Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | March 2012 10 Best Standalone Slot Winner: Aristocrat – 5 Dragons Legends In the Year of the Dragon it’s fitting that Aristocrat’s 5 Dragons Legends is chosen as Best Standalone Slot. The base game 5 Dragons was first launched in 2004, meeting the definition of a product with real ‘legs’ (and in this case wings and talons) in Asia. The idea behind Aristocrat’s Legends series is that players can choose between a classic game and a deluxe updated version of it—all on the same cabinet. The 5 Dragons Deluxe option on 5 Dragons Legends has enhanced graphics providing an immersive experience for the player. Crucially, it also offers new excitement for players—higher win multipliers and a mystery feature option. The choices are either six free games with up to a x40 multiplier or a Mystery Choice in the form of a pink dragon, which randomly picks both free games and multiplier. Honourable Mention: Weike – Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang is a 50-line game launched two years ago that has found a solid niche in a number of Asian markets—including strong performance in Singapore in particular. Weike plans to launch several new games over the next 12 months to build on that success. Best Progressive Slot Winner: Aristocrat – FA FA FA FA FA FA continues to own the market for Asian-themed hyperlinks more than three years after its regional launch on Aristocrat’s Viridian cabinet in the autumn of 2008. Available games Supplier Awards include four of Aristocrat’s strongest standalone performers in Asian markets—50 Dragons, 5 Dragons, Choy Sun Doa and Lucky 88. Honourable Mention: Bally – CashWizard Bally’s Cash Wizard is a five-reel, 30-line game with a 250-credit maximum bet that has been doing good business particularly in Macau. That’s probably thanks to a combination of low-denomination play with a top progressive award of one million credits times the denomination chosen by the player. Best Slot Innovation Winner: IGT – MegaBucks International Game Technology’s MegaBucks offers Asia’s largest slot jackpot across Sands China’s three existing Macau properties. And that jackpot is likely to get even bigger if machines in Sands Cotai Central are added to the network when that property opens on Cotai in April. MegaBucks first launched in Nevada nearly 30 years ago. Since then, Megabucks has spread to other US states and produced dozens of major winners with life- changing jackpots ranging from just over US$1 million (when one million dollars was the system’s base jackpot—the current base is US$10 million) to the world record slot jackpot of more than US$39 million, won in March 2003 at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Honourable Mention: Aruze – Lucky BigWheel Aruze’s Lucky Big Wheel certainly stands out on a crowded mass-market gaming floor. It’s an innovative version of a table game already popular in some markets. As the name suggests, the product features an ultra-big wheel and automatic lever that gives players the opportunity to spin the wheel. It’s another example—like Aruze Lucky Sic Bo’s famous ‘bash button’—of the company’s talent for spotting interactive features that players love. A maximum of 50 stations can be linked to the host, and each station has a 22-inch wide, high-resolution LCD screen. Nominees: Manufacturer Title Aristocrat 5 Dragons Aristocrat 5 Dragons Legends Aruze Raging Eruption Bally Cash Spin IGT Triple Fortune Dragon Weike Qin Shi Huang Nominees: Manufacturer Title Aristocrat 5 Dragons Aristocrat FA FA FA Bally Cash Wizard WMS Jackpot Party Progressive Nominees: Manufacturer Title Aruze Lucky Big Wheel Aruze Innovator Bally Cash Wizard IGT MegaBucks 5 Dragons Legends FA FA FA MegaBucks machines at The Venetian Macao