The recent debut of Aruze Gaming’s latest slot title created something of a problem for the company: The crowd around the machine at Circa Resort and Casino in Downtown Las Vegas prevented a sales rep from taking a picture.
“It was so funny,” recalled Lesley Hodges, senior director of marketing for Aruze. “He said ‘I’m having a hard time because people won’t stop playing it. I can’t get a picture of the game with no people in front of it.’”
Despite the inconvenience for the photographer, that’s the player reaction Aruze aims to generate with its Activ-Play line of slot games. The latest title, which is exclusive to Circa through the end of the year before becoming widely available, is Rock Paper Scissors Instant Win, based on the 2,000-year-old game virtually everyone has played.
Two other Activ-Play titles, Go Go Claw Cash Grab and Go Go Claw Gold Bars, build on another universal childhood favorite. Players guide a mechanical claw over a trough of prize balls of varying value and attempt to pick up and deposit one in a box within the allotted time. Go Go Claw was named product innovation of the year at the 2022 Global Gaming Awards in Las Vegas.
An additional version, Go Go Claw Dream Prize, will become available in the second quarter of 2023, Hodges said. It will allow players to choose prizes such as a trip or a car instead of cash.
Wacky Gator, styled on the Whac-A-Mole arcade game, will become available in the third quarter of 2023 in the company’s Muso Curve-55HB cabinet. Aruze displayed it at October’s Global Gaming Expo.
The fundamental idea behind Activ-Play is to involve players with the games, Hodges said. The line’s first entry was Paradise Fishing, the brainchild of company founder Kazuo Okada. The community-play game launched in 2009 with a feature that simulated the tension on a fishing rod when trying to land a big catch. Only a few of those titles remain active, but they established Aruze’s reputation for slot innovation.
While the method of playing Go Go Claw or Rock Paper Scissors might suggest a player’s skill can influence the outcome, Hodges said a random number generator determines the result before play begins.
“The player feels like they have control over it,” she explained. “If they’re playing Go Go Claw, for instance, they place their bet and they get to move the claw and pick their ball, just like they would with a regular claw machine. They are actually controlling where that claw goes. But on the random number generator side of things, the outcome is already determined.” If the RNG result is a loss, the player might run out of time or the ball might fall before reaching the win box.
Go Go Claw players can choose from five betting levels, with each credit worth $1. Prizes vary according to the bet; for example, a $5 bet may offer prizes of $20 to $500, while a $100 bet could award $600 to $5,000.
Hodges said the games attract all types of players, with extra appeal to younger players who grew up playing claw machines in arcades or restaurants. Just watching people try their hand at the game can generate excitement, she added. “There will typically be a crowd of people watching, and sometimes we’ll even get a line of people that want to play them. It’s easy to learn, so they really appeal to everybody.”
Aruze also offers traditional video reel slots and an array of multi-player electronic table games, including Roll to Win Craps, Lucky Roulette, and Super Big Wheel. The company operates in nearly 40 countries and is licensed in more than 200 gaming jurisdictions. Aruze Gaming America, based in Las Vegas, is one of eight subsidiaries around the globe.
