Technology could transform slot machines

Roughly half the 835,000 slot machines nationwide have video displays and many are networked, but industry officials acknowledge that most are flops, lacking the visceral “clunk-clunk-clunk” of wheels hitting the payline.

Video slots with an authentic feel are the holy grail for manufacturers.

PureDepth searched for a mechanical alternative to the traditional optical tricks for fooling the eyes and brain into seeing depth. Such tricks — fancy versions of 3-D glasses — induced nausea and headaches and were rejected by casino operators, who stuck with mechanical reels or flat video displays with no depth.

With the cost of liquid crystal displays dropping, engineers at PureDepth’s lab in New Zealand decided to house two or more LCDs in one physical unit to create depth — a deceptively simple idea protected with 45 patents and roughly 70 patents pending.

Reno, Nev.-based IGT is hoping to debut the first machines with PureDepth’s multilayer video display in November at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. The company won’t say how much they’ll cost, but they’ll be more than mechanical reel machines, which cost up to $15,000.

A different approach on a 3-D video slot system will debut next month, when Waukegan, Ill.-based WMS is expected to introduce a “Monopoly Super Money Grab” slot machine. Its hybrid display features a mechanical reel behind a video display that activates when the payline hits certain combinations.

Traditional three- and five-reel slots have a finite number of combinations, but adding a video layer allows programmers to exponentially expand the possibilities.

“The mathematics drive the game, and the more mathematics you can derive, the more combinations you can create,” said Larry Pacey, senior vice president of product development at WMS, which developed the patented technology with Tokyo-based Pachinko powerhouse Aruze Corp.

One thing that’s unlikely to change in the new era of digital slots: the slim odds of winning big.
“Let’s be honest: Everything about a casino design is meant to play on the player’s psychology,” said Jeffrey Allen, director of business development for Las Vegas-based Bally Technologies Inc., another top slot machine maker. “Why else would there be no clocks and comfortable chairs and subdued lights?”

Ed Rogich, an IGT vice president, said players who tested video display prototypes earlier this year could hardly tell the difference between them and manual reels. That’s a good sign: Many old-school gamblers prefer low-tech slots.

Earlier this month at Cache Creek Casino in Brooks, Margaret Spence criticized the present version of video slots and wistfully recalled the days of old-fashioned reels.

“I still miss pulling that old lever, and I miss that big tub of money that would fill up with coins when you hit the jackpot,” said Spence, 71, a Concord resident who currently favors $1 “Blazing 7s” machines. “The video machines seem like a waste of time — like a video game.”

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