Now that Synergy Blue has a license to operate in Nevada, the skill-based manufacturer is ready to take its game – and its games – to the next level.
The Nevada Gaming Commission unanimously approved a license for the company last Thursday, and company officials are excited about expanding its footprint in the U.S. The company has had games in place at the Augustine Casino in California for about a year; five of its titles are on the Augustine’s floor today. It also has its games in trial in Europe.
Synergy Blue is in talks with three corporations about placing its games in Nevada for trials within the next two to three months, during which time state gaming officials will monitor the installations for errors. Once the company receives its certification, it will be able to sell its games in the state, said Synergy Blue CEO Georg Washington.
“Nevada is a great market for us,” Washington said. “There’s a lot of transient players. We’re super excited about getting licensed in the state. It’s a sea change for us. We’re going to make a big push into Vegas over the coming months.”
Now that it’s licensed in Nevada, Washington said the company will seek similar clearances in other states.
“Nevada is one of the gold standards of gaming,” Washington said. “We went through the gauntlet. We still have to send the games through trials, but the rest of the jurisdictions become easier because they know (how thoroughly the games are tested) when it comes to a Nevada license. We’re lining up license applications in several other jurisdictions at the same time.”
Synergy Blue currently offers a total of 19 games after debuting 15 new skill-based arcade-style gambling games at the Global Gaming Expo last October. It plans to add more titles in time for the next show.
The company launched in Augustine Casino last year with Zombie$, Safari Match and Lucky Karts. Zombie$ is a first-person shooter game, while Safari Match is a match-three puzzle game. Lucky Karts is a modern kart racing game.
Skill-based games are intended to attract millennials and younger generations to slots, but Washington said the social-style games are catering to baby boomers as well.
“They are seeing something that looks and plays familiar and offers an understandable gaming experience,” Washington said.
The company has received feedback about its games and is attempting to better educating players by adjusting its tutorials to cover both game play and in-game wagering. It is showcasing those improvements at the National Indian Gaming Association conference and trade show this week in San Diego.
“We’re also catering to slot directors. We’ve developed our math library so that slot operators can adjust their math models as they see fit for their properties,” said Washington, who said Synergy’s game are getting the same handle pulls per hour as traditional slot machines. “The market is (still) on the edge about skill-based games… it’s understandable that they want to see similar (per-day) handle pull and coin in.”
The criticism levied over skill-based games, which are still in their infancy, is coming from a “loud vocal few,” Washington said. He added that the company has slowed down on what it pushes out the door and won’t rush anything out until everything is in place.
“Now that we do, we are going to start to push heavy,” Washington said. “The negativity has been on a couple of games (from some manufacturers) that didn’t hit the nail on the head. But not every traditional slot machine machine hits it out of the park, either. We have to look at the bigger picture.”
Synergy Blue has been working on improving its games by increasing the celebrations within them, he said. Social-style games usually contain a celebration for doing well. Washington says there needs to be a similar type of victory celebration built into skill-based casino games, possibly with a notification and sound of coins coming out like in traditional slots.
“Although skill-based games are on the edge of innovation and pushing the limits a little bit, it’s not about getting rid of what has been done before in traditional gambling,” Washington said. “We’re just trying to adjust it and reinvigorate it for a new generation.”
