Oh, Brave New Games
The 20th Century had its "branding," with name-brand games such as Monopoly, Elvis, Three Stooges, and Wheel of Fortune. Well, here’s a Casino 2020 name-brand game called "Post Office."
It takes place in this nondescript and drab room. As you enter, read the sign over the door that says: "US Postal Service: Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these curriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds!" The word "rounds" has a double meaning as you shall see.
Around the room are holographic images of various people, or sometimes animals, dressed in late 1990s postal uniforms. Although some younger people in 2020 might not remember the United States Post Office, we turn-of-the-century citizens know that the Post Office was where a person could physically mail letters and boxes made of paper and cardboard. In 2020, they don’t have that anymore.
Post Office is a very expensive game, with a $25 minimum per pop. Those "people" you see have been holographically reproduced from photographs or slides given to the holo-computer by the player. The computer scans the images and recreates them, dressed in postal garb and carrying a postal bag.
The object of the game is for the player to hit them with the "rounds" of ammunition he has brought in his own postal bag. The rounds of ammo are just creditS stored in the memory of the computer, of course. Each laser blast represents a $25 coin. And it sure looks real because those holograms are life-size.
This game has a bonus round too! If you change the weather conditions to a blinding snow storm, for example, it is that much more difficult to nail your enemies. But when you do, they count for more cash. The ultimate jackpot occurs when you can hit a mail carrier in a tornado.
This game combines the psychological fun of getting "virtually even" with people you don’t like and winning some money in the bargain.
I know, I know, some of you are cringing. You 1999 folk might be horrified at Post Office, and you are asking yourselves: "Isn’t the game disgustingly bloody?" No, no, calm your fears ladies and gentlemen, the casino control commissions of all the states won’t allow graphic violence of any kind in their casinos. After all, this isn’t high school. When you hit an opponent in Post Office, you’re hitting their postal bags is all. Instead of blood, gold coins come out of them. That’s how you win. No hologram ever dies.
Let’s take a look at the game as it’s being played.
To start the game, the player can put money in the bill accepter or he can have his player’s card scanned and credit applied. Once he cashes in, the game begins. The player now pulls out a laser gun and the life-sized holograms begin to run and jump in the constantly changing landscape.
These holograms are anything but easy to hit, as you can see, even though the player is firing away like crazy. The holograms literally jump over him and he fires in all directions. There, he hit one, and some gold coins jumped out of her bag. These are added to the credit meter that looks like a postal scale.
When the player runs out of current rounds, he can cash in his credits or he can replay them. Needless to say, Post Office has a high volatility threshold.
Here’s another game, called "Triple Crown." This is a big progressive jackpot virtual-horse race. You enter the stall and sit astride a very comfortable saddle.
The game has three phases. Phase One is the Kentucky Derby. Once you put in your money, you are surrounded by Kentucky Downs, the sights, sounds and smells. They pump in rose scent, with just a hint of manure.
You are in a field of 20 horses labeled one through 21 (there is no number 13). You press the button on the pommel and the race begins. The computer determines at random which horse will win by determining its average speed on the course, although each horse runs the race at various speeds throughout.
A player can "kick" his horse to go faster (each kick costs you credits) Those kicks can increase your horse’s speed enough to win, place or show.
Once you win the Kentucky Derby (you have a one-in-20 chance of winning, even with the "kicking" function of the game, because you might be kicking a horse that was going to win anyway), you move on to the Preakness, followed by the Belmont. You can bet any amount you want on the races, up to $500 maximum (the minimum is $25). The payoff for winning is 10-to-one; for second place, it’s five-to-one; and third place takes three-to-one. The house edge is slightly less than 10 percent, as a fraction of the "purse" is set aside for the progressive jackpots.
When you win three races in a row, you win a small progressive jackpot. To win three in a row is a one-in-8,000 occurrence. This "Triple Crown" enters you into "The Ultimate Triple Crown" where you can win the giant progressive jackpot. It starts at $20 million and goes up from there. All you have to do is win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in succession again! In reality, the odds of coming in first six times in a row are 64 million-to-one. But you won’t care about those odds when you sit atop the greatest horses of all time: Secretariat, Man of War, and Mr. Ed.
There are so many new and wonderful games in Casino 2020, but we don’t have time for them all on this tour. Many of you will still be alive when Casino 2020 arrives, but will you be able to adapt to the new high-powered virtual reality slots?
I think you will. Again, let me quote slot expert John Robison: "The popularity of the games from Silicon Gaming, whose machines have the most powerful computers on the slot floor today, has shown that people will play radically different machines with high-quality graphics and sounds, as long as the games are entertaining and provide a good gambling experience."
Of course, while the virtual reality machines in Casino 2020 are amazing, you can’t imagine the kind of new games that can be found on the Internet gaming sites. But that’s for another trip into the future, on another day.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time to return to our time machines and go back to the casinos of 1999—and won’t Wheel of Fortune seem awfully boring now?
Frank Scoblete has written 13 best-selling books, three videos and three audio cassettes on casino gambling. He also publishes his own quarterly magazine, Chance and Circumstance, and has his own websites www.scoblete.com and www.rgtgaming.com. For a free brochure call 1-800-944-0406 or write: Paone Press, Box 610, Lynbrook, NY 11563.
