It’s been a good year to be Aristocrat. Their games have dominated the top ten spots in both national performance indexes for video core, premium games, even some placements with reel spinners.
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For competitors, the bad news started a few years back with the introduction of the now often-imitated Lightning Link series of progressives. That was followed a few years later with the higher denomination Dragon Link series. Today, these two titles dominate the top ten spots in important premium indexes. ReelMetrics’ latest national Indexes show Dragon Link and/or Lightning Link holding seven of the top spots. Likewise, in the Eilers-Fantini national Game Performance Report for September, it’s much the same, with ATI holding six of the top ten rankings in the Premium Leased list. “Wheel of Fortune” was the only other product in either of those national rankings to hold any of the top ten spots.
For Aristocrat, it may be getting even better. They’ve just released the third in their line of popular link progressive style games, Dollar Storm, which officially debuted last month at San Manuel Casino in southern California.
This latest version shares many of the game mechanics that have made Lightning Link and Dragon Link popular and adds some new twists. There are five levels of progressives, including a fast-hitting “Super Grand” Multi-Site Progressive (MSP) jackpot, which starts at $50,000 and should climb rapidly. Unlike many competitive wide area progressives (WAPs), Aristocrat’s MSP can be won on any bet, on any played denomination, at any time. Speaking of that, the base game can be configured in a wide range, from 1¢ to $2. There’s even an operator-configurable $5 option for high limit play. Like Dragon Link, Dollar Storm has the potential to be a leader in both the low and high denomination categories.
The new game offers four themes: “Emperor’s Treasure,” “Caribbean Gold,” “Egyptian Jewels,” and “Ninja Moon.” Each version has a variation of the free games feature. Like the other games in this progressive series, the “hold & spin” feature is one that players seem to love; it’s the most frequently copied game mechanic in the industry today.
Dollar Storm was released on Aristocrat’s new MarsX cabinet (shown at left). This modular cabinet has two 27” 4K monitors and is driven with ATI’s Gen 9 operating system. There’s a virtual button deck that allows for virtually infinite betting options, and a 4:1 sound system that emanates around the displays. Like on other, newer Aristocrat cabinets – the effect was introduced on the Helix – there is a corona sync edge lighting effect that seems to float the monitors in front of the base cabinet.
If Dollar Storm weren’t enough, Aristocrat will also show another of its monster hit series on the MarsX with the introduction of Buffalo Gold Revolution. Virtually every previous version of the Buffalo series has been a hit, and there’s no reason to think that this new variant won’t be as well. It adds a progressive jackpot feature to the brand for the first time.
The other relatively new cabinet they’ll be showing at G2E will be the wide screen EdgeX, which was previewed earlier in the year at NIGA’s Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention in San Diego. However, G2E will see the debut of the latest licensed title on the cabinet, Star Trek: The Next Generation™. This impressive box features two stacked, horizontal curved 43” LCD screens with surround sound and a virtual button deck.
“We are big fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and our design and development teams have taken that inspiration and combined it with their passion for play,” said Jon Hanlin, VP of Commercial Strategy, Gaming Operations. “The result is a game that features the sights and sound from the series, takes full advantage of the EdgeX cabinet’s cinematic design, and will entertain long-time fans and new fans alike.”
You’ll also see themes previewed earlier at NIGA on this platform, including Mad Max: Fury Road™ and Game of Thrones: Winter is Here™.
Reel spinners were one of the few segments where Aristocrat has trailed in the past, but they’ve made great strides with the RELM cabinet. It scored the second highest marks in the September ’19 Eilers-Fantini Cabinet Performance Report for mechanical reel platforms.
They’re also showing multiple new themes on their core and premium Helix cabinets in various configurations. Dragon Tower is a new five-level progressive that will appear on the Helix Tower, and The Hunt for Neptune’s Gold will be on the Helix XT.
The Winner’s World MultiGame bar top
Finally, this summer their new bar top poker cabinet, Winner’s World Multi-Game, hit the market. The list of vendors who’ve tried and failed to crack IGT’s dominance in this category is quite long, but no one else had a Buffalo slot game in their pocket to sweeten the mix. That single gaming option may be just what operators need to encourage them to break IGT’s monopoly in the category.
As mentioned earlier: G2E 2019, and all of 2020, could be another great year for Aristocrat.
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