SLOTS DESIGN REPORT Competitive Research and Data Insights for Slots Designers - Rackcdn.com
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SLOTS DESIGN REPORT Competitive Research and Data Insights for Slots Designers
TABLE OF CONTENTS
HEADLINE MACHINES 3
Club Social Bonus
Masquerade Ball in Huuuge Casino
Product Insights
Unlockable Playlist
JANUARY
Workshop Boyz in House of Fun
SLOTS TRENDS 9
Social Bonus Investment
Social Bonuses by App
Bonus Investment by Type
MARKET WATCH
Notable Releases
13
2021
APPENDIX 16
Liquid & Grit Slots Personas
Premium Partnerships
HEADLINE MACHINES
Machines with unique features or fresh combinations of mechanics
3
CASINO > CONTENT > SOCIAL
Club Social Bonus
Masquerade Ball in Huuuge Casino
4
MECHANIC TEARDOWN 1
A pick'em bonus includes a chance to invite all club members to play the bonus.
Feature Details
• Envelopes appear on reels 1, 3, and 5.
• Landing two envelopes triggers a choice between them. 2 3
• One envelope awards a coin prize and the other triggers a mask pick'em bonus (1).
• Landing three envelopes also triggers the mask pick'em bonus.
• Players pick three masks to reveal coin rewards or a gold mask (2).
• Picking the gold mask triggers a second bonus stage (3 and 4).
• In the second stage, players pick one mask to reveal a multiplier or envelope (5).
• Picking the envelope invites all club members to play the mask pick'em.
• Club members claim gifted bonuses from the club menu or within the machine (6, 7, and video).
4 5
• Turning down the bonus saves it for later.
• Players can trigger gifted bonuses at any time.
• Players who aren't in clubs don't get any club functionality but are shown the same dialogues (video).
Additional Information
• See more images and videos in the Masquerade Ball library.
6 7
5
We interviewed four Huuuge
PRODUCT INSIGHTS Casino players who spend
$10–$400 per month.
Integrate bonuses with meta-features to add meaning to both. 1
According to Sensor Tower, casino saw the fewest worldwide downloads and smallest download growth—just +2.4% YoY—of any
mobile genre during 2020.1 With that in mind, apps likely need to begin expanding their audiences beyond core slots players.
One potential path toward wider appeal is to create greater alignment between machine design and app meta-features.
Typically, this relationship is one-way: Slots play impacts meta-features, but meta-features don't impact slots play.
Masquerade Ball takes a unique step by integrating Huuuge Casino's club feature directly into the pick'em bonus (1). By
extending the bonus' consequences into the club feature and vice versa, Masquerade Ball enhances the significance of both to
create a more meaningful experience.2
Show non-club players that they're missing out—and give them the tools to join in.
Masquerade Ball tells all players that their bonus invites were sent to their club, even if they don't belong to one (2). Not only is 2
this confusing, but it also misses a chance to promote clubs to non-members. In fact, some players weren't aware of the club
bonus at all! We interviewed two paying players who said they would have joined a club or increased their club engagement if
they'd known about it.3
FOMO (fear of missing out) is an especially powerful motivator in social contexts,4 so we recommend notifying players about
the club feature when they enter the machine and again when they could have sent a bonus to club members. Then, provide an
easy option to join a club.
Identify club members' bonus invitations.
Clubs aren't just about rewards—players are also driven to build relationships and distinguish themselves among their peers.
Identifying players' club contributions drives participation by publicly acknowledging their achievements.5
Unfortunately, the bonus invites in Masquerade Ball are completely anonymous. This could be improved by simply identifying
the sender in the invite or on the club wall, which would also enhance the immersion of the machine's theme. Allowing clubs to
see how many invites each player has sent would create extra social pressure and drive engagement from competitive players.
1 Sensor Tower - Downloads by Game Category 3 Subject B; Age 47 male, $150–$200/month spend, 10 hours/week playtime 4 The Social Media Party, p. 4
2Subject A; Age 27 male, $400/month spend, 35 hours/week playtime: "It's great to ... Subject C; Age 49 male, $20/month spend, 5 hours/week playtime 5 Social Loafing: A Field Investigation
bring my friends to the masquerade ball. It's a very collaborative thing."
6
CASINO > CONTENT > SOCIAL
Unlockable Playlist
Workshop Boyz in House of Fun
7
MECHANIC TEARDOWN 1
Players trigger bonuses to unlock five holiday songs for the
machine's soundtrack.
Feature Details
• Spins randomly trigger a dance-off for added symbols, wilds, multipliers, or coin prizes (1).
• Landing 3–5 record symbols triggers 10–20 free spins (2).
2
• Free spin bonuses randomly unlock holiday songs for the soundtrack, up to five total (3).
• Players can change the current song with a button over the reels or from a playlist (4 and video).
Additional Information
• See more images and videos in the Workshop Boyz library.
Give players a compelling reason to keep the sound on.
One study of slot machines found that the presence of sound
increased arousal, perceived win rates, and machine 3 4
preference.1 Workshop Boyz uses the theme of a band to
give meaning to the machine's soundtrack and make players
want to hear the music.
1 The Impact of Sound in Modern Multiline Video Slot Machine Play
8
SLOTS TRENDS
The latest developments in top-grossing apps
Tracked slots apps: Big Fish Casino, Caesars Slots, Cash Frenzy, Cashman Casino, DoubleDown, DoubleU
Casino, Game of Thrones Slots, Gold Fish Casino, Heart of Vegas, Hit It Rich!, House of Fun, Huuuge Casino,
Jackpot Magic Slots, Jackpot Party, Lightning Link Casino, Lotsa Slots, my KONAMI, myVEGAS, POP! Slots,
Quick Hit Slots, Scatter Slots, Slotomania, and Wizard of Oz: Casino Slots
9
SOCIAL BONUSES GROW
Social bonus releases nearly doubled in 2020 and made up 5% of all bonus features versus 3% in 2019.
Social Bonus Investment
4 2020 2019
3
Number of Releases
2
1
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
10FEW APPS RELEASE MOST SOCIAL BONUSES
POP! Slots, Big Fish Casino, and Jackpot Magic Slots made up 64% of all social bonus releases in the
past year. Still, this is a decrease from the 77% we saw in the October 2020 Slots Design Report.
Social Bonuses by App (Past 12 Months)
POP! Slots
Big Fish Casino
Jackpot Magic Slots
Game of Thrones Slots
Slotomania
Cash Frenzy
Cashman Casino
Huuuge Casino
myVEGAS
Scatter Slots
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of Releases
11SOCIAL BONUSES NEAR BOTTOM OF BONUS TYPES
Social bonuses were the fourth least frequently released bonus type in 2020 despite almost doubling
since 2019.
Bonus Investment by Type (Past 12 Months)
100
80
Number of Releases
60
40
20
Wilds
Multipliers
Extra Reels/Lines/Pays
Pick'em
Player Choice
Multiple Bonuses
Pick'em w/ Free Spins
Collection
Other
Social
Mini-Game
Mini-Stepper
Deal or No Deal
12MARKET WATCH
New and notable machine releases
131
NOTABLE RELEASES I
App Machine Description
• Free spin and respin bonuses fill progress bars in each machine.
Abominable • Every 30th bonus becomes a super free spin or super respin bonus (Abominable Christmas only). 2
Caesars Slots Christmas & • Super bonuses add multipliers, extra spins, or high-value symbols.
Tiki Christmas • Triggering at least one super bonus in each machine unlocks a Deal or No Deal bonus for a bet
multiplier (1).
• During base and free spins, symbols randomly convert to multipliers.
• Three or more star symbols trigger up to 20 free spins.
Cash Frenzy Candy Clash
• Hearts collected from reels can be exchanged for mystery prizes in a shop (2).
• A random mini-stepper spin awards pulls from a gacha machine for coin prizes or jackpots (video). 3
• Three or more train symbols trigger up to 15 sticky respins.
• Initial respins contain coin prizes and minor jackpots.
Winter
DoubleDown • Ticket symbols add two respins and activate up to two additional respin tiers (3 and video).
Wonder Train
• New tiers award and clear all prize symbols and add bigger jackpots to the reels.
• Respins can randomly start from the highest tier.
• Four or more scatter symbols trigger respins on four reel sets. 4
• At the start of respins, players designate one reel set as lucky.
DoubleU
Ace Wings • Prizes from each reel set accumulate in pots beside the reels (4).
Casino
• Players win the pot from their lucky reel set (video).
• If the lucky reel set collects the most bird symbols, players win the pots from all four reel sets.
14NOTABLE RELEASES II
App Machine Description 1
• Five or more matching monster symbols respin during base and free spins (video).
• During respins, wins advance a jackpot ladder and winning symbols respin (1).
DoubleU Wicked
• When a spin does not result in a win, respins end and players win the current jackpot.
Casino Monster Lab
• Three scatter symbols trigger seven free spins.
• Wilds containing prizes appear on reels 4 and 5.
• Clouds randomly appear on the reels and move up one position each spin (2 and video). 2
• Landing a gold pot symbol under a cloud awards the cloud's prize.
• Three or more leprechaun symbols trigger up to 25 free spins.
Christmas
Lotsa Slots • Free spin bonuses fill a meter for a super free spin bonus.
Clovers
• Wins add coins to a pooled jackpot for all players in the room.
• In-machine challenges award medals.
• Three or more gift symbols trigger a pick'em bonus from a screen of falling gifts.
• Gold and silver wanted posters add players' portraits to corresponding team boards.
3
• The gold board has 20 player spots and the silver has 15.
• Filling the last spot on a board triggers a social bonus battle for all players on the board (video).
myVEGAS King & Kraken • During the bonus battle, wheel spins result in one of four actions: attack the enemy, remove a life
from random players, add a life to all players, or increase a multiplier (3).
• Defeating the enemy splits the multiplier between all surviving players and triggers the next round.
• The bonus ends when all three enemies or all players have been defeated.
Quickly review all features and machines
Filter the Library Tool by month and year to see all new releases.
15APPENDIX
16LIQUID & GRIT SLOTS PERSONAS
Participants from the U.K. and U.S. (N=1,299) were surveyed about their mobile gaming use. The data
produced five personas with distinct slots preferences and playing habits.
Demographics
Fame Frank Money Mike Daydreamer Denise Gambler Gail Sensation Serena
Size 21% 22% 27% 19% 11%
% Female 50% 51% 66% 60% 55%
Age 32 mean / 30 median 34 mean / 32 median 35 mean / 34 median 35 mean / 33 median 35 mean / 32 median
Education 3.5 3.3 3.5 3.2 3.3
Money Spent 4.2 4.9 3.5 5.4 5.8
Playtime 5.0 4.5 5.0 4.9 6.5
* The education, money spent, and playtime numbers represent the relative value of each category compared to other player personas.
17PREMIUM PARTNERSHIPS
Liquid & Grit partners with these premier market research and analytics companies to infuse our
reports with the most relevant and detailed gaming user personas, data, and statistics available.
Quadrant Strategies Kinrate Analytics Sensor Tower
Market Research Player Personas Mobile App Store Intelligence
Quadrant Strategies Kinrate Analytics Sensor Tower
Quadrant Strategies is a market research Kinrate Analytics offers game developers, Sensor Tower is relied upon by financial analysts,
consultancy that uses research to help the world's consultants, publishers, and cloud gaming VCs, and publishers who need to leverage data to
most prominent technology, gaming, and operators the best cross-platform game identify the fastest-growing apps, emerging
entertainment companies develop strategies for recommendation engine for targeted marketing, as markets, and more.
building their user base, increasing user well as a novel profiling-as-a-service solution for
Clients harness Sensor Tower's suite of app
engagement and spend, and strengthening their intelligent market segmentation and social
intelligence tools to:
marketing and brand plans. networking.
‣ Evaluate app economies and app vitality.
We do that using a range of quantitative and Other services include advanced market prediction
qualitative methodologies, including gamer analyses for identifying emergent gaming trends ‣ Drive organic growth with the leading App Store
segmentation and persona development, feature and access to unique AI-enhanced data of 140 Optimization platform.
testing, message creation, and loyalty and thousand game titles and 48 million game players.
‣ Get the best global download and revenue
engagement modeling. The work of our senior
The products of Kinrate Analytics have been estimates for the App Store and Google Play.
leadership goes back many years, and includes
developed in university-led research projects in
long-term engagements for console and gaming- ‣ Discover top creatives and better shape user
collaboration with economists, psychologists, game
PC hardware-makers, individual games in a range acquisition strategy.
scholars, and data scientists.
of genres, and across consoles, PCs, and mobile,
and for some of the top game franchises.
18“There are always flowers for those who want to see them."
— Henri Matisse
LiquidandGrit.com
Brett.Nowak@LiquidandGrit.com
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