REALISTIC GAMES
Realistic Games talks Snakes and Ladders
Robert Lee, Commercial Director, Realistic Games talks to GIO about the company’s recent hit Snakes and Ladders Game Changer title
GIO: You’ve taken your classic Snakes and Ladders title and added it to the Game Changer series - what does this actually mean?? RL: Our classic Snakes and Ladders title has been available to our players for almost seven years and continues to entertain players across our network. It made perfect sense to take this iconic board game theme and drop it into our new board game concept, Game Changer. The innovation is effectively a bonus feature, triggered by boxed symbols landing around the edge of the slot to form a game board. Players then roll the dice to move around the board, landing on either a cash prize, a good square or a bad square and can win up to 5000x their stake. With 324 million potential board combinations, players should never see the same board twice.
GIO: Was the original game high volatility, or is that a facet of becoming a Game Changer? How is the volatility increased? RL: The original 3-reel version was a low volatility game, giving the player the chance to see the feature round quite often but with fairly low multipliers available. The new version of the game registers in as high volatility but also offers the players some significantly bigger wins, all the way up to x5000 the starting stake.
GIO: Are all Game Changer titles five reels? What’s the process for upgrading a three-reel slot to five reels? The mathematics must change significantly. RL: Funny you should ask that question! All of our current Game Changer titles are 5-reels, but the next scheduled release of our 8th Wonder Game Changer will be a 3-reel slot to start with but changes into a 5-reel slot during gameplay, so make sure you watch out for that one later in the year!
Regarding the process, like any game, it’s all about the maths and what works for each game, whether that be a 3, 5 or even 6-reel game. Our games team have years of experience in the
12 JULY 2021 GIO
3-reel market which helps enormously when looking to create that type of game.
GIO: The Snakes and Ladders board game is renowned for being simple to play but fiendishly difficult to conquer - is it the same for Snakes and Ladders Game Changer? RL: Exactly that – the game takes you on all of the highs and lows of the original board game: ladders will reward you significantly whilst the snakes appear at the most awkward times. Remaining true to the original board game, the top square (which rewards you with x5000 the stake) is of course surrounded by those hissing reptiles!
GIO: There are several bonus features – what are they and how do they work? RL: While we have used the original Game Changer concept, moving around the board to collect prizes, we have also added a number of additional features to both the base game and the feature round in order to offer the player a more interactive and ‘busy’ game. There is a Pick Me feature for collecting three, four or five snake charmer’s pots, a Cash Climber feature where the player can win up to x1000 their stake, a Monkey feature which sees our furry friends playing a bonus slot machine and also a Toucan feature that spins two wheels of fortune and multiplies the two winning amounts. So as you can see, there is a lot going on – and that’s without the traditional board game in the bonus round!
GIO: Will we be seeing more Game Changers in the future? Is it a way to reinvigorate an operator library or are we seeing games specifically developed under the banner? RL: As mentioned, we have one more planned later this year which will see our top performing 3-reel game 8th Wonder transformed into the Game Changer series. We see the concept as being something new and exciting for the player while also giving us the opportunity to expand on some of our earlier successful titles.
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