Page 11 - April 2004 • Southern California Gaming Guide

version. When the bonus is triggered, the screen displays three of the television show’s word puzzles, each associated with one of the di erent colored pointers. Players select from tiles at the bottom of the screen and, as the tiles reveal letters, the game nds the letter in at least one of the three puzzles. Each time a letter is found, the bonus value associated with each puzzle increases.
When one of the tiles is uncovered to reveal a pointer
icon, Pat and Vanna appear on screen and prompt the player to push the “Spin” button to send the bonus wheel turning. With the familiar audience chant and the whirring wheelsounde ectsasbackground,thewheelspins.When
it stops, the puzzle is “solved,” and the bonus value is revealed. e bonus value is then multiplied by an amount that ranges from 15 to 500 times, depending on the value that lands under the corresponding wheel pointer.
And, of course, there are few things that can compare with watching ve“WheelofFortune”symbolslineuponthe rst payline with maximum coins wagered. is is de nitely
“ e Big One!”—a top progressive award that resets
at $1.5 million and is paid as a 20-year annuity.
QuarterMillion$ — Four Fantastic New Games On One New Progressive Link! Bally Gaming’s QuarterMillion$ is a fantastic new super progressive link that gives players a chance to win an awesome progressive jackpot that starts at a whopping $250,000! QuarterMillion$ is the highest 25-cent instant-pay progressive slot now available!
e rst of four new slots on the progressive link, QuarterMillion$ Lucky WheelTM is a 25-cent, three-reel spinner with a maximum three-credit bet. e buy-a-pay feature (see sidebar) gives players the opportunity to win big with a thrilling Lucky Wheel “arrow- spin” bonus. is bonus is triggered when
a bonus symbol on the third reel of the center payline appears with maximum credits bet. e bonus symbol indicates one or two pay arrows. is, in turn, causes the corresponding number of
the bonus pay arrows to illuminate around the circular bonus wheel, indicating bonus pays ranging from one to 1000
stop the wheel on an illuminated arrow. e
player then receives the accumulated bonus value.
In addition, and not the least of our dreams, a player can win the top progressive jackpot by lining up three QuarterMillion$ symbols across the center payline with maximum credits played for the starting $250,000 super progressive jackpot! e other three QuarterMillion$ slots include the following.
QuarterMillion$ FrenzyTM o ers a fourth- reel respin bonus event with 2x, 5x and 10x multipliers, bonus awards of 10 or 100 credits or bonus respins. Whenever a respin symbol appears in the vertical fourth reel in the top box, along with a three-reel winning combination, it respins the reels from one to four times! e results can be
multiplied thrills!
Tower of PowerTM is based on
How Progressives Work
Wide-area progressives have large, sometimes life-changing jackpots with links in multiple locations, sometimes across the nation. These slots are easily recognizable by a meter above the machine that displays a constantly accumulating jackpot amount. There are also casino progressives that have various banks of slot machines linked to incrementing jackpots. And, just to confuse you, there’s a stand-alone slot with a progressive jackpot like the Blazing 7s reel slot. Progressive slots can be reel or video slot machines. All progressives discussed in this article are wide-area progressives.
Players find progressive slots attractive because the jackpot prize grows in accordance with the amount of play by all of the players. This means that the jackpot continuously grows as more people play the linked slots until somebody hits the winning symbols for the top award. So the more people play, the bigger the jackpot! Because a percentage of the credits played forms the progressive jackpot, the actual payback will be less on the other winning symbols. Remember, on progressives, always play the maximum bet.
“Buy a Pay” Feature
“Buy-a-Pay” slots’ characteristic feature is that each coin played activates a set of jackpot symbols. When you play more coins, you are “buying” additional jackpot symbols. An example is the popular Blazing 7sTM slot. If you play only one coin and three Blazing 7s showed on the center payline, you would not win a thing. It’s only after you insert the second coin in these machines that the Blazing 7s jackpot becomes active (with one coin played, the single bars, double bars, triple bars, etc. are active, but not the Blazing 7s). It’s very important if you play “buy a pay” slots, that you always play the maximum coins. Always read the payout schedule on the face of the machine. If you see a different combination of winning symbols when a second coin is played, that’s a buy-a-pay slot.
credits. e player presses a button to spin the bonus wheel, pressing it again
to
As in Millionaire 777s, during the bonus round each spin moves the player one position up the Jackpot Ladder with a chance to win from 20 to 10,000 credits. Lining up three QuarterMillion$ symbols on the center payline with the maximum bet wins the $250,000 super
progressive jackpot!
In The MoneyTM
is based on Bally’s popular Monte Carlo® slots and is a three-reel, three- credit buy-a-pay slot with fantastic mystery
respins and bonus awards. When one of three “In the Money” symbols appears on the center payline, it awards, one, two or three bonus spins with the “In the Money Bonus Arrow” adding up the results of each bonus spin.
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the
777sTM, and has a similar look and feel.
exciting, popular Millionaire
April 2004 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE Page 11