Reflecting on the three years since the company made its debut, Nicola Longmuir, CEO of AvatarUX, gave SBC Leaders a sneak peak into what we can expect from the gaming software provider as it ramps up its plans for global expansion.

For any start-up company, there comes a point when the focus must shift to ‘scaling-up’ in an effort to take the business to the next level. In the three years since its launch, AvatarUX has had great success, mainly driven by the PopWins mechanic which has been a hit with players across the globe.

Having introduced ten PopWins titles to our portfolio since inception in 2019, we are now significantly increasing the rate at which we release games to ensure we maintain our momentum and stay relevant in an ultra-competitive industry.

This year alone, we will bring at least ten new games to market with the aim to further increase the number in 2023. This acceleration will require further organisational flexibility and we have already reviewed and adapted our internal process with the aim to become more efficient.

We are able to scale up quickly and speed up our development processes without compromising on the quality of our products that operators and players have come to appreciate. We will also implement further strategic growth plans to make sure we reach new players in both existing and new markets.

We have quickly established our brand and cemented our identity as a true innovator and disruptor, something we are extremely proud of in a sector where these terms are often used as buzzwords.

We are now at a stage where we need to continue to be at the forefront of innovation and not rest on our laurels. With a winning concept such as PopWins we have already set the bar high, but we are now looking to evolve this product further, so we are focusing on various iterations of the core mechanics by adding on other interesting gameplay options.

In its simplest terms, the original PopWins mechanic sees every winning combination on a reel ‘Pop’ to create two new icons – creating the potential for another win. The PopWins sequence can create multiple wins, since the feature continues to roll, if the Pops keep creating new wins. This ensures that both the spin sequence and reel potential is instantly enhanced.

Player satisfaction from PopWins is further boosted by our slots being designed with impressive average hit rates in the base game – meaning the feature is frequently triggered with standard luck during a slot session.

By analysing data and listening to player feedback, we can ensure we further evolve our offering. A recent example of this is our latest releases, Monkeypop, which was enriched with fantastic new features; Scatter Collection, High Pay Upgrade and Pre-bonus Rewards as well as low symbols removal.

This success has made us more certain than ever that this is the approach we will continue to take going forward – PopWins being the focal point of our titles but boosted by thrilling elements to keep players at the edge of their seats.

Later we will introduce other iterations to our proprietary mechanics to further enhance the player experience. Multipop is the first one we are planning to bring to market this year. Nominally similar to the PopWins mechanic, winning symbols in any combination will be replaced by one symbol, rather than two, but this fresh icon will have a multiplier attached. This can happen again and again, as long as wins are possible, so a mammoth multiplier can occur for gigantic wins.

But why stop there? Although we have so far been a pure slot provider, we are now broadening our horizons to also provide industry-first player engagement tools. Being able to offer our operator partners additional value is becoming increasingly more important as the next generation of players is demanding more than just a solitude slots experience.

Having focused on key distribution partners as we first set off, we are now in a position to extend our direct integration roadmap to further broaden our revenue streams. We have already amassed a great following with content now live across hundreds of brands, but we want to reach new audiences and territories and we see the US and North America as key markets for our games as regulation continues to progress across the pond.

As a result of our intentions to grow, not just our games portfolio but the wider product offering, as well as our distribution network, we will continue to expand with experienced and dedicated professionals that will help us add value and take the company to new heights. Our goal is to continue to create entertaining products and experiences players want and look for, and I strongly believe that keeping the players’ interests in mind is what makes us stand out.

With an exciting roadmap for 2022 and more to come in 2023, we are truly excited to further establish ourselves in the igaming sector and to move from being a start-up company that few have heard about to becoming more of a mainstream name whose content players immediately recognise and love.

The post Nicola Longmuir: scaling up AvatarUX’s ambitious growth plans appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Speaking to CasinoBeats, Honney began by sharing some of the challenges that AvatarUX has faced in the last 12 months, highlighting that the company will be doubling down on its commitment to deliver entertainment and excitement for players. 

“I would say the pandemic and the instability it has brought around the world was the biggest challenge we had to face during the past year,” he said. “However, I have to say we have managed to adapt quite well and created an operating model that lets us work without any major disruptions. 

“Of course, we are missing the more frequent igaming events and meeting partners and industry professionals in person, but we have achieved so much by operating fully remotely last year that, despite the situation, I am pleased with the results. 

“This year we simply continue with our plans and keep on offering entertainment and excitement to players. We not only want to release new games and features, but also focus more on promotional tools and gamification. So, I’d say for 2022, we are upping the game.”

So what role will innovation play in AvatarUX’s company development in 2022? Well, for the AvatarUX MD, we can expect to see a range of new products and features which he hopes will disrupt the current market offering. 

Giving us a sneak peak of the upcoming Lollipop title, which is due to be released at the end of this month, Honney noted that players will now be able to enjoy access to the firm’s new Scatter Reward Upgrade feature.

He explained: “Innovation is also key to our work. We are always seeking new ways of offering more engaging and fun products. We have big plans this year and you will see many ground-breaking things coming out. 

“One that I can mention already and that players can enjoy pretty soon is the introduction of new features in our upcoming game Lollipop. This new title, set to be released end of the month for partners with direct integrations and globally in April, will introduce a very interesting and innovative element called the Scatter Reward Upgrade. 

“This new feature will upgrade scatter symbols to higher value during free spins creating additional win potential. This is of course just one example of what is coming up with plenty more features we are discussing and planning on.” 

Building on from this, innovations such as the Scatter Reward Upgrade can help bolster engagement and retention among new and existing players.

When we quizzed Honney about this, he emphasised that audiences want to play games which deliver a sense of excitement. This, he implied, will keep players coming back.

“We know that the audience wants to see and experience new things and we strongly believe that by adding new exciting and quite rewarding features like the one mentioned above can drive engagement and retention,” he added. 

“In the Scatter Rewards feature, for instance, two or more symbols of the same value upgrade to a higher value with each new one causing an even higher upgrade. 

“This can lead to a chain reaction that can quickly turn multiple scatter upgrades to even 500x the bet size. So, it offers potential for some huge wins for the lucky ones. Such innovative features are what we believe keeps the players entertained and willing to choose our games.”

Scatter Rewards aren’t the only innovative feature within the AvatarUX portfolio, with the developer having launched its PopWins offering at the end of 2021. 

Over the next few months, Honney told CasinoBeats that players can expect to see “plenty of permutations” of the PopWins mechanic with the launch of features such as PopCoins, ClusterPops, StickyPops, JackPops and PopXReels. 

In addition, the MD disclosed that plans are in place to also roll out a range of “feature rich games with exciting pre-bonus games, re-triggers, and also jackpots”.

But while innovation is a big focus for AvatarUX, is there such a thing as too much? And if so, how do you balance innovation with the creation of a stand-out gameplay experience? For Honney, there are no limits to innovation. 

“I don’t think there is such a thing as ‘too much innovation’,” he told CasinoBeats, “but I strongly believe that new things have to be presented well to players. If we skip the “educational” process, so to say, players might not understand well all the new things that are being introduced. We do not want to overcomplicate things. 

“The gameplay experience has to always be smooth and entertaining for the player. That’s why we chose to build on our PopWins  mechanics for instance. It is an already known concept, appreciated by many, so any new variation will only add extra thrill rather than disrupting the gameplay experience.”

He went on to explain that in order to elevate the overall gameplay experience, gamification can be a useful tool for any developer – and for AvatarUX, this is a key weapon in its arsenal.

He said: “Like innovation, gamification is also something at the core of our business. We have already taken this concept very seriously when designing various features in our games, but we are upping the game by focusing on developing some ground-breaking promotional features and mechanics with the aim to offer even more excitement in our games. 

“Our idea is to provide options that allow players to feel that they are not playing alone, but indeed playing in a community, where competition and participation can be a major driver in gameplay. So, we plan to approach this by keeping, as always, the player at heart.

“Apart from this, we also want to keep the player experience as our number one priority during our development cycle. We want to engage players to have their say on the games we make, so we can focus on developing what they really want to see and experience. 

“When we come up with ideas, we always discuss and carefully select to go ahead with what we really believe in. Our goal is not to follow and launch what is already on the market, but come up with new, interesting things by, as said, keeping players’ interests in mind. And this is exactly how we think we can make a difference and stand out of the crowd. We want to create products and experiences that the players want and look for.”

The post Marcus Honney: ‘there is no such thing as too much innovation’ appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The podcast begins with a shared discussion between three representatives from Yggdrasil: CEO Fredrik Elmqvist, chief of global marketing operations Bjorn Krantz and head of product and programmes, Stuart McCarthy.

Alongside the podcast host Stewart Darkin, they were joined by AvatarUX managing director Marcus Honney and Mitri Wiberg, executive producer at Peter & Sons LLC. 

McCarthy kicked off the discussion by addressing the evolution of the YG Masters programme, and how it all stemmed from a plan to drive “greater relevance” for Yggdrasil.

He began: “The kick off point, which is more or less three years to the day, was when I joined the organisation. Fred reached out to me with this vision that he wanted to achieve. I had previously been working for another company in aggregation and had an understanding of the mechanics, how aggregation was working and how we thought we could do better. 

“Fred reached out and explained that he had this idea about driving greater relevance for Yggdrasil, expanding our portfolio, looking at how we can bring on new flavours of game content onto the platform. That was the inception of the programme really.

“We had this idea that we would be building game content, creating game engines on our side and then working with a small number of studios, delivering everyone to market with our boost tools.”

Reflecting on the influences behind creating the YG Masters programme, Elmqvist placed a focus upon innovation and creativity. He explained that, similar to the creation of Yggdrasil – a topic covered in the first episode of What’s Up Ygg – the company wanted to “do things differently” from anything else available in the market.

“We saw that there was a lot of creativity coming from all different angles, and we knew that there was an appetite for a lot of content,” he added. “We knew it would be difficult to increase the production and scale in a way that would be able to meet the growing demands from the market. 

“We said to ourselves ‘we have nimble technology, we can build something here that’s more scalable and more competitive’. 

“In the previous episode, I spoke about how we started Yggdrasil – and I thought we should take a similar approach to aggregation. I wanted to do things differently from what’s already out there. So we identified what can bring a lot of value for the entire chain, what would be of value to studios and our customers. That was the go-to-market starting point. 

“But to take the programme to the next level, we needed to do some further innovation with regards to technology in order to reshape YG Masters – something which would bring more value and more intellectual property.”

One of the key benefits of the YG Masters programme, according to Krantz, was the opportunity to benefit from a business of scale. 

Taking into account the changes in market dynamics, Krantz highlighted that many operators are now looking for differentiation within their games offering – something which he believes is possible through the YG Masters programme.

He said: “When we are talking to the customers across various different global markets, we know that market dynamics have changed a lot in the past few years. Now operators are looking for more relevance in the content that they have; they want to have more differentiation in their portfolios. 

“I think that the scale of operations here is also important because if you look at the regulatory side of the business and the cost of operating, a business’ scale is everything. The YG Masters programme enables us to offer that scale to partners which is very efficient.”

Talk soon turned towards some of the partners of the YG Masters programme, and their experiences of working with Yggdrasil. And for Honney, working with the supplier has helped drive a level of exposure which has meant people are now recognising AvatarUX as an individual studio. 

Discussing the reasons behind their partnership, he said: “From our point of view, I think we were the second one to join the party if you like. We joined for a lot of the reasons that both Fred and Stuart have already mentioned. But on top of that, it does also help that we knew the individuals involved, there was a relationship there already – we’ve seen each other through different situations. 

“But from a studio point of view, I’ve got to be able to take the emotion out of these relationships and be honest to the investors that we have in our company. We want to make sure that we go to the right partners because we’ve got a good portfolio of games.

“So having a programme like YG Masters with the mechanics and structure that was already in place meant that we didn’t need to worry about licensing or distribution – both of which are a huge cost to us, especially as a newer studio.

“If you look at the kind of revenues that we’re generating now compared to last year, it’s chalk and cheese. All of a sudden, people are noticing us and it’s given us an opportunity. Ygggdrasil has given us a level of exposure and people are starting to recognise us as an individual studio.”

Watch the full podcast here.

The post What’s Up YGG: How YG Masters is reinventing igaming aggregation appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Scheduled to take place on Thursday, 23rd of May at Hilton Malta, the exclusive ceremony will host 300 industry professionals for an evening dedicated to celebrating excellence. 

The twenty shortlists, covering categories like Game Performance, Game Creation, Game People, Streamers, and Casino Platforms, are now available for review, with the remaining three SlotCatalog data-driven awards to be revealed at a later stage.

In the Game Performance categories, the competition for the ‘Slot of the Year’ title is set to be fierce, with ten prominent studios, including AvatarUX, ELA Games, ELK Studios, Endorphina, EveryMatrix, Nolimit City, Pragmatic Play, Push Gaming, Red Tiger and Relax Gaming locking horns for the coveted title.

Pragmatic Play is in the running for multiple accolades, including the ‘Slot Legacy’ title with its Gates of Olympus, as well as the ‘Game Mechanic of the Year‘ award for its MultiHold mechanic. Additionally, the studio is contending for the ‘Game Feature of the Year’ and ‘Game Design & Art Direction’ awards in the Game Creation Categories with Zeus versus Hades. Competing alongside Pragmatic Play for the ‘Slot Legacy’ award are studios such as Blueprint Gaming, Eyecon, Fortune Factory Studios, Games Global, IGT, Light & Wonder, Mascot Gaming, and NetEnt.

In the Game Creation categories, an impressive lineup of fourteen companies earned their spot in the shortlist for the ‘Game Mechanic of the Year’ title. These companies, apart from the previously-mentioned Pragmatic Play, include 7777 Gaming, BGaming, Bragg Gaming, Evoplay, Fortune Factory Studios, Hacksaw Gaming, Nailed It! Games, Omnigame, PearFiction Studios, Slotmill, SPRIBE, Swintt, and Wazdan, each having introduced a groundbreaking game mechanic that has either redefined industry standards or elevated existing features to offer players an unmatched level of gaming excitement.

The ‘Game Feature of the Year’ award also witnessed a record-breaking number of fifteen shortlisted companies, including Wazdan — with its unique feature in the Coins series —  the winner of last year’s award in the same category. Other categories within the Game Creation segment include ‘Game Licensed Content,‘ ‘Game Retro-Style’, ‘Game Design & Art Direction,‘ and ‘Game Music/Soundtrack.‘

Among the noteworthy nominees for ‘Game Music/Soundtrack’ is Mascot Gaming, recognised for its Dreamshock Jackpot X soundtrack. Mascot Gaming has also been shortlisted for the ‘Slot to Watch’ award with Hook Up! Fishing Wars, ‘Slot to Debut’ with Crash, Hamster, Crash!, and the ‘Game Composer of the Year’ award for its Dreamshock Jackpot X soundtrack composed by Maxim Shulgin.

The ‘Game Composer of the Year’ award falls under the umbrella of the Game People categories, uniquely designed to honour the individuals responsible for the triumph of various titles. This year, alongside composers, recognition will be extended to game designers and product managers. Notably, ten individuals will contend for the ‘Product Manager of the Year’ title, twelve for ‘Game Designer of the Year,’ and seven for ‘Game Composer of the Year.’

On the streaming scene, three prestigious awards are on offer, honouring the ‘Streamer of the Year,’ ‘Next-Gen Streamer of the Year,’ and ‘Responsible Streamer of the Year.’ Competing for the ‘Streamer of the Year’ title are casino streamers Brian Christopher, CasinoDaddy, Chipmonkz, Classy Beef, Fruity Slots, GamDucks, Haddzy, Hideous Slots, and Kim Hultman (LetsGiveItASpin). Notably, Haddzy is also in contention for the ‘Next-Gen Streamer of the Year,’ while CasinoDaddy, Chipmonkz, and Hideous Slots are up for the ‘Responsible Streamer of the Year.’ Bob Slots is set to appear in both the ‘Next-Gen Streamer of the Year’ and ‘Responsible Streamer of the Year’ categories. 

Among the contenders in the Casino Platform categories, WA.Technology, Bragg Gaming Group, Digitain, EveryMatrix, and iGP emerged as notable presences, securing nominations in both the ‘Aggregator of the Year’ and ‘Platform Innovation of the Year’ category shortlists. 

Access the full list of shortlisted companies per category.

To reserve a table at the CasinoBeats Game Developer Awards ceremony, please reach out to sales@sbcgaming.com or visit this page.

For comprehensive details regarding the CasinoBeats Summit conference and exhibition, taking place at the InterContinental in St Julian’s, Malta on 21-23 May, and to secure your pass, kindly visit the event website.

The post CasinoBeats Game Developer Awards 2024 shortlists announced appeared first on CasinoBeats.

80sPop – AvatarUX

AvatarUX has taken players on a trip back to the eighties with its latest 5×3 slot, which offers 65,536 ways to win and a maximum win of up to x20,000 the player’s stake. This title has high volatility with an RTP range of 94-96 per cent. 

Lara Falzon, CEO at AvatarUX, said: “80sPop sees us take our classic PopWins mechanic and puts it on a party theme like no others.

“Heralding back to the star-studded days of glam rock, it’s a fun artistic title that gives players plenty of thrills in search of a max win of x20,000.”

As a PopWins title, each winning symbol in the game will pop and disappear, allowing it to be replaced by two symbols to increase the number of ways to win for that spin. 

This feature is repeated as long as there are more wins as a result of the new symbols appearing on the extended reels, but will reset in between base game spins. 

In the base game, the reels can extend to six symbols tall, while they can extend to eight symbols tall in the bonus game mode. 

The bonus free spins game mode is triggered when the reels extend to six symbols tall in the base game. 

Fully increasing the reels to six symbols tall in the base game will also cause a x2 multiplier to appear, applying to any wins that occur after the reels reach six symbols. The multiplier will increase by one after each win on the same spin. 

This multiplier will then carry over to the free spins feature, applying to every win throughout the game mode. The feature will also not reset the size of the grid in between spins. 

The free spins feature also causes the super high value star symbol to become enhanced, depending on how tall the reels are. 

When all reels are six symbols tall, the star symbol gains a x2 multiplier, while at seven and eight symbols tall, it will gain a x3 and x4 multiplier, respectively. 

Fortress Fortune – Realistic Games

Put on your suit of armour as Realistic Games makes players feel like a knight of the realm in its latest 5×4 reel slot, which uses 20-paylines and a maximum win of up to x5,600 the player’s wager. This medieval slot has medium volatility and a 96.03 per cent RTP. 

Amy Brewis, Account Manager at Realistic Games, stated: “Fortune Fortress is a release packed with modern elements that work concurrently to deliver players a new gameplay experience.

“Drawing inspiration from apps and mobile games the tap chest jackpot feature will see players repeatedly tapping the screen to reveal a guaranteed jackpot prize building anticipation and excitement, whilst providing increased engagement.

“The slot also offers expanding reels and respins in the base game that we are confident players will enjoy while the bonus round provides a thrilling path towards even bigger prizes. With various mechanics at play, we are excited to see players raid the castle in this medieval hit.”

Throughout the base game, any winning combinations formed will become sticky on the board while a free respin occurs around them. 

This also causes the reel set to increase in size, increasing by one row for each respin that occurs. However, this can only happen two times, creating a maximum grid size of 5×6. 

For every extra row unlocked, five additional paylines will be added to the game. 

Each time two respins occur on the same spin, coins will appear and move into a chest that sits above the reel set. 

This awards a random chance of activating a ‘tap chest’ feature where players can win one of the game’s four jackpot prizes, with mini (x25), minor (x100), major (x250) or grand (x2,500). 

Bonus treasure chest symbols can also appear, displaying monetary values from x1 to x100 that can be won in the hold-and-win game mode, triggering when five or more chests appear on the same spin. 

In the hold-and-win game mode, players are given three spins to land as many treasure chests on the reels as possible, with each chest that drops into play resetting the number of spins to three. 

While all chest values will be awarded to the player once the feature finishes, collecting a certain number of chests will award one of the game’s jackpot prizes. 

Mystery Genie: Fortunes of the Lamp – Play’n GO

Play’n GO presented an Arabian extravaganza in its latest slot release as a genie offers multipliers on a 5×4 reel slot with 20-paylines and a maximum win of x6,000. 

George Olekszy, Head of Game Retention, commented: “We’re incredibly excited to dip into this iconic mythos and it’s great that we get to put our own spin on things. We can’t wait for players to enjoy both the intuitive gameplay mechanics and iconic theme in this title. It really is a whole new world for us all.”

Magic lamp scatters can drop into play on any reel, awarding eight free spins when three or more land on the same turn. 

Mystery question mark symbols are available, revealing identical symbols across the board or genie wilds, magic lamp scatters and sand timer bonus symbols. 

One respin is awarded when a sand timer is revealed by the mystery symbol, in which all mystery symbols, genie wilds and magic lamp scatters stay sticky on the reels, with the mystery symbols revealing new symbols once the respin is finished. 

Genie wilds can also appear, substituting for all symbols other than the sand timer and magic lamp scatter symbols. Each time a genie wild appears, it will reveal a random multiplier of either x2, x3 or x4 to enhance any wins it contributes to.

Throughout the free spins feature, all genie wilds that appear will stay sticky in their positions for the duration of the bonus game mode. 

Landing one, two or three magic lamp scatters in the free spins game mode will award two, five or eight additional spins, respectively. 

If multiple wild genies contribute to the same payline win, their multipliers will be added together before enhancing the total payout. 

Cash Crew – Hacksaw Gaming

Players will hope to avoid a dog day afternoon in Hacksaw Gaming’s latest heist-themed title, a 5×5 reel slot with 19-paylines and a maximum win of up to x10,000 the player’s wager. This title has high volatility with an RTP of 96.26 per cent. 

Low value symbols are represented by playing card royals, with Jacks through Aces available. These symbols can offer between x0.2 and x2 the player’s wager, depending on the number of matching combinations that fall on a single spin. 

Meanwhile, green, blue, purple, yellow and red heist characters depict the high value symbols, providing wins between x0.4 and x10 the player’s stake. 

Enhancing the base and bonus gameplay, the green character symbol will appear with monetary values ranging from x1 to x500 the player’s bet.

If these symbols land on the same spin as a special ‘grab ‘em’ symbol that can appear on any reel, their values will be collected and paid out. 

Safe scatters are available, triggering ‘the vault’ game mode when three land on the same spin, or the ‘high-security vault’ game mode when four drop into play. 

Additionally, wild text symbols can appear, substituting for all symbols other than the safe scatters and grab ‘em symbols. Each wild will appear with a multiplier value ranging from x2 to x25, which will apply to any wins that they contribute to. 

To further enhance the prize-collecting grab ‘em feature, any green character symbols that appear adjacent to a wild symbol will have their cash prize enhanced by said wild’s multiplier. 

In the vault game mode, players are given six free spins while any wild symbols that drop into play will cause their cell to gain a golden border.

These golden cells will then reveal a wild symbol on every subsequent free spin, increasing the chances of activating the multiplier feature for the grab ‘em collect function. 

Special stopwatch symbols can drop into play during this feature, randomly awarding between two and six additional free spins each time they appear. 

For the high-security vault game mode, players are given nine spins while the feature is enhanced with a higher chance of activating the grab ‘em feature and all green character cash prizes having a minimum value of x5. 

The post AvatarUX, Realistic Games and Play’n GO: on the spin appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Hoping to use the deal as “a launchpad to further our growth in North America”, AvatarUX has offered the Caesars Entertainment subsidiary an exclusive US launch of its established PopWins title, KokeshiPop. 

Lara Falzon, CEO at AvatarUX, said: “Caesars is a name that needs no introduction in the world of gaming and casino entertainment, and we’re delighted to make our US market entry with such a prestigious brand.

“KokeshiPop is a proven performer and one of our most exciting, fast-paced PopWins games and we are confident that Caesars customers will love the theme and nature of the title. It is a landmark moment for AvatarUX, and one we will look to use as a launchpad to further our growth in North America.”

The game was taken live via Caesars Palace’s Michigan online casino on February 27, with more titles set to be included as the partnership develops. 

Matthew Sunderland, Senior Vice President and Chief iGaming Officer at Caesars Digital, stated: “We are pleased to be the first operator in the US to bring AvatarUX’s content exclusively to our players, starting with KokeshiPop. This exciting launch falls in line with our goal of offering fresh and innovative content to our players across our igaming platforms.”

AvatarUX’s US debut marks the beginning of its US expansion with Light & Wonder. The duo formed a distribution agreement 18 months ago, with AvatarUX aiming to boost its presence across North America.

Steve Mayes, Senior Director Digital Partnerships at Light & Wonder, added: “We have been working closely with AvatarUX for several years, and it is a pleasure to enable their launch into the US. We are looking forward to seeing the great content from AvatarUX available to players in the US with Caesars Palace online casino.”

The post AvatarUX hails US debut via Caesars as ‘launchpad’ for North America appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Nugget – AvatarUX

Take on a Wild West adventure in the latest slot title from AvatarUX, presenting a 6×4 reel slot with up to 531,441 ways to win. While offering players a maximum win of up to x25,000 their stake, the slot uses high volatility with an RTP range of 94-96 per cent. 

Lara Falzon, CEO at AvatarUX, commented: “Nugget is a Wild West thriller that pushes players to the limit, with gunslingers galore filling the reels as players look for a max win of x25,000.

“We want to create titles that really challenge what we’re capable of, and Nugget sees us diversifying again our portfolio of games and products. With the new and innovative Golden Ways, we are bringing a brand new experience to our players and offering a fresh addition to our portfolio.”

AvatarUX’s ZapReel feature is available throughout this game, adding an extra horizontal top reel above the board that contributes an additional symbol above all six reels. 

Also, cascading wins occur, causing winning symbols to disappear after providing their payout prizes, making way for new symbols to drop into play. 

When payday symbols land on the board, they will award one of three bonus features at random. Each of these features will also present a number of lives from one to four, representing how many spins it will enhance. 

One of these bonuses is a mystery symbols feature, which causes a cluster of golden nuggets to appear across cells in the subsequent spins, before revealing identical symbols in each of these cells. 

An X-mode feature is also available from these payday symbols, causing all super high gunslinger symbols to appear with multipliers on subsequent spins. 

The third and final feature offered by the payday symbols is the low-symbol removal feature, which causes all low value symbols to be removed from play for one to four spins. 

When entering the free spins feature, players can either select the ‘collect’ wheel that will randomly reveal a number of spins between seven and 10, as well as a number of ways to win, with up to 86,436 available on this wheel. 

Alternatively, players can choose to gamble their access to the free spins game mode to gain an enhanced feature, with the wheel able to reveal up to 14 free spins with up to 531,441 ways to win. 

During the free spins game mode, a randomly triggered gold rush feature can occur, significantly increasing the chances of gunslinger and payday symbols dropping into play. 

Brew Brothers – Slotmill

Moonshine multipliers feature in Slotmill’s latest title, taking players to a brewery with a 5×4 reel slot that has 40-paylines and a maximum win of up to x12,000 the player’s wager. The slot has high volatility with an RTP of 96.06 per cent. 

Bonus moonshine crate scatters can appear on reels two, three and four, triggering seven free spins when three land on the same turn. Any scatter symbols that appear without triggering the free spins game mode will transform into standard wild symbols. 

Multiple different wild symbols are available in this game mode, with moonshine bottles appearing on reels two, three and four to depict the game’s standard wild symbols. Each wild will substitute for all symbols in the game, other than the crate scatters. 

Moonshine bottle wilds can also drop into play, displaying multiplier values of x2 or x3, which will be applied to any wins that the bottle wild contributes to. 

Additionally, ‘old betty’ wilds are available on both the first and fifth reels. Each time an old betty wild lands on either of these reels, it can randomly activate a special feature that places between one and nine wilds across the three middle reels. 

If the old betty feature causes a wild to be placed over an already existing wild, this wild will gain a multiplier value that increases by one with each additional wild that is placed over it. 

Throughout the free spins game mode, each wild that appears on the board will stay sticky in its place for the duration of the bonus feature. 

The free spins feature also causes old betty wilds to become enhanced, turning into ‘gold betty’ wilds that stay sticky on the board for the duration of the bonus game mode. These gold betty wilds will have the chance to randomly activate their added wilds feature on every free spin. 

If players manage to fill reels two, three and four with 12 wild symbols, these symbols will merge together to form a giant tractor wild that covers all three middle reels. 

Any multipliers that existed on the wilds in the middle reels will be added together to create one enhanced multiplier for the giant tractor wild. 

Crazy Free Fruits – SYNOT Games

Familiar fruit symbols fill the reels in SYNOT Games’ latest slot release, presenting a 5×3 reel board that has five-paylines and a maximum win of up to x1,495 the player’s stake. While using medium volatility, this slot offers an RTP range of 85-98.02 per cent. 

Michael Polák, Lead Game Producer from SYNOT Games, stated: “Crazy Free Fruits is another game in the SYNOT Games portfolio with a hold-and-win feature and is a continuation of the Aztec Jaguar and Tiki Princess series, but in a fruit version. 

“The hold-and-win feature is available to the player for six or more hold-and-win symbols and in this feature, he can also get four levels of jackpots. Mini, minor and major will be won on the reels in the hold-and-win feature and the grand jackpot will be won if all the game fields are filled. A big boost are two special symbols that only appear in the hold-and-win feature, they are the expanding and increasing symbols.

“In addition to the mentioned hold-and-win feature, there are free spins in the game, which the player gets if the scatter symbol appears on reels two, three and four. In free spins, there is one big symbol over the middle reels and it is possible to get a hold-and-win feature in free spins, if this happens, one big hold-and-win breaks into nine small ones and the classic hold-and-win feature takes place.”

Scatter stars can appear on reels two, three and four, triggering five free spins when three land on the same base game spin. 

Bonus orb symbols can also drop into play, displaying monetary values between x1 and x18 the player’s bet, or jackpot values of mini (x20), minor (x50) or major (x100). Landing six orbs on the same base game spin will activate the hold-and-win game mode. 

Moreover, wild text symbols can drop into play, substituting for all symbols in the game other than the scatter stars and bonus orb symbols. Landing three, four or five wilds on a winning payline will provide x1, x2 or x8 the chosen wager, respectively. 

For the free spins feature, reels two, three and four merge to create one giant reel that adds nine identical symbols to the board on every free spin. 

If a scatter star lands in this giant reel, five additional free spins will be awarded, with a maximum number of 15 total free spins available. 

When an orb symbol appears on this giant reel, the hold-and-win game mode will be triggered, playing out before the remainder of the free spins. 

In the hold-and-win game mode, players are given three spins to land as many bonus orb symbols on an empty reel set as possible. Each orb symbol that does drop into play will reset the number of spins to three. 

Once all three spins have been completed, players will receive the accumulated value of all prize and jackpot values displayed on the orbs that dropped into play. 

Additionally, the game’s grand jackpot prize of x500 will be awarded when all 15 spaces on the reels have been filled with orb symbols. 

Two special orb symbols can appear in the hold-and-win feature, with special expanding orb symbols filling entire reels while adding their value to every other orb symbol on the board. 

Furthermore, special increasing orb symbols will not expand on the reels, but will add their value to every other orb symbol present. 

Triple Multi Dragons – Hölle Games

Hölle Games has transported players to East Asia for its new slot release, implementing 20-paylines into a 5×3 reel slot that offers a maximum win of x10,000 the chosen bet. With an RTP range of 84.25-95.4 per cent, the game has high volatility. 

Gold coin scatters can drop into play, triggering five, eight, 12 or 15 free spins when three, four, five or six scatters land on the same spin, respectively. 

Additionally, landing three, four, five or six scatters at once will award respective instant wins of x3, x6, x8 or x12 the player’s wager. 

Three dragon wilds can appear throughout the base and bonus game modes, each substituting for all symbols other than scatters. Green dragon wilds can appear on reels two, three, four or five and will multiply all wins they contribute to by x2. 

Also on reels two, three, four and five, red dragon wilds can drop into play, multiplying all wins that they contribute to by x3. 

Lastly, gold dragon wilds will multiply all wins that they contribute to by x6. These wilds also only appear on reels two, three, four and five in the base game. 

In the free spins game mode, each dragon wild will be able to appear on different reels, except the red dragon wilds which will only appear on reels two through five. 

Green x2 dragon wilds can appear on reels two, three, four, five and six in the free spins game mode, while gold x6 dragon wilds can land on reels two, three, five and six. 

Inferno Fireballs – Fugaso 

Flaming-hot balls of fire land on the reels in Fugaso’s latest release, a 3×3 slot with five-paylines and a maximum win of up to x6,500 the chosen stake. This title has high volatility with an RTP of 96 per cent. 

Fireballs depict the bonus symbols for this game, with standard fireballs appearing on reels one and three displaying with multiplied bet amount prizes displayed upon them, or jackpot values of mini (x25), minor (x50), major (x150) or grand (x1,000). 

Meanwhile, special bonus fireballs can appear with a darker colour, landing exclusively in the second reel. These fireballs will perform enhanced features in the bonus game mode, which is triggered by landing three or more of any fireballs on the same base game spin. 

Wild symbols are also available in this game, appearing as lucky red sevens. These symbols will substitute for all symbols in the game other than both fireballs, while providing wins worth x50 the bet when three appear across a payline. 

In the bonus game mode, any special bonus fireballs that appear in the middle reel will become sticky on the board for the duration of the feature. 

Players are given three spins to land as many fireballs on the reels as possible, with each symbol that drops into play resetting the number of spins to three. 

Each standard fireball that appears in the first or third reel will have its value collected by any special bonus fireballs that are positioned in the middle reel, before being removed from play in the next spin. 

Jackpot fireballs will also have their values collected by the special fireballs in the middle reel. 

Once all three spins have been completed, the collected values displayed by the special bonus fireballs will be awarded to the player. 

The post AvatarUX, Slotmill and SYNOT Games: on the spin appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Elvis Frog: Trueways – BGaming

The first episode of 2023 saw Alex Baliukonis, Game Designer at BGaming, discuss the return of the studio’s hound frog in Elvis Frog Trueways.

Elvis Frog Trueways is a six reel slot with up to eight rows, using the studio’s Trueways mechanic to offer up to 262,144 ways to win. The game has special futures including free spins and a coin respin game mode, which gives players the chance to win a mega jackpot prize. 

This slot sees the return of the amphibious rock and roll star, which Baliukonis stated is a key component in the success of this game as players “like to play with someone”. 

He continued: “It’s always great when you get that big win and somebody can celebrate it with you. So Elvis Frog is about emotional design and retention. Above that, he’s also part of the game and all the greatest features are triggered by him.”

“He can bring you a multiplier. He can bring you free spins. So he’s like your buddy who’s helping you to win.” 

When explaining the game’s features, Baliukonis said: “The main character, Elvis Frog, plays the role of the wild and can replace any symbol in a winning combination. In free spins, he has a wild multiplier which gives the ability to increase the winnings.”

He continued: “Also, in the mechanics of Trueways, we have got the hold and spin mechanic, which is very popular amongst players. If you get six or more scatters, you are going to get from 12 to 20 free spins.”

Check out the above video to hear Baliukonis discuss the different jackpot prizes on offer in the title and how the free spins feature impacts gameplay.

Wild Dragon’s Fortune – Tom Horn Gaming

In the spring, SlotBeats took a trip to East Asia as Mykhailo Pushnia, Game Producer at Tom Horn Gaming, took the stage to run through Wild Dragon’s Fortune. 

Pushnia was eager to dive into the inspiration behind Wild Dragon’s Fortune, a 5×4 reel slot with four base game mode options for the player to choose from. These game modes vary from 20-winlines up to 1,024-ways to win through Tom Horn Gaming’s Gifts of Fortune mechanic. 

Looking into the initial design process behind the slot, Pushnia explained: “With this game we decided that we can increase the payouts for the symbols, or we can use higher multipliers, but what actually makes these features outstanding for the players?

“We decided to come up with different winline sets for these base game levels, so while you’re playing on the first level you’re having just 20 winlines, wild multipliers from x1 to x5 and you’re playing low volatility games, slowly getting some nice wins.

“Then, you have the second level which already has 40-winlines, higher wild multipliers and so on, so you actually can receive bigger wins. With the third one you have 100-winlines.”

He continued: “As the biggest feature, we have this 1,024-ways and maximum wild multipliers, so on the last level, with four upgraded symbols, players can get wilds with multipliers up to x8 and there are very big wins.”

While players select what number of high value symbols they want to become enhanced as a Gift of Fortune, the game also offers players the choice of four game modes when triggering the free spins feature from landing blossom tree scatters. 

Commenting on the range of bonus game options, Pushnia said: “In regular free spins game modes, you’re waiting for it and it appears in, let’s say, 200 spins right? 

“But, with Wild Dragon’s Fortune, we decided we wanted to bring something new to the free spins to have players actually experience different game plays, in the same way that we have that in the base game.”

Watch the video above to hear why Pushnia believes the East Asian theme “fits slots perfectly” and what players are able to access using Tom Horn Gaming’s proprietary bonus buy feature – QuickX. 

Treasures of the Count – Wizard Games

With Halloween representing an opportune time for slot studios, October saw SlotBeats cover one of Wizard Games’ spooky slot titles – Treasures of the Count – as the studio’s Director of Game Studio, Simon Jagdhar, shed light on the vampire-themed release. 

After detailing his role within Wizard Games’ slot production, Jagdhar began to dive into the slot release, which offers a 5×4 reel grid, 40-paylines and a maximum win of up to x2,919 the player’s stake. While presenting several base game and bonus features, the slot uses low volatility with an RTP range of 88.08 to 96.06 per cent. 

Explaining why the industry witnesses an abundance of Halloween-themed games at this time of year, Jagdhar said: “Seasonal slots present a great opportunity because of a lot of the work and effort that goes into the seasonal preparation by casinos.

“It’s a very strong period of promotion, emails, text messages, some casinos might go as far as etching out a specific area on the casino homepage just for the seasonal games. Knowing this, providers have an opportunity to feature in all of that promotional activity by making and delivering an on-season game.”

Looking at the slot’s base gameplay, Jagdhar continued: “A good base game is critical to any game. When we make our base game, we always aim to make it as entertaining as possible. 

“We want to have good base game features that happen at a good frequency and have a reasonably good average pay to sustain the player’s balance over time. The last thing you want to see is your balance dwindle away in a couple hundred spins. Something needs to happen to boost it back up again. 

“So, since our main feature in Treasures of the Count is a hold and spin with cash symbols, we also use cash symbols in the base game to hint at what is going to come later in your bigger feature.”

Delving further into the slot’s main bonus feature, the Count Respins game mode, Jagdhar explained: “It’s a hold and spin but we’ve added a multiplier element to it. It works like a classic hold and spin, you get your three spins to get as many cash symbols as you possibly can. 

“The way the multiplier element of the game works is if you fill up a column with cash symbols then there’s going to be a multiplier applied to that column. This multiplier can go as high as x20.” 

To listen to Jagdhar detail how Halloween slots can outlive the short holiday to perform well during other seasons, click the video above.

Donkey & the GOATS – AvatarUX

Bringing the year to a close was AvatarUX, with the company’s Head of Studio, Hubert Spala, appearing on his second Beyond the Reels episode of the year to run through boxing-themed slot release Donkey & the GOATS. 

Looking back at what inspired the slot, Spala stated: “This game is very unique. We are well known for our PopWins games, and this is not a PopWins game. This is a big reach for us in some completely new ground.

“We wanted to have a completely new set of features to work with one another. It’s a foray into a completely new style for us on every level, the visuals, the audio, how they play, how they feel. They are just completely new entities. 

“We want to make a whole family of games like this, we want to expand on this idea. It took a lot of work to get all those features to work together in this fashion, so this is a very new project for AvatarUX.”

Explaining why the studio chose to focus on the sport of boxing for this title, Spala said: “We always look into our portfolio and check what we are missing. You might have an Irish game, an Egyptian game, classics so to speak, but we never really tackled a sport game, and we have some sport enthusiasts inside the studio. 

“We have some people with some expertise in boxing, which actually helped us to figure out what we actually wanted to show, what kind of fights, what kind of scene, what kind of battles, who is going to be our greatest of all time, the ‘GOATs’.”

“It’s all twisted to be a little bit of a parody, but it’s still boxing. You can recognise some famous hits, famous attacks and bouts but it’s all overdone to be a little cheeky, which is of course most visible in our Donkey character – based on the legendary Dom King.”

To watch Spala guide viewers through the many features on offer in Donkey & the GOATS, while providing insights into the studio’s plans for the title to kick-start a new slot series, watch the video above. 

The post AvatarUX, Wizard Games and Tom Horn Gaming – Beyond the Reels rewind appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Blood and Shadow – Nolimit City

Nolimit City’s blood-curdling slot release Blood and Shadow offered a selection of frightening features to claim one of our Slot of the Week titles back in March. 

Taking place on a 5×4 reel board, Blood and Shadow offers up to 3,125 ways to win through a selection of features including disturbing duplicated symbols and cursed spins. While providing a fitting x6,666 maximum win, this game uses high volatility with an RTP of 96.13 per cent.

Sebastian Hovenberg, Product Owner at Nolimit City, commented: ”As the years go by, her time is running out. Shadow Girl now turns her eyes to the realm of shadows to find eternal youth, but will this come to her as a blessing or a curse. Welcome in and try out our very first-ever progression game where sacrifices are the only way to reach the highest potentials.”

Throughout the game, a blood meter is active underneath the reel set. Landing medium and high value symbols in a winning combination will apply one and two blood points respectively to this meter, while scatter symbols will apply 10 blood points to the meter.

Filling this meter with 20 blood points after a single spin will activate the first bonus feature of the game mode, with five features available in total as the player collects further blood points to continue filling the meter from that one spin. 

Collecting 20 blood points will trigger the candle spins feature, awarding two respins each time the meter is filled up again. The meter resets with each feature, and players must collect an extra ten blood points each time they want to advance to the next set of candle spins. 

For example, after activating the first set of candle spins by collecting 20 blood points, players will then have to collect 30 additional blood points to achieve an extra two candle spins. 

During candle spins, wild symbols will lock into place on the bottom cell of the reel that they drop into and will remain there until the entire feature has ended. 

Each level that is achieved will cause the lowest available symbol to be removed from play, making way for bigger wins. 

If any readers dare to try Blood and Shadow for themselves, they can click here to be directed to Nolimit City’s official website.

Granny vs Zombies – PearFiction Studios

In April, PearFiction Studios staged a zombie apocalypse to claim our Slot of the Week pick as a less-than-petrified pensioner faced hoards of the undead in Granny vs Zombies. 

Using a 5×4 reel set, Granny vs Zombies has 20-paylines and offers players a chance to gain a maximum win of up to x5,000 the player’s bet. 

The horror-themed release showcases spinning wheel, Lock n Win and free spins game modes while having medium-high volatility with an RTP of 96.32 per cent. 

When triggering the free spins feature, players have four game modes to choose from. Throughout each game mode, weapon symbols can drop into play, helping the Granny to defeat zombies that land on the reels. Defeating zombies adds points to a damage meter above the reels. 

When filling this damage point meter, players will eventually unlock multipliers of x5, x10 or x20 to be applied to all wins achieved in the feature. 

The free spins features are as follows: 

• A total of 10 spins with frying pan weapons that award one damage point
• Eight spins in total with rolling pins that award two damage points
• Seven spins with knives that give three points
• Six spins and molotov cocktails that take four damage points

When each level is passed in the game mode, an additional number of spins will be awarded depending on which game mode the player has selected. Frying pan, rolling pin, knife and molotov cocktail game modes will provide an additional five, four, three or two spins for each level respectively.

When players have reached the second level, a golden zombie can drop into play, needing five points of damage to be destroyed. 

In the Lock N Win game mode, players are awarded three spins to land as many coin symbols on the reels as possible. Each coin that drops in will reset the number of spins to three. 

At the end of the feature when all spins have been played out, the player will receive the accumulated value of all golden coins on the board. 

While the feature begins on a 5×4 reel set, green keys can drop into play to unlock an extra row for each reel. After doing so, these keys will provide a multiplied bet amount of their own. Pink multiplier coins can also appear, multiplying the values of each coin in play by up to x5. 

If a golden star symbol drops into play, the jackpot Lock N Win game mode will be activated once the initial Lock N Win feature finishes. This takes players to an empty reel set where they will hope to land three jackpot stars in a row to win a jackpot prize. 

This jackpot Lock n Win game mode is also activated when the golden disco zombie is destroyed in the free spins feature. 

Furthermore, collecting golden coins throughout the base game without triggering the Lock n Win feature will apply the coins to a jackpot wheel meter above the reels. 

Once this meter is filled, players will be presented with a spinning wheel that can award one of five jackpot prizes from micro (x15) to mega (x5,000). 

If readers would like to test their luck Granny vs Zombies, they can click here to be directed to PearFiction Studios’ official website. 

Nightmares vs Gigablox – Hot Rise Games

Moving into the Summer months, one of August’s slot selections saw Hot Rise Games pick up a Slot of the Week award for its monstrous slot release – Nightmares vs Gigablox. 

Released via Yggdrasil’s YG Masters campaign, Nightmares VS Gigablox is a 6×6 reel slot that uses 50-paylines while offering a maximum win of up to x7,353 the player’s wager. 

While showcasing giant symbols of 2×2 to 6×6 sizes, the game has medium-high volatility with an RTP of 96.1 per cent.

Mark McGinley, Chief Gaming Officer at Yggdrasil, stated: “Horror-themed slots have a huge fan-following and Nightmares VS GigaBlox is a great addition to our YG Masters portfolio.

“Our proven GigaBlox mechanic can see symbols take over the entire reels for huge coinciding wins, while the VERSUS feature with collection characters and improving free spins is sure to be a hit with players.”

Six monsters depict the high value symbols, with Swamp Man, Dead Beard, Princess Cleo, Max Wolf, Adam Frankenstein and Vamptress. These symbols can offer between x0.2 and x10 the player’s preferred wager. 

​​Throughout the game, and due to the Gigablox mechanic, symbols can appear in larger sizes of 2×2, 3×3, 4×4, 5×5 or 6×6 to increase the win potential as these symbols act as four, nine, 16, 25 or 36 symbols respectively.

Additionally, wild crown symbols are available, substituting for all symbols other than the VS scatter. Both of these symbols can appear on every reel. 

Moreover, VS scatters will trigger the VERSUS free spins feature when six or more appear on the same spin. Each scatter will represent one free spins in the bonus game mode when at least six appear at once. 

When activating the free spins game mode, the game will spin through the six high value monster characters to select two to be enhanced for the duration of the bonus game mode. 

One of these symbols will be chosen as the champion, and the other will be the challenger, each with their own respective meters beside the reels. 

Landing these chosen symbols on the board during the free spins will cause them to climb up their respective meters, awarding prizes when a certain number of symbols have been collected. 

The champion meter will award enhancements such as x2 multipliers for the respective symbol, x5 multipliers, champion symbols turns wild, three extra spins, wild gains x2 multiplier, another extra three spins, wild gains x5 multiplier and, finally, a payout equal to the number of champion symbols collected times by the player’s bet, in that order. 

Meanwhile, the challenger symbol can award x2 multipliers, two extra spins, x5 multipliers, another two extra spins, challenger symbol turns wild, another extra two spins, wild challenger gains a x2 multiplier, a payout equal to the number of symbols collected times by the player’s stake and then multiplied by two, in that order.

For readers wishing to test their luck with the Nightmares VS Gigablox demo, they can click here to be directed to Yggdrasil’s official website. 

Chaos Crew II – Hacksaw Gaming

Hacksaw Gaming gained its second of two Slot of the Week titles for the year in September, coming by the way of a slot sequel that introduced an abundance of fresh features in Chaos Crew II. 

Witnessing the return of Cranky and Scratchy, this slot sequel presents a 5×5 reel title that uses 19-paylines and four bonus game modes to offer a maximum win of up to x20,000 the player’s bet. The game is highly volatile with an RTP of 96.27 per cent. 

Wild Cranky cat symbols can appear, substituting for all symbols other than the various bonus scatters. These wilds will always produce a multiplier to enhance any wins it contributes to, which range from x2 to x20. 

Bonus text scatters can also drop into play, triggering either the bonus game mode if three drop into play, or the super bonus game mode if four drop in. 

When the bonus game is activated, players are taken to an empty reel set where multiplier values sit above each reel, starting at x1. 

Throughout the feature, Sketchy skull symbols can appear to add to these multiplier values and Cranky cat symbols can appear with their own multipliers to further enhance the multiplier values. 

Players are given three spins, while each symbol that drops into play will reset the number of spins to three. Once all spins have been played out, the reel multiplier values will be added together and attributed to the player’s bet. 

In addition to standard Cranky and Sketchy symbols, bonus alternatives to these symbols are available. These include:

• Sticky Sketchy skulls: stays on the grid and adds its displayed value to its multiplier reel on every subsequent spin
• Epic Sketchy skulls: adds its displayed value to all reels on the board
• Epic sticky Sketchy skulls: stays on the grid and adds its displayed value to all reels on the board on every subsequent spin
• Sticky Cranky cat: stays on the grid and multiplies its respective reel multiplier value by its own multiplier on every subsequent spin
• Epic Cranky cat: multiplies every reel on the grid by its own value
• Epic sticky Cranky cat: stays on the grid and multiplies every reel on the grid by its own value on every subsequent spin

If the super bonus game mode is activated by four scatters, the first bonus game spin is guaranteed to have at least seven symbols drop into play. 

Additionally, ‘best of bonus’ scatters are available, triggering the best of bonus game mode if it appears with three standard bonus scatters. If it drops in with four standard bonus scatters, the best of super bonus feature is activated. 

Activating the ‘best of three’ bonus feature allows players to play the bonus feature three times before returning to the base game, but only the highest multiplier value achieved will be awarded to the player. 

With the best of three super bonus, players get to play the super bonus game mode three times before receiving the highest payout. 

An epic drop feature is also available in the base game, awarding players one single spin in the bonus game mode – with five cat multipliers guaranteed to appear – before returning them to the base game. 

Readers wishing to test out the Chaos Crew II demo for themselves can click here to be directed to Hacksaw Gaming’s official website. 

WitchyPoppins – AvatarUX

Claiming one of our Halloween-themed Slot of the Week awards in October was AvatarUX, who produced a cauldron-stirring PopWins title with WitchyPoppins. 

Implementing its flagship mechanic into a 5×3 reel grid, Witchy Poppins offers up to 32,768-ways to win while players can grab prizes of up to x20,000 their stake. This witchcraft-fuelled title uses an RTP of 96 per cent.

Nicola Longmuir, CEO at AvatarUX, stated: “Halloween is always a wonderful time to create fantastic games with a theme that really appeals to players with its seasonality.

“Powered by our PopWins mechanic, Witchy Poppins is another engaging, exciting title in our portfolio that we’re certain will resonate with our fans across the world.

“With the success of our PopWins mechanic, we are now excited to roll out a new type of game, jam-packed with features and win potential, that showcases the innovation and diversity that AvatarUX can offer.”

With AvatarUX’s PopWins mechanic, each winning combination of symbols that is formed will pop and disappear. These symbols will then be replaced by two extra symbols that drop in to increase the win potential. 

This feature allows the reel set to increase to a maximum size of 5×6, while any symbols that pop while the reels are this size will only be replaced by one symbol. 

To provide thrills in the base game, nudge features can randomly occur, causing the reels to nudge either upwards or downwards to enhance the spin. This can cause winning symbols, bonus scatters and wild symbols to be placed on the board to increase the win potential. 

As the free spins feature begins, one random paytable symbol is chosen to be enhanced throughout the game mode. These symbols will become ‘pay anywhere’ symbols, allowing them to form winning combinations anywhere across the board, as long as five or more individual symbols appear across the reels. 

Landing between five and 35 ‘pay anywhere’ symbols across the reel set can provide wins between x12.5 and x500 the player’s preferred bet. 

Additionally, a win multiplier sits above the reel set throughout the game mode. Starting with a value of x1, this multiplier can be enhanced by both additive and multiplicative enhancement symbols that can appear throughout the feature. 

Multiplicative symbols can range from x2 to x11 – depending on how the player activated the free spins feature – and additive multipliers can range from +5 to +50. 

These multipliers will then cause any win that is formed during the free spins game mode to be multiplied by their values that are displayed above the board. 

For those looking to test out Witchy Poppins for themselves, click here to be directed to AvatarUX’s official website. 

Wild Hogs – Stakelogic

Lastly, picking up our final Slot of the Week prize for 2023 was Stakelogic, who claimed the award for its latest pig punk-themed slot – Wild Hogs. 

Offering big wins in the form of three bonus game modes, Wild Hogs is a 6×4 reel slot with up to 46,656-ways to win and a maximum win of up to x5,000 the player’s wager. The slot has high volatility with an RTP of 96.01 per cent. 

Daniela Fricchione, Head of Account Management at Stakelogic, commented: “Stakelogic is turning up the heat with the Wild Hogs slot game. This is one of our hottest slots to date, both figuratively and literally. 

“The game is packed with exciting bonuses, with the super trail being a huge selling point. It is also one of our most visually striking titles, with the design team really delivering an intense and exciting experience for our players.”

Throughout the game, three wild modifier features can randomly occur, including a ‘wild hog general’ feature that causes up to five wilds to appear on the board, each with multipliers between x2 and x5 to be applied to any subsequent wins. 

Additionally, the ‘wild hog lieutenant’ feature causes up to three expanding multiplier wilds of either x2 and x3 to fill reels on the board, while the ‘wild hog sergeant’ feature adds standard expanding wilds onto just one or several reels on the board. 

Bonus gold hog scatters can appear on reels two, three, four and five, triggering access to the bonus wheel if three or more land on the same spin. If four or more land at once, the super bonus wheel will be awarded. 

On the bonus wheel, players can win between six and 15 free spins or access to the bonus trail game, or the super bonus trail game. 

In the bonus trail feature, players are taken to a board game-style trail path while they spin a set of reels that reveals numbers between one and nine, or blocker X symbols. 

Players are given three lives, with each X that appears removing one life, as the numbers represent how many steps the player takes around the board. 

At each step, a multiplied bet amount will be available to win, but collecting these prizes will cause those steps to become dead, removing one life if the player lands on them as the game mode continues. 

In addition to multiplied bet amount prizes, players can also land on question mark steps, which will cause one spin of a golden reel set that can award game-enhancing bonuses such as: 

• Values to be added to all remaining steps on the trail
• Extra lives
• Trail reset (removing all dead steps from the trail)
• Multiplied bet amount prizes between x5 and x500

The wheel can also award access to the super bonus trail game mode, which enhances these prizes as some of them become persistent, performing their feature at every step. 

Furthermore, the game mode ends when players lose all three lives, awarding the collected multiplied bet amount prizes to the player before returning them to the base game. 

Readers looking to try out the Wild Hogs demo can click here to be directed to Stakelogic’s official website. 

The post Nolimit City, AvatarUX and PearFiction: Slot of the Week rewind appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Having overseen AvatarUX as CEO for almost two years now, beginning the role in early 2022, Longmuir will pass on the baton of CEO to Falzon in January as she is set to leave the company completely. 

Falzon commented on taking the CEO role: “I’m honoured to take over as CEO of AvatarUX at what is an extremely exciting time for the company.

“AvatarUX has grown incredibly fast and has made an impression with operators and players alike for their innovation and the fantastic entertainment their games offer. I look forward to being a part of the future success story that will take the company to new heights.”

The incoming executive brings a wealth of experience from the igaming industry, and particularly in the slot provision sector, joining AvatarUX from Bragg Gaming Group where she held a position of President & COO. Prior to that role, Falzon also held senior positions at Red Tiger and NetEnt. 

Tomas Bäckman, Chairperson at AvatarUX, added: “We couldn’t be happier to welcome Lara to AvatarUX, knowing that the company is in great hands for future growth. Her experience and skills are second to none and will be crucial as we continue to expand and bring new and unique products to market. It is a really exciting time for the business.

“I also want to thank Nicola for all her hard work over the past two years and I wish her all the best for the future.”

Longmuir recently spoke with CasinoBeats about the several milestones achieved by AvatarUX across 2023, including the introduction of several new slot mechanics.

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