Las Vegas has never been hotter before, attracting a record 41.1 million tourists in 2014. But most of these people come to Sin City for all-around entertainment instead of gambling. Speaking of the latter, this has been slow to recover ever since the “Great Recession.” So Vegas has a plan to bring their gambling earnings back to health: turn gaming floors into an arcade.
I’ve written before about the new direction of Vegas slot machines. But it seems that every month, we learn more and more about what to expect from the future of Vegas slots. And thanks to a piece by Inverse, we now know to expect games that are similar to old arcade classics like Street Fighter. This being said, here’s a closer look at the main points that Inverse covered.
– Darion Lowenstein, who’s worked in the console industry for giants like Rockstar, Electronic Arts and Activision, is working on some the new Vegas slots. Some of the games that he and Gambit Gaming are going off of include Angry Birds, Words with Friends and Risk.
– These won’t be exact adaptations of video games, but rather a nice mix. As Lowenstein describes, “You’re not gonna go from a slot machine to Call of Duty, where if you make all the headshots you win a thousand dollars.”
– Some of these games will see friends facing off against each other just like with social media-type games.
– Skill will allow players to raise payback noticeably, but it won’t be an even-money or positive-expectation scenario. Rather, one can expect to raise payback from around 90% to 95% if they’re good enough at the games.
– Nostalgia will enter the picture with slots games fashioned in the same vein as Super Mario Kart.
– The idea is to bring more millennials back into the slots scene while retaining middle-aged and older generations. Most millennials now are only in Vegas to party and go clubbing.