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COMMUNITY GAMING
which were the very first iteration of community which WMS, IGT and Atronic all have firmly in their
gaming, came with significant overheads. “In the old sights. A networked floor enables floor-wide products,
days, tournaments required you to physically change and server-based gaming gives new levels of control to
the firmware chip, to go to the machine, switch off operators. Atronic’s Crystal.net, for instance, provides
the machine, enter a new chip into it, start it up more powerful channels for operators to
again, rope it off, wait for a tournament to come up communicate with and track players, thereby allowing
in six hours time, for the guys to come there – and in operators to enhance player experience, perhaps
the meantime, you lost revenue,” he says. using Galaxis Star Jackpots to configure mystery and
Setting up a tournament was not only labour- progressive jackpots for groups of players.
intensive, but meant that the machines involved were WMS, for instance, has its Freedom Port
unproductive for the rest of the day. “If you had technology. “It’s is our next-generation technology
tournaments on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 11 which allows us to embed games inside other games,”
o’clock, what you saw at most casinos was that those Gelber explains. “Community gamin will stop being
machines were turned off for the rest of the time,” just contained in a bank of machines, and will
Quartier recalls. become a section of the casino – or the whole casino
“Now, with server-based, that is no longer floor – as we
necessary. People can play the machines as normal
until five minutes before. Or you can have the
tournament across your whole floor – anybody who
wants to enter the tournament can choose to enter it,
while players who don’t want to join can carry on
playing their normal game.”
Indeed, it’s clear that server-based, networked
technology is likely to define the future of community
gaming, as seen by both WMS and by IGT.
WMS saw the potential early, as Phil Gelber, Vice
President Game Development for WMS explains: “As
we started moving towards this networked gaming
world, where you have these new technologies, the
question to answer is how you use these new
technologies – involving servers and games
communicating with each other – to make the game
play experience better. That’s how we headed down
the community gaming road.”
Currently, community gaming is delivered bank-by-
Atronic’s Tree of Riches, the latest addition to the company’s
bank, and product-by-product. Jackpot and bonus
Community Bonus Series, was previewed at IGE in January. Players
systems can be progressive, and can involve a very
interact with cute birds that help them shake the tree to win during
the bonus. In order to qualify for the Tree of Riches, bonus players
local network or a wide area network across parts or
have to play max lines and have to build up their qualification time.
all of a slot floor, or link up players in different
When the Tree of Riches is triggered the birds will take off and shake
properties, perhaps including players who are playing the tree, causing bills to fall down on the players´ screens awarding
remotely, on-line, rather than on a casino floor. credit wins. Golden bills offer the chance to participate in the next
The networked floor opens up these possibilities,
bonus round for even higher win amounts.
Atronic’s Tournament concept
A
tronic’s latest tournament system Dragonboat, like Tournamania, The Special Event Tournament:
allows slot players to compete with each other and view their During the preset duration, players are playing with pre-loaded credits
fellow tournament players´ results on overhead screens. Both are a and have to accumulate as many score points as quickly as possible. Play
far cry from the manual configuration systems of a few years ago… multiple heats to determine the top-ranking players who will qualify for
The Atronic slot tournament system allows operators to set up the finals. The prizes (usually
tournaments to suit the needs of their slot floor, perhaps scheduling cash prizes) are funded from participation fees.
tournaments during the week to offer extra excitement during quieter
times, or running “special event” tournaments with pre-loaded credits. “All Winners“ Tournament:
Tournament types that are available include: During the configured period, all players are winners: Players collect
wins through the base game, or they are awarded Dragonboat™ prizes.
The Classic Tournament: Minimum play activity is required. The ranking of the players is
During the preset duration, players have to accumulate as many score continually displayed on the upper TFT screen, and at the end, the “first”
points as possible by using their own funds. The player ranked first at the ranked player (with the largest loss during the tournament) wins the
conclusion of the tournament wins the prize and a special win animation consolation prize.
celebrates the victory!
34 APRIL 2009
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