slots design report july 2021
TRANSCRIPT
Competitive Research and Data Insights for Slots Designers
SLOTS DESIGN REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OCTOBER
2021
HEADLINE MACHINES 3
Bonus Mechanics Impact Analysis Machine Teardowns Product Insights
RELEASE TRENDS 9
Bonus Mechanic Releases
MARKET WATCH 11
New Releases
APPENDIX 14
Endnotes Liquid & Grit Slots Personas Premium Partnerships
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HEADLINE MACHINES
Machines with innovative or impactful mechanicsTracked slots apps: Big Fish Casino, Caesars Slots, Cash Frenzy, Cashman Casino, DoubleDown Casino, DoubleU Casino, Game of Thrones Slots, Gold Fish Casino, GSN Casino, Heart of Vegas, Hit It Rich!, House of Fun, Huuuge Casino, Jackpot Magic Slots, Jackpot Party, Jackpot World, Lightning Link Casino, Lotsa Slots, my KONAMI, myVEGAS, POP! Slots, Quick Hit Slots, Scatter Slots, Slotomania, and Wizard of Oz: Casino Slots
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CASINO > CONTENT > SOCIAL
Bonus Mechanics Lemur Lovers in Lotsa Slots and Roundtrip with Lucy in Slotomania
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BONUS MECHANIC IMPACTS
Pick'em and player choice bonuses have moderate revenue impacts but outperform other frequently released bonuses like wilds, collections, and extra reels/lines/pays.
Revenue data includes isolated machine releases (releases that did not coincide with other releases) by tracked apps between 9/1/20–8/31/21. Release count data includes all machines released by tracked apps between 9/1/20–8/31/21. WoW = Week over week.
Bonus Mechanic Revenue WoW
Social
Multiplier
Multiple Bonuses
Mini-Game
Pick'em Free Spin
Pick'em
Player Choice
Wild
Collection
Extra Reels/Lines/Pays
Other
-4% -2% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8%
Bonus Mechanic Release Count
Wild
Multiplier
Collection
Player Choice
Extra Reels/Lines/Pays
Pick'em
Mini-Game
Pick'em Free Spin
Other
Social
Multiple Bonuses
0 25 50 75
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Machine Details • Lemur symbols on reel 1 or 5 trigger a pick'em mini-game. • In the mini-game, players pick chests that award decorations and extra picks (1). • The decorations are used to complete a wedding scene (video). • Collecting duplicate decorations changes that decoration's appearance in the scene (2). • Each type of decoration fills a corresponding jackpot meter. • Completing a meter awards its jackpot.
• During base spins, watermelon symbols increase the value of pots above the reels (3). • Landing a lemur symbol on reels 2–4 awards the prize in that reel's pot (4). • Each reel's pot has a counter that starts at eight. • Spins reduce the counters. • When a counter reaches zero, the pot's value resets to zero. • Watermelon symbols reset the counters on the corresponding reels to eight.
• A randomly triggered bonus multiplies all wins for a limited number of spins (5). • During the bonus, players are given a pick in a pick'em mini-game after every few spins (6). • Pick'em picks increase the multiplier or end the bonus.
Additional Information • See the Lemur Lovers gallery.
MECHANIC TEARDOWN
Landing a lemur symbol on certain reels triggers a pick'em mini-game. In the mini-game, chests award decorations for a wedding scene.
3 4
65
1 2
Machine Details • Landing three or more globe symbols triggers 15 free spins (video). • At the start of free spins, players select one of five cities (1). • Each city requires players to collect a certain number of tickets and offers a different prize.
• During free spins, players collect ticket symbols that land (2). • Collecting the required number of tickets grants the chosen city's prize (3). • Collecting 25 or more tickets awards an additional prize.
Additional Information • See the Roundtrip with Lucy gallery.
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MECHANIC TEARDOWN
At the start of free spins, players pick one of five cities. Each city has different collection requirements and prizes.
1
2 3
2
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When adding mechanics from other genres, offer small but meaningful choices. Roundtrip with Lucy's free spins include an RPG-style mission mechanic that lets players choose more difficult goals in exchange for bigger prizes (1). These kinds of choices:
• Activate the reward centers in players' brains.1 • Increase players' confidence, which makes them more willing to spend.2 • Fit into established slots mechanics without slowing down gameplay.
Choice-based mechanics from other genres have also been successful as app-wide features. For example, Game of Thrones Slots' RPG-inspired level feature Dragons of Westeros Update (+14% revenue MoM) allowed players to send pet dragons on a series of timed missions for rewards.
Use visual themes to create narratives without disrupting play.Daydreamer Denise, the most prevalent slots player type, is most motivated by a desire to escape daily life.3 You can fulfill this desire by adding story elements that immerse players. According to research, these kinds of stories also cause players to remember goals better, which leads to higher completion rates (2).4
By using the results of a pick'em to decorate a wedding scene, Lotsa Slots' Lemur Lovers is able to tell a story without interrupting the flow of slots play. Maintaining this flow is important because not all slots players play to escape—other player types are more motivated by profits or stimulating visuals.
For another successful example of passive storytelling in a slot machine, see our analysis of Caesars Slots' The Hunt for Volcanus. During this machine's free spins, players land symbols to slay a series of monsters and collect bounties from an innkeeper.
PRODUCT INSIGHTS1
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RELEASE TRENDSMachine release trends for base game and bonus mechanics
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BONUS MECHANIC RELEASES
The number of machines with pick'em bonuses per app dropped sharply in Q4 '20, while the number of machines with player choice bonuses has grown steadily since Q4 '19.
Bonus Mechanic Releases per App
Rele
ases
per
App
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Q4 '19 Q1 '20 Q2 '20 Q3 '20 Q4 '20 Q1 '21 Q2 '21 Q3 '21
Pick'em Bonuses Player Choice Bonuses
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MARKET WATCHNew and notable machine releases
App Machine Description
Cash Frenzy Franken Cash
• Landing three or more haunted house symbols triggers a prize wheel spin. • During wheel spins, jackpot wedges trigger a jackpot pick'em (1 and video).
• Colored bonus symbols increase spin counters for three types of respin bonuses. • Landing six or more bonus symbols triggers a pick'em respin bonus (video). • Players pick a symbol that contains one of the three respin bonuses. • During respins, filling all reels clears all symbols and increases payouts for the remaining respins.
• Wild symbols fill a meter. • Completing the meter triggers a mini-game (2 and video). • Players move a character on a prize board to reveal spaces. • Spaces award currency or one of six special symbols. • Special symbols end the mini-game and grant prizes, boosts, or bonuses. • Skull symbols end the mini-game without a reward.
DoubleDown Tumblin' Gold
• During base spins, winning symbols except for gold nuggets disappear after paying out (video). • New symbols cascade down to fill in the empty spaces. • The spin ends when there are no more winning lines.
• Five or more consecutive cascading wins trigger free spins. • Landing eight or more gold nugget symbols triggers respins (3 and video). • During respins, large gold nugget symbols fall to the bottom of the reel set. • Large gold nuggets clear and absorb the values of all smaller nuggets below them.
DoubleU Casino Aztec Strike • During all spins, fist symbols change surrounding symbols into split symbols (4 and video).
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NEW RELEASES I 1
2
3
4
App Machine Description
Gold Fish Casino Bomber Belle
• During base spins, bombs randomly appear above the reels. • Each spin, bombs move one reel to the right (1 and video). • Bomber Belle symbols that land under bombs cause those bombs to drop. • Yellow bombs create a 3x3 area of wilds. • Red bombs create random wilds. • Blue bombs trigger free spins.
• During free spins, all reels have bombs above them.
House of Fun Wiccan Moon
• Spins increase a counter. • Star symbols create sticky frames where they land (2 and video). • Sticky frames also appear randomly. • On the 10th spin, sticky frames spin to reveal wilds, currency prizes, or jackpots. • Landing three or more moon symbols triggers free spins (video). • Sticky frames spin individually after each free spin.
• Every 10th free spin bonus triggers super free spins. • The bonus begins with a pick'em that enhances the free spins.
Wizard of Oz: Casino Slots
Munchkinland Mania Stick &
Win!
• Rocket symbols deplete a meter. • Fully emptying the meter triggers random wilds for a limited time (3 and video).
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NEW RELEASES II
Quickly review all features and machines
Filter the Library Tool by month and year to see all new releases.
1
2
3
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APPENDIX
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ENDNOTES1 The Inherent Reward of Choice, Leotti & Delgado (2011)
The Psychological Pleasure and Pain of Choosing: When People Prefer Choosing at the Cost of Subsequent Outcome Satisfaction, Botti & Iyengar (2004)
Numerous neurological and behavioral studies show that choice is inherently rewarding and that anticipating opportunities to make choices is a pleasurable experience in and of itself. 2 Let me take the wheel: Illusory control and sense of agency, Tobias-Webb et al. (2017)
When players think that they are able to control gambling outcomes, they feel more confident in their ability to win and are more willing to spend in order to exert that control. This remains true even if the control is totally illusory. 3 Liquid & Grit Slots Personas Report
Daydreamer Denise is most motivated by her desire to escape daily life. As part of this, she enjoys long bonuses layered on top of slots play. In contrast, Sensation Serena, Gambler Gail, and Money Mike are most motivated by arousal and profit, so they may lose interest if play slows down too much. 4 Narratives and Goals: Narrative Structure Increases Goal Priming
This study found that framing goals within a narrative created longer-lasting goals, which increased completion after a five-minute delay by 21% compared to goals that were not framed by a narrative.
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LIQUID & GRIT SLOTS PERSONAS
Participants from the U.K. and U.S. (N=1,299) were surveyed about their mobile gaming use. The data produced five personas with distinct slots preferences and playing habits.
Demographics
Fame Frank Money Mike Daydreamer Denise Gambler Gail Sensation Serena
Size 21% 22% 27% 19% 11%
% Female 50% 51% 66% 60% 55%
Age 32 mean / 30 median 34 mean / 32 median 35 mean / 34 median 35 mean / 33 median 35 mean / 32 median
Education 3.5 3.3 3.5 3.2 3.3
Money Spent 4.2 4.9 3.5 5.4 5.8
Playtime 5.0 4.5 5.0 4.9 6.5
* The education, money spent, and playtime numbers represent the relative value of each category compared to other player personas.
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