15 New Slots You Must Play
The list of innovations from the slot-makers keeps on growing
by Frank Legato

Last April, we highlighted 15 of the most entertaining new slot machines. By the end of the year, so many more new innovations had poured forth from the manufacturers that we decided to publish an updated "must-play" list.

The flood of ideas from the slot-makers shows no sign of receding, so you can count on one fact for the future: The "must play" list is destined to be a recurring feature of Casino Player for many years to come.

1. THE ADDAMS FAMILY - International Game Technology
They’re creepy and they’re cooky.… IGT continues its trend of branding slots with themes from the Baby Boomer’s world of entertainment with this fantastic bonus slot, scheduled for release within the next few months.

You won’t be able to miss these huge slots, which feature all the sights and sounds of the ‘60s TV series The Addams Family. They’re topped by sculptures which peer menacingly down at the player. One is Uncle Fester (complete with an illuminated light bulb in his mouth); the other is Lurch, the Frankenstein-esque butler. The front of the top box—a replica of the Addams Family mansion—is host to one of the bonus games, with bonus amounts in the windows. IGT employed actor John Astin, who played family patriarch Gomez on the show, to do voice-overs of several trademark lines for the game’s magnificent collection of sounds.

There are several versions of The Addams Family, each containing multiple bonus events. For instance, the multiline video slot includes train symbols. If you land two of them, you see two trains colliding, as Gomez always did with his model train set. A second-screen bonus game depicts a graveyard. You choose from headstones in an attempt to match bonus amounts.

Each version of the game features periodic wisecracks from Gomez during normal game play. You’ll hear familiar dark-humor lines ("I just had the funniest nightmare!" is one of our favorites), backed by the original TV music. Watch for this slot in the spring—it’s not to be missed.

2. BETTY BOOP’S LOVE METER - Bally Gaming
This is a combination of two of Bally’s very best recent ideas—the slot theme recalling the legendary cartoon vixen Betty Boop, and the carnival-style bonus game of the manufacturer’s other new game, "Bell Ringer."

This slot game, co-developed by Bally and Top Gun Gaming, is based on an old mechanical amusement game that appeared in arcades during the Depression era, when Betty Boop cartoons were riding their first wave of popularity. The object was the same—you get to have Betty "rate" your acumen as a lover. The tower rising from the top box, which, in Bell Ringer, tells you whether you’re a weakling or a strong-man, tells you how good a lover you are—announced, of course, by Betty in her sexy "boop-boop-a-doop" voice.

The base game carries a simple pay table, with an extra "horse" symbol which substitutes for 7s in one reel combination. A mixed combination of horse symbols and 7s pays 100 coins at max-coin. Three horse symbols on the pay line yield the primary game’s top jackpot of 4,000 coins (at max-coin).
A triggering symbol on the third reel sends the game into a bonus round. The player presses a button to send the lights of the "Love Meter" flashing until they stop on a bonus level ranging from 10 coins—"Huggable"—to 2,000 coins. If you hit that, Betty rates you as a "Love Machine." Bonus levels in between include 60 coins for "Steamy," 100 coins for "Volcano" and 500 coins for "Inferno."
As with Bell Ringer, a "DOUBLE" indicator beneath the tower randomly lights up at the beginning of bonus rounds. If it’s lit, the bonus amount is doubled.

3. CAST FOR CASH - Williams/WMS Gaming
This is Williams’ follow-up game to the immensely popular "Reel ‘Em In" multiline video slot, in a unique new format.

There are two linked video screens: the regular monitor where the reels are represented, and a second, flat-screen color monitor imbedded in the top box. The primary game is a nine-line video slot (Reel ‘Em In is five-line). When the reel trigger enacts the bonus round, the two monitors become one. The familiar fisher-characters (plus some not-so-familiar ones) are seen in their boats in the top-box monitor, their fishing lines entering the water and trailing off the bottom of the screen to reappear in the bottom monitor, where you all the fish are swimming around.

The bonus game itself is based on the original Reel ‘Em In—the player chooses one of the characters in the fishing boats, who, to the beat of a musical background, lowers the line into the water to "fish" for the player’s bonus coin amount. However, many improvements have been made over the original. For instance, in one feature, the player gets to choose a world location for a "fishing trip." He could be fishing in Paris or Canada, for instance, and the characters in the bonus game—including the fish—change accordingly. If the player is fishing in Paris, the fish will be swimming around with berets on their heads. In Canada, you’ll see the "Royal Canadian Mounted Fish."

Other added attractions in the dual-screen bonus game are based on random events that offer intriguing twists. One such event is the opportunity to gamble for a bigger fish—the player will be invited to "throw his fish back" and try for a bigger one. The second fish may indeed be larger, with a larger bonus amount, but it could be smaller. In another feature, the random bonus amount that appears will be increased at the last minute. The fisher-person on the screen will reel his fish almost to the boat, and it will be eaten by a larger fish.

4. CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD - Williams/WMS Gaming
This new slot in Williams’ "Monopoly" line is one of the very best to date. The nine-line configuration of the base game enables an incredible hit frequency—the 95 percent payback version you are likely to find in the locals casinos boasts a stunning 60.76 percent frequency, or a hit of some kind almost every spin.

On top of the action-packed primary game are two separate bonus events. Two or more scattered dice symbols trigger the "Dice Bonus." Two or three animated dice—depending on how many symbols lined up to trigger the game—appear on the screen, roll around and land to reveal a bonus amount. The total amount appearing on the dice are multiplied by the total bet.

Three "Boardwalk" symbols trigger the bonus game on the top-box Monopoly board, a replica of the game board with jackpot multiplier amounts ranging from 3X for the properties on the low end of the board to 50X for the Boardwalk property. Forty tiles appear on the screen, and the player chooses tiles to reveal Monopoly properties. Each property revealed pays the multiplier times the per-line bet of the triggering spin. The player continues to select tiles until one reveals either "Go To Jail," "Jail," "Luxury Tax" or "Income Tax."

There are a couple of unique twists within the bonus game. If you select all three properties in a color group—a "Monopoly"—an extra bonus is paid, equal to five times the value of all properties in the color group. If you reveal a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card beneath a tile, it is held and is used to prolong the bonus game if a tile reveals "Jail" or "Go To Jail."

5. EASY STREET - Casino Data Systems
This is the latest slot in the CDS "Bandit Series" multimedia platform, and it’s one of the best. It’s a multiline video slot themed around the cartoon character "Chance the Dog." Reel symbols are dog houses, fire hydrants and "bone" bar symbols. (There is also a wild "bone" symbol.) The primary game is enhanced by the magnificent CDS video platform, with its 19-inch, oblong monitor and incredible 3-D graphics.

The bonus round is triggered by three scattered "spin" symbols on the reels. Above the reels is a 3-D game board, with Chance at the "Home" spot, the beginning of a winding path toward "Easy Street." The player presses a button to spin a wheel located in the corner of the screen. This determines how many spots the dog moves on the board, collecting bonus amounts or multipliers along the way. If he gets to Easy Street without landing on one of the spaces that ends the bonus round, the entire screen switches to a masterful video sequence that puts the player in a car with Chance driving down Easy Street, passing various themed locations.

The 3-D effect is simply great, and the themed locations are hilarious. Each location—a clothing store, a gas station, etc.—offers a different bonus sequence, with its own cartoon character. The top possible award is 20,000 coins.

There is also an instant bonus round. If the player lines up three "Easy Street" signs in the primary game, the game switches immediately to the 3-D second screen, without Chance having to traverse the game board.

Easy Street is perhaps the most entertaining slot produced yet by this relatively young slot manufacturer. The artwork, video motion, and clever game features will keep you entertained, and a fantastic primary-game hit frequency will keep you in contention for the bonus rounds.

6. FREE-N-EASY SMOKIN’ SEVENS - Sigma Game
Smokin’ Sevens is a three-reel, three-coin "buy-a-feature" slot with a pay table including five "7" combinations—single 7s, double 7s, triple 7s, "Double Jackpot 7s" (three of them lands the top 10,000-coin jackpot) and mixed 7s. The "Free-N-Easy" version adds a top-box bonus game.
The Double Jackpot 7s work like the wild symbol in "Double Diamond"-style games, substituting for any other symbol, doubling the jackpot when one lands in a winning combination, and quadrupling the jackpot when two land.

A "Free Play" symbol on the third reel activates the bonus game on Sigma’s trademark "Bonus Tunnel," concentric circles of neon, just as in the Treasure Tunnel game. But instead of jackpot multiplier amounts, the circles bear numbers of free spins—five, 10, 15 and 25. The rings of neon flash until landing on a number of free spins.

The player hits the spin button once and the machine automatically goes into its free spins. But these aren’t normal spins—you win every time. Every losing combination on the reels pays three coins. The jackpot for every winning combination is doubled. So if you land three wild symbols on a free spin, the payoff is 20,000 coins.

This game provides a lesson in how to inject excitement into a simple three-reel slot machine. Sigma has taken nothing away from the primary-game hit frequency to compensate for the appearance of the bonus round. The hit frequency is around 16 percent, or a hit of some kind every six or seven spins. That’s above average for a single-line game, not even considering the lucrative bonus round.
Not only is the bonus round lucrative, it is frequent as well. The free-spin symbol lands on the third reel every 51 spins or so, more frequently than the triggering symbol in most three-reel bonus slots.

7. JESTER - International Game Technology
This is one of the best bonus slots in IGT’s "Party Time" series. It’s a three-reel, three-coin quarter "buy-a-pay" slot (max bet is required to activate all features), with a second set of three reels in the top box for the bonus round. All of the games are linked to a "MegaJackpots" multi-site progressive jackpot.

The base game is IGT’s Double Double Diamond, with a standard pay table. The "Party Time" symbol acts as an extra wild symbol that multiplies the jackpot in the same way as the normal game’s wild symbol. One of either symbol in a winning combination multiplies the jackpot by four. Two of either symbol—or one of each —with a jackpot symbol multiplies it by 16.

A "Jester" symbol on the third reel with either two or three coins bet activates the bonus round, a random number of free spins on the top-box reels. At least one winning combination is guaranteed in the bonus round. There are two lights bearing the words "Collect" and "Go." The "Go" light flashes until a winning combination lands on the bonus reels. After that, the lights flash between "Collect" and "Go" until the player hits the "spin" button. If it stops on "Go," the bonus reels spin until another winning combination lands. This process continues until the flashing stops on the "Collect" light, when the accumulated bonus goes to the credit meter.

If the "Jester" symbol lands on the third bonus reel during the free-spin sequence, the player is awarded from four to 12 guaranteed winning bonus spins (as long as three coins were bet on the spin that triggered the bonus round; one to four guaranteed winners are awarded on a two-coin bet).
This is a feature-packed game with frequent bonus rounds. And these rounds are normally lucrative—the "Collect" light does not appear with losing bonus-round spins, and the bonus reels contain the same multiplying wild symbols as the primary game. Continued on...