When I started in this business, one of my early mentors said that everything I needed to know about slot machines was in Marshall Fey’s book, Slot Machines. The first edition was published in 1983, but the book’s subject matter was from an even earlier period, largely covering devices from before the turn of the 20th century until the post-war years. At the time, I thought the advice was patronizing. The slot machines that Fey’s grandfather had pioneered were marvels of springs and levers, and I saw little relevance to the EPROM-controlled machines of the ’80s and ’90s. In my novice opinion, there was no way the hip baby boomer crowd would respond to the same stimulus that motivated the flappers of the Roaring Twenties or the big band crowd of GIs from the ’40s.
As my career progressed, I came to realize that the advice was timeless and golden. There wasn’t any magic in Fey’s book (although it should be on every casino executive’s shelf), just the simple truth that we must constantly examine our history to see if any lessons still apply. I’ll argue that the basic human qualities that define entertainment and amusement have remained constant; it is our challenge to see if technology can restore, revive or enhance some of them.
There are countless examples in the book. Fractional penny machines developed by Aristocrat in Australia fed the boom of today’s video products offering highly volatile and extremely popular machines. However, the concept of two plays for a penny is right there in the book: the 1894 Watson Combination Card and Dice machine. Think five-reelers are new? Mills produced a double five-reeler in 1940. Multi-denomination slot machines were first released on numerous upright wheel machines of the 1890s—and many will argue that these same machines were the inspiration for today’s Wheel of Fortune™.
Ernie Moody, the founder of Action Gaming, revolutionized video poker by introducing Three Play Poker, and later Five Play, in 1998. Ernie Moody most certainly came up with these concepts on his own, but if he needed any inspiration, it could be found on the Quinette machine made by Caille in 1901. The Quinette displayed five poker hands at a time with mechanical cards. Several other games of the day offered “skill stops” to freeze the cards or reels as early as 1901. If Ernie Moody didn’t gather these concepts from the book, the lesson is that he could have.
Taking time to look at concepts that worked in the past may be the quickest and easiest way to navigate the uncertain times of today. Was an old drawing or promotion abandoned because it was too labor intensive? Did new regulations prohibit a marketing scheme? Did a good concept simply outlive its lifecycle? Or was it something else? And can technology make what was old new again?
The unprecedented gaming boom from 1995 until 2007 changed many ways we did business—non-gaming attractions became profit centers, casinos became resorts, and guest contacts became automated. Demand always seemed to exceed supply. All was wonderful until the economy took a nosedive. With the supply and demand curve finally leveling, maybe we can look before the turn of the century (the 21st) for some direction. Here are two examples:
• Increased Seat Time. Single-line, 3-reel games have virtually disappeared over the last 10 years. The $1 two-coin slot machine was the king of the floor in the 1990s, and IGT’s Double Diamond and its clones were the crown princes. Volatility on these games was moderate at best, since maximum seat time, rather than larger bets, was the objective in getting players to move up to one dollars from nickels and quarters. Early operators were seeking market share as much as profitability. It seemed logical then that if you could stretch the gaming experience from one hour to three hours, but still capture all of a customer’s discretionary income, everyone would benefit (as long as you had capacity). When gamblers went on a spending binge from coast-to-coast at the start of the new millennium, these low-coin games were converted or moved off the floor and into warehouses to make way for forced bets and credit/line counts in the 100s. Today, instead of removing machines from the floor, as many casinos have done, it may be time to see if the “dribble pay” games with less risk and more play can make a comeback and boost overall profitability.
• Instant Wins. In 1928, Caille added the first true jackpot to a slot machine. It was a simple cup of coins that spilled out when the jackpot bars were aligned. Bally upped the ante in 1963 with its “Money Honey” model that featured a large coin hopper billed as a “bottomless payout.” The basic idea was to make a lot of commotion and get more coins in the player’s hands quickly to impress nearby gamblers and allow the winners to put their jackpot right back in the slot. Today, we’ve perfected the “big” payout, but along the way we’ve lost some of the excitement and all the immediacy. By the time the currency is counted, Title 31 forms are completed, and the bills are inserted one at a time back into the machine, something’s been lost. Why not use today’s technology to bring back the instant winner with a ticket payout or a “key to credit” strategy that legally delays the money laundering paperwork and gets the player back into action sooner. The technology is there, and so is some of the excitement. The jackpot bell is still an option on most slot machines, even if no one options or orders them anymore. Just because our casinos are now architectural showplaces doesn’t mean we can’t slip in a little carnival midway sound into the environment.
There are hundreds of such strategies in your own casino’s archives (or Fey’s book) that only take some creativity and a willingness to look forward and back at the same time. While you’re at it maybe you can help me figure out a way to revive the 1934 A.J. Stephens & Co. “Magic” Beer Barrel slot, which paid out one to 10 steins of beer for your nickel.
Buddy Frank is the Vice President of Slot Operations at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Southern California, but grew up in Reno, where Slot Machines author Marshall Fey and his brother Frank once operated a bar and restaurant (the now demolished Liberty Bell) that also housed the world’s greatest collection of antique slot machines stored beside the bar stools, hanging from the ceiling and packed like sardines in his wondrous attic.
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