarely at the Macau market. Duo Fu Duo Cai