Machines with a steering wheel, zombie zapper or high-score leaderboard are not what players are accustomed to seeing on a casino floor.
That’s the point of arcade-style gambling games, says Georg Washington.
Synergy Blue CEO Georg Washington
“It’s providing something new and different,” explains the CEO of Synergy Blue, a Las Vegas-based provider of interactive skill-influenced casino games. “Just as table games are different (from) slot games, different (from) electronic table games, we’re providing a different experience.”
Casino regulators in Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania approved the concept of “skill-based” gaming about five years ago, setting up an alternative to the pure-luck nature of traditional slot machines.
After a bit of development time, the genre appears ready to take off, Washington says.
Synergy Blue, for example, offers more than 20 titles and has placed machines in Reno, Nev., California, Oklahoma, and central Europe; it plans to announce more placements soon.
The company recently unveiled its 2600 cabinet, designed in consultation with Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. Because the COVID-19 pandemic hit around the same time the cabinet was going into production, the company developed and added “Blue Safe Touch,” an antimicrobial agent in the commonly touched surfaces to inhibit the transfer of viruses and germs. The cabinet’s ducts use UVC filtration to clean incoming and outgoing air.
Synergy Blue’s Atari 2600-inspired cabinet
Synergy Blue also launched the HAWG (hybrid arcade wager-based gaming) platform, which allows operators to meet regulations, while providing player interaction at traditional chance-based games.
Despite the COVID-19 shutdown, “We’ve had a great increase over the last six or seven weeks in sales requests and implementations,” Washington says. “We’ve got a good outlook coming.”
The company’s skill-influenced games range from traditional arcade styles to mobile-style color-matching games.
For example, the arcade-style Joyride Jackpot, complete with a steering wheel and accelerator pedal, allows users to choose a car and course, then race solo or with friends. Lucky Candy Cash is a touchscreen game in which players connect similar candies to earn bonuses.
Players recognize the style of a game and don’t have to be taught how to play, Washington says. “Easy barrier of entry, easy to learn.”
As casinos reopen from the COVID-19 shutdown, many operators have noticed that younger adults make up a larger chunk of customers than before. That observation fits with a Synergy Blue survey of 1,000 gamblers done in late April. The study found that 62 percent of gamblers up to age 29 planned to resume their casino visits once stay-at-home orders were lifted, compared with 56 percent of those age 30 to 45, 48 percent of those 45 to 60 and 40 percent of those over 60.
Synergy Blue games on the floor of Thunderbird Casino in Oklahoma
Results so far among casinos that have reopened bear out those findings, Washington says. He thinks that will continue until older gamblers, who are more threatened by coronavirus, feel safer being in crowded situations.
Arcade-style games appeal particularly to younger gamblers, he adds. The study also found that while 60 percent of all gamblers ranked slot machines and video gambling devices as the biggest casino attraction, only 47 percent of those 29 and younger agreed.
He compares the rise of arcade-style casino games to electronic table games, which U.S. casinos “pushed into a corner” until they became popular overseas.
“It took a while for the industry to understand that ETGs are not slot machines,” he says. “They’re a different product, a slightly different demographic pool.”
Even video-reel slots raised doubts when they were introduced, he says, but they are now dominant on the floor.
As with slot machines, operators can choose from a variety of Return-To-Player ratios and volatility ratings when selecting arcade-style games, Washington says.
Slot machines have about a 100-year head start on arcade-style casino games, he says, “so we’re playing a little bit of catch-up.”
He admits that arcade-style games won’t replace slots.
“It gives another tool in the belt for the operator to keep the gamblers in or bring in new gamblers,” Washington says. “It’s just a different experience.”
