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Bonus rounds
on modern video slot machines resemble nothing so much as animated
film shorts. Characters, witty dialogue, even mini-plots make the
games go, and keep the customers in their seats.
These grown-up
equivalents of Saturday morning cartoons need someone to organize
the storyline, animation and features beyond the bare math of the
awarding of a bonus. So it came as only a mild surprise at the recent
Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas when Bill Wadleigh of Waukegan-based
WMS Gaming told me his job title: Producer.
Wadleigh gave
me a guided tour through the WMS booth at the expo, where suppliers
show off their latest and greatest wares to potential customers
in the gaming industry. I took a look at products from all the major
slot machine manufacturers, and will give my impressions on new
games over the next several weeks. At WMS, Wadleigh was enthusiastic
when showing me the games that will be available soon including
Ms. Pac-Man, a new version of Hollywood Squares and two new games
in the Monopoly series. But Wadleigh's enthusiasm really showed
when he took me into a booth within a booth, a sneak preview area
for attractions WMS hopes will be ready for prime time by next summer.
There, we looked
at games on the new CPU-NXT operating platform, with enhanced video,
more color capability and vastly improved resolution. It's a platform
that lets WMS, which has attracted creative people from Disney and
other studios, really go to town with animation.
"Look at
the leaves on the trees move," Wadleigh said, pointing out
the background animation on one bonus round. "We've always
had the great characters at WMS, and now we have the capability
to really use them to best advantage. Now we can let our people
really show what they can do."
Games in the
behind-the-scenes area were mounted in new slot cabinets, called
the "Bluebird" cabinet, another coming attraction. Wadleigh
pointed out the ergonomic features of the cabinet, with space at
the bottom so the player can fit knees under the machine, and with
a lowered console, allowing players to rest their wrists in a more
natural position.
The enhanced
animation capabilities and more comfortable slot cabinet promise
to be big parts of WMS' future, but that promise figures to be a
year away. In the more immediate future, the company has a few twists
on the way.
One twist is
the new 3RV slot series--three-reel video. It seems like an odd
turn for the first American company to hit it big with multiline,
multicoin video slots, but WMS is trying to carve out a niche among
three-reel players who are willing to try video, but who don't like
the zigs and zags of the multiple paylines.
The base games
on the 3RV series play just like reel-spinning slots. Some are meant
to be very traditional, non-intimidating games with simple bonuses
rather than the more complex second screens seen on multiline games.
Others have a few more bells and whistles. Those who have played
WMS reel-spinning slots with dotmation screens for bonus rounds
will find a similar feel to the 3RV games. In fact, some classic
WMS themes have been brought back, with Jackpot Stampede and Jackpot
Party among the offerings.
I tested Jackpot
Party, and played a bonus round that is shorter and simpler than
the bonus on either the dotmation game or the multiline video adaptation.
On the 3RV version, the player is asked to choose among three packages
by pushing one of the buttons on the console next to the coin head.
Once the player has pushed a button, the package opens to reveal
a bonus award--a simple introduction to bonusing for reel-spinning
players.
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