With well over 30,000 expected visitors and hundreds of exhibitors, the ICE show being held at ExCel London is huge. With a show this massive, it might be easy to miss some vendors. Konami won’t not be one of them.
Their Concerto line of cabinets, with their distinctive triangular LED side-lights, can be spotted from almost any distance. Konami calls the feature “holographic lighting,” but by any name they draw attention as they dynamically color change both in attract mode or when reflecting game features. They’ll be showcasing dozens of new themes and progressives on these cabinet, along with their proven winners for the full line of Concertos. It includes the Upright, Slant, Stack and Crescent models. They’ll also be marking the ICE introduction of their newest jumbo “Concerto Opus” model with a 4K Ultra HD display and one new non-Concerto cabinet, the KX 43, also with 4K.
The big news is the impressive array of new themes and game mechanics across the board. The curved-screen Concerto Crescent showcases the new “Star Watch” series highlight by the “Magma.” These use a “Strike Zone” game mechanic like the popular “Celestial Sun Riches” and “Celestial Moon Riches.” They build on those foundations by allowing players to activate entire reels strips from left to right, up the entire frame. Any winning symbols that land in the “Strike Zone” awards credits or gives a wheel-spin bonus with guaranteed Mini, Major, Mega or Maxi jackpots. This feature is also available during free spins to really add the potential of bigger and bigger prizes. “Star Watch Magma” includes multi-denominational options, and ICE marks their availability across global markets. Another new theme with a similar mechanic is the “Agent: Magnifying Jackpots.”
On the tall concave 43” Crescent cabinet, these “Strike Zone” features are visually powerful and let everyone in the area know wins are on the way. “Fairy Sweep,” “Sparkling Roses Color Bloom,” “Classy Roses Color Bloom,” “Inspector: Sign of Jackpots,” and “Monster Sweep” are new and will also be shown.
Using Konami’s KP3+ operating system, both the standard Concerto “Upright” (which features twin 27-inch HD monitors) and the “Slant” version have been top performers for some time. Their new symbol-driven linked-progressive “Money Galaxy” will feature three custom themes: “Radiant Witch,” “Dragon’s Return” and “Pharaoh’s Power.” There are multiple progressives and players will be hoping to advance to the ultimate linked “Maxi” jackpot.
Multi-games have been gaining popularity for the last few years, but the clear leader in the category is Konami’s “SeleXion.” When launched, this was truly the first time anyone achieved nearly-instantaneous game changing. Prior to “SeleXion,” choosing a different theme was relatively slow, resulting in disappointing performance. This now-popular multi-game option on both the Concerto Upright and Slant allows operators to select from a library of over 50 games to display, most of which allow progressive bonuses.
