Ainsworth continues its winning slot series based on the most popular arcade game of all time with PAC-MAN DYNAMIC EDITION
States weigh rules for new kind of slot machine John Locher / AP People stand in front of an oversized slot machine at the Aristocrat booth during the Global Gaming Expo on Wednesday, Sept. 'Pac Man' for cash? States weigh rules for new kind of slots. Feb 22, 2016 10:38 AM. Says the evolution of slot machines is necessary as the amount casinos collect from them has generally not.
By Frank Legato
When slot manufacturer Ainsworth Game Technology first announced its partnership with arcade game producer Bandai Namco Entertainment to bring the arcade classic PAC-MAN to the slot floor, many were excited to see the iconic arcade game on the slot floor, affording folks who loved gobbling pac-dots and avoiding ghosts to experience the game on a casino floor.
The advent of skill-based games on the slot floor has, in fact, been dubious at best, and Ainsworth has kept its focus on making traditional slot machines, and in the case of licensed themes such as this, it’s all about mining the various features of a theme and transforming them into good gambles.
In the case of PAC-MAN, it’s hard to imagine a theme with a richer collection of features that easily translate to the slot floor, starting with PAC-MAN himself—a video critter shaped like a pizza with a slice missing, running around a video maze gobbling digital dots—and continuing with Pac-Man’s nemeses, the four ghosts named Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde, which, if they catch Pac-Man enough times, prompt the dreaded “Game Over” message, along with that deflating end-game digital music.
Ainsworth, in fact, has already successfully mined this rich vein of sounds and images. PAC-MAN WILD EDITION, released last spring, has been a roaring success, still popular with players wherever it has been placed. Distinguishing that game is not only the multiple progressive jackpots, but an extra row of reel symbols above the main reel array. When PAC-MAN appears on that extra row, he drops down to make every symbol on the corresponding main reel wild. This month, players will be treated to what promises to be the first of many sequels to the iconic brand, PAC-MAN DYNAMIC EDITION.
Like PAC-MAN WILD EDITION, the new game is featured on Ainsworth’s A640 cabinet, featuring a high-definition, 40-inch vertical touch-screen video monitor, a 5.1 surround-sound system and a touch-screen button deck. The game itself is a five-reel, 30-line video slot which, like its predecessor, includes an extra row of reels above the main three-row, five-reel array.
From there, the idea was to produce a different but equally compelling way to use the extra row of symbols, says Cody Herrick, director of game development for Ainsworth. “What we’ve changed up in Dynamic is that, instead of getting those drop-down wilds, you get a PAC-MAN symbol that’s going to correspond to the three-by-five reel below it,” Herrick says. “And anywhere a ghost appears on that reel, a blue Pac-Man is going to come through and eat those up, and you’re given a multiplier depending on how many of those ghosts have appeared on the screen.”
During base-game spins, the number of ghosts gobbled up by Pac-Man translates into multipliers applied to the total bet. “This occurs quite regularly,” Herrick says.
This feature is super-charged during a unique free-games feature. Three or more bonus symbols scattered on the reels trigger eight free games. Before the free games start, the bottom reel array expands from three rows of symbols to nine, tripling the number of pay lines. During the free-spins, the extra top row includes only PAC-MAN and “Pattern” symbols. When PAC-MAN lands on the extra reel row, ghosts Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde are transformed into “Ghost Prize” symbols on the main reels.
The player is awarded a bonus prize of the total credits bet multiplied by the number of Ghost Prize symbols appearing. “Changing the reel array to a nine-by-five creates a huge stack of these symbols coming across, and you’re going to get big stacks of the ghosts as well,” Herrick says. “So, you’re going to get 25, 30, 35 times your bet when that PAC-MAN shows up on the extra reel.” Three or more bonus scatter symbols on a free spin trigger an additional five free games.
Multipliers also are prevalent in a spinning bonus called the Mega Roulette feature. When a “Key” symbol appears on the extra reel, a roulette wheel appears on the screen. The player spins the wheel for prizes of the total bet multiplied by two, three, five, 10, 15, 20 or 50. The other slice of the roulette wheel is the “Jackpot Game,” which guarantees one of the three progressive prizes.
In the jackpot Game, the screen displays nine blue ghosts, each hiding a “Mini, Minor” or “Major” jackpot icon. The player selects ghosts until matching three jackpot icons. The Mini resets at $50; the Minor at $400. The Major resets at $4,000.
Ainsworth has not only translated aspects of the classic PAC-MAN game for the slot game, but has adeptly recreated the feel of the arcade game. “PAC-MAN DYNAMIC EDITION is really a partnership with Bandai Namco, following their art and animation with PAC-MAN, the ghosts and the chase sequences,” Herrick says. “But we’ve used the audio as well. One of the cool ‘Easter eggs’ in the game is that, as you’re getting lower and lower on the free spins, the music speeds up—just as it does in the arcade game when you have fewer and fewer pellets to eat.”
PAC-MAN DYNAMIC EDITION was launched in late December and will be in most jurisdictions in early 2018. “The original PAC-MAN game is still doing extremely well, and we feel Dynamic is going to fit right in behind that,” says Herrick, “and we’ll continue our partnership with Bandai Namco with more titles down the road.”
He adds that a skill-based version of PAC-MAN is not out of the question, once the market proves that players will in fact embrace skill gaming. But for now, he says, players can enjoy all those multipliers in Dynamic Edition. “When you hit those giant stacks of ghosts and get 35 times your bet on a single spin, it’s a great win; then two spins later, you do it again,” Herrick says. “The frequency of this feature is what will really astound players.”
Astounding, yes, but at its core — a lot of fun.
Slot Type: Five-reel, 30-line video slot; three-level progressive jackpot; wheel-based, free-spin and picking bonus events; penny through $10 denominations Payback % Range: 90%-95% Average Hit Frequency: Approximately 50% Top jackpot: Progressive; $4,000 reset |
When we play online slots all we do is imagining how the reels stop and the symbols align to trigger a big payout. Although enjoying and having fun is important when playing slots, there is more to it than just brainlessly gazing at the colorful symbols.
Slots were created at the end of the 19th century when they were introduced to local bars and pubs. Later they went on entertaining female guests at hotels or casinos. Actually, slots were used by clever casino operators to distract the wives of big mafia bosses and officials so they won’t take them away from their card games.
Slots are one of the players’ most favorite casino games, which do not require any skill at all, only tempered behavior. If you are new to playing online slots, we advise you to read carefully below how to become more efficient slots player, not just a “gung-ho” headless gambler. Slots can be very rewarding on the long run, and finding the slot game with the lowest house edge is a real treasure.
Slots Rules
At the basic level, slots are the easiest and simplest games out there, and nevertheless, they keep being abundantly offered at online and land-based casinos. However, there are several rules that you need to follow in order to be able to play slots, and afterwards we will give you a simple strategy. You will need to know that:
- A payout is triggered when the necessary symbols align into a payline. In order to see what are the various paylines you can check the paytable that every slot game has displayed.
- Slots have different number of paylines, they can range from 1 payline with the most basic slots, up to 50 paylines. Paylines don’t run in just horizontal lines.
- A payline will not form if the necessary symbol doesn’t appear in the first reels, but has appeared in the other reels. To trigger the payout and to form the complete payline, the symbol must be aligned in the first reel too.
- You can spin the reels by pressing the ‘Spin’ button.
- You can always choose the number of paylines to play with. More paylines means more chances for a win.
- Before spinning the reels, you must first select the number of coins per payline and the size of the coins. The coin size is multiplied with the number of coins.
- To play for a progressive jackpot you need to play with the maximum number of coins. Just use the ‘Bet Max’ button.
- Slots can have a minimum of 3 reels, and range up to 9.
The Basics of Slots
Objective of the Game
As in any casino game, the objective of the slots is to get the highest possible payout by combining the appropriate symbols. But, you will need to know that the higher the wager that you make at each spin, the higher the payout will be. Wagering $1 per spin and wagering $10 is not the same. If you hit a 4,000 coins payout with a $1 bet, you will be paid $4,000, which is still great, but if you hit the same payout with $10 bet, you will receive $40,000, which is no doubt a more desired sum.
Paylines and Reels
The word “reel” can be best understood when you put it on the context of the original mechanical slot machines. It is simply a wheel with symbols on it that you can spin by pulling the lever or pressing the ‘spin’ button, and when the reels stop the symbols align to form a payline. Naturally, the same concept is used for online slots.
Payline is the line that runs across the reels and connects the symbols together. If the right combination of symbols appears on the reels when they stop spinning, the payline is triggered and a specific win is paid out. Today’s online slots have zig-zaged paylines that can run in different directions, but always from the left towards the right.
Bonus Features
Almost every slot has different bonus features. These bonus features can be very rewarding, while some may be really stingy. These bonuses can consist of different bonus rounds, second or even third bonus screens where you can score different amounts. In such cases you are usually required to click on few choices that will reveal your bonus winning, or depending on how innovative the game play is you may be even required to use your skills to win the bonus money. Bonus rounds are great because almost always they include multipliers that increase your winning sum by several times.
Gamble Feature
Some slots even have a gamble feature that we’ve seen in video poker games. This is when you have scored a win, and you are offered to double it in a separate screen by guessing what color the card will be, red or black. Or, in order to multiply your potential payout you can guess of which suite the card will be, whether clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades.
Game Features
A standard online slot game has several buttons with which you can play the slot. The most convenient option is probably the ‘auto play’ button. With it you can select how many spins you want to computer to make instead of you, while you do other important things on your computer, and not just hit the spin button the entire time. Also, you can adjust the size of your bet per line and coin size, and select the number of paylines. And the most important is the ‘Info’ or ‘Paytable’ button where you can see how much the slot game pays off for its paylines.
An Easy Slot Machine Strategy to Use
Before you begin playing slots, it would be wise to set up a strategy that will help you play safer and with more thought into it. A slots strategy doesn’t literally mean moves that you need to make just like in card games, it’s just a simple strategic thinking to help you save money.
The first obvious move is to select an online slot game and practice it first in free play. This will help you see if the game is really to your liking and how frequent the payouts are. Don’t worry, casino games in free play mode are just the same as real-money mode, only you play with fun money for the purpose of practicing.
After you’ve decided on the slot that you want to play with real money, you will need to set yourself a bankroll that you will use. You mustn’t exceed it at any moment. If you’ve made more than that bankroll, just walk away with the money. The point is not to lose your winnings and your entire bankroll ultimately just because you were greedy and thought the slot is hot. There is no such thing as a hot slot.
Play the slot in multiple sessions, and make sure to not spend all of your wagering money in one session. Once you notice you are having a losing strike, stop immediately, because losing leads to more losing by trying to make up for the losses.
If there are bonuses or free spins offered for playing that slot, use them without hesitation. Take the maximum advantage by using up such bonuses that essentially cost you nothing, but can extend your playing time greatly.
Summary
There will never be a shortage of slot games. We see them get developed and improved each day as new slots are released by different software providers. Microgaming has over 400 slot games, and most probably Playtech too. Now there are even awesome 3D animated slots by Betsoft that are pretty much of equal quality as a big animated blockbuster, with even more unique technical and game play features than before. Moreover, with the advent of mobile casino gaming, playing slots has become even more convenient than before. Now you can have you favorite slot with you wherever you will go.
Useful Slots Glossary
Free Spins: free spins are exactly what the name says, they are spins given for free. Free spins are triggered with a particular symbol, or are given through promotions.
Multiplier: some symbols in a slot game may be used to trigger a multiplier, and they are mostly triggered while playing bonus rounds or free spins. The multiplier further multiplies the winning amount of the payline that you’ve hit, and the multiplication usually is set from 2x to 5x. In some slots, multipliers increase as the symbols appear again that trigger the multiplier feature.
Scatter: the scatter symbol is another common feature in slots and is used to trigger scatter payouts as defined in the paytable for the game or to activate a bonus round.
Wild: this is probably the most important symbol in slots, because they can replace a missing symbol in a payline to trigger the payout. In video slots if you hit wilds on all reels you can trigger a jackpot or activate a multiplier.
For a more in-depth list of terms and phrases for Slots, visit our Glossary page here.
YOU MIGHT BE ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THESE:
RELATED NEWS
Adventures Beyond Wonderland Released by Playtech [...]
NetEnt and Red Tiger Casino Games Now Available in Pennsylvania [...]
Take Santa’s Shop in BetSoft’s New Christmas Slot [...]
MORE INTERESTING ARTICLES
How To Play Andar Bahar [...]
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THESE POPULAR PAGES
ONLINE CASINO SLOTS RESOURCES
STRATEGYImplement these strategy tips that will help you.
HISTORYHow did slots come about? Click to find out.
GAME REVIEWSCheck out our casino game reviews section.
READY TO PLAY NOW? CHECK OUT OUR #1 ONLINE SLOTS CASINO
Videoslots
100% up to £200 BonusBACK TO TOPCASINODIRECTORY.COM SUPPORTS MOBILE!
Alexander Pac Man Slots
CHECK OUT OUR SITE ON YOUR SMARTPHONE OR TABLET.