Page 33 - March 2010 • Southern California Gaming Guide

bPy Borris Bienn
hantom EFX has a wide range of award-winning games for your PC (and even a few for your Mac), featuring virtual casinos and some of the most innovative and creative slots around. e newest additions to the Phantom EFX game family take players on a fun- lled slot tournament tour of all 50 states, and to a tranquil card room in the Orient where players can win prizes and unlock treasures while competing with twelve animated opponents playing over 80 di erent card games.
e Gold Challenges tend to be more di cult. In a Gold Challenge, you might have to get ve of any symbol on a payline, or earn 10,000 credits in a single spin, or get six consecutive winning spins within
150 spins. Even more challenging are the timed challenges where you have to earn a certain number of credits (or bonus round credits) within 10 minutes. Of course, each time you complete 10 Gold Challenges, you unlock an Enchanted Slot—versions of the ve locked slots that have incredibly high payout rates. Every element of this new game is fun and exciting.
Reel Deal Card Games 2011
Reel Deal Card Games 2011 takes you to the other end of the world, incorporating many of the themes and backgrounds from the Far East. You can play more than 80 di erent card games including 500, All 5’s, Blackjack, Bridge, Canasta, Crazy Eights, Cribbage, Cuckoo, Euchre, Gin, Go Fish, Golf, Hand and Foot, Hearts, Memory, Old Maid, Pedro, Pepper, Pinochle, Pisti, Pitch, Poker (7 varieties, including Texas Hold’em), Rummy 500, Skat, Solitaire (45 variations), Spades, Spite & Malice, War and Whist. You can customize many of the games to include the most popular variations in play and scoring, and also to select the di culty level of the game.
Play over 80 different card games including 7 varieties of poker and 45 games of solitaire.
You’ll play against a cast of 12 animated opponents, favorite characters from other Phantom EFX titles, including Blackbeard, Professor & Witherbee,
Alice, and Lil’ Spookie. Each opponent’s personality can be customized—you can adjust how talkative he or she is, and you can also adjust how smart he or she is. But be careful—if you’re not prepared to get your hat handed to you by an animated card sharp, you might want to work up to the maximum “smart” setting.
Reel Deal Slots American Adventure
Reel Deal Slots American Adventure features 20 of Phantom EFX’s most popular Slot Club Downloads. ese slots were previously available as online additions to other Phantom EFX games, but have never been available as a collection. e games include Carnival, Cash Climb, Chocolate, En Fuego, Fireworks, Going Once, Mirage, Penguin Dance, Spellbound and World of Sports.
ese games are examples of what Phantom EFX does best. e themes are original and inventive and carry through all elements of each game from the icons and animations to the look of the machine, to the music and sound e ects. Each and every game has a sly sense of humor about it (I dare you not to smile at the Penguins with the chattering teeth in Penguin Dance or the dancing elves in Ho-Ho Dough). Most of the games have at least
Select from any of the available games to play with Real World or Dream World odds. March 2010
one, and sometimes two or three possible bonus rounds that expand on the theme of the game (a shooting gallery in Carnival, an auction in Going Once). And all of the games are tremendous fun to play.
Reel Deal Slots American Adventure has two modes of play. You can play any of the available slots as you would in any other Phantom EFX game, using either Real World or Dream World odds (and bankrolls). You can also play the “American
Adventure Mode” where you travel across the 50 states completing challenges for each of the slot games. e American Adventure Mode is like a series of slot tournaments. You don’t have to worry about your losses. However, you do have some very speci c goals to accomplish in order to win the challenges.
Explore the country in American Adventure mode, completing 50 different challenges.
e Silver Challenges are the easiest to complete. ese include tasks such as to play a certain game for 15 minutes; to accumulate a set number of credits on a game; or to spin a certain number of times on a game. Each time you complete eight Silver Challenges, you unlock one of the ve locked slots: Fireworks, Dinosaurs, Shady
Acres, Spy Games and Rock & Roll Diner.
Complete Gold Challenges to unlock the Enchanted Slots for even bigger wins.
As you play (and win) you’ll earn Diamond Points and VIP points. e Diamond Points can be spent in the Mall, where you can purchase upgrades and customize just about every aspect of your card playing experience. And if what matters most to you is winning, well, you can stop in Cheatz R Uz and pick up a few electronic Aces to hide up your sleeves.
Customize the personality—and skill level—of each of the animated opponents.
While you play, you will occasionally be awarded an Ancient Coin. ese coins are what allow you to summon and play the Stone Slot Machine in the Prize Vault.
e Stone Slot can award Dream World or Real World cash, VIP points, or unlock prizes in the Prize Vault that you can then purchase using your VIP points. is all spells endless fun.
Reel Deal Slots American Adventure and Reel Deal Card Games 2011 hit stores later this Spring, but you can get your copies now by ordering online at the Gaming Guide’s new online store at www. eGamingGuide.com or at www.PhantomEFX.com.
Borris Bienn writes about new technology innovations and video slots in Southern California casinos.
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE