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MULTIPLAYERS
For casinos that need other player numbers or Mosino wireless gaming tablet can be used to play
more flexible layouts, Alfastreet’s M is a modular either alone or with a virtual group.
system that can be assembled in groups of two
terminals. Thus, for example, a four-seat or 12-seat Casino Technology has excited plenty of attention
game could be created by linking the appropriate with its PlayMe, with an automatic Roulette wheel
number of two-player units to an automated or live and five player terminals built into the lid of a grand
wheel. piano. According to the firm, while it’s acknowledged
as an “unconventional approach”, the design
Amatic, like Alfastreet, is a multiplayer Roulette “combines two basic types of entertainment, which
specialist, with its Grand Jeu Prestige line available in casino visitors may enjoy simultaneously, including a
a range of shapes and sizes. The four-player table is classic Roulette game accompanied by live music
an oblong shape, while six players sit around most of performance”.
a circular table, and the eight- and ten-player units
seat customers in a complete circle. Also available is the
PlayMe Dueling
Amaya puts much of its focus on multiplayer Poker, Piano, which just as
with a comprehensive administrative system implausibly but
supporting behind its PokerMate tables. successfully combines
a Roulette wheel with
The tables themselves – seating six, eight or ten not one but a pair of
players – follow a scheme common to many grand piano cabinets
multiplayers: a large central viewing screen shows to form a multiplayer
community cards, pot amounts, chip stacks, player table. The two pianos
commitments, winning hands and payout amounts, – both playable – can
while individual players’ touchscreens allow each be arranged in several
participant to fold, check, post or auto-post blinds, configurations around
raise or call. the automatic or
semi-automatic wheel,
Just as important, however, is the PokerMate with player stations
Administrative System, which allows casino along the top of each.
management to do much more than passively
monitor hardware, players and the virtual money The piano concept reappears in the company’s
that’s changing hands. Administrators can also set the PlayMe VideoSlot platform, which builds video slots
rake percentage and maximum rake per round; into the piano cabinet. Again, the instrument is
change the type of game instantly, as well as adjust playable, so the tinkling of the ivories can replace the
limits and stakes; and manage reservations for chinking of change.
tournaments and ring games, with the system
supporting waiting-list management, player Casino Technology’s piano-free products include
registration, and seat assignments. Casino King, a fully automated, unstaffed electronic
Roulette system intended for arcades and electronic
Amaya also offers Craps, Roulette and Sic Bo in casinos, with configurations from four to ten players
multiplayer formats, and – more unusually – a couple directly at the wheel – although up to a further 250
of products which combine a solo gaming experience standalone terminals can also be connected.
with multiplay features. The PokerStation looks like a
slot, but the patron competes against others; and the And the firm’s Casino Prince straddles the
IN A NUTSHELL: WHAT ARE MULTIPLAYER GAMES?
Multiplayer games are electronic versions of table games that allow players to participate through a
screen rather than by physically handling cards, chips and so on. Blackjack, Roulette and Poker are the
most common products, although many others are available.
Usually the players sit round a physical table as they would in a conventional game, although some
multiplayer systems allow remote playing.
Often, multiplayer gaming takes place entirely on-screen, but real Roulette wheels and dice can also be
employed.
Most major gaming vendors offer multiplayer systems of one kind or another, although firms dedicated
to this type of gaming are few and far between: it's much more common for the same supplier to offer both
conventional table game equipment and multiplayers.
DECEMBER 2009 31
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