Page 32 - Southern California Gaming Guide • September 2021

Ask most slot players these days what slot they play every time they go to a casino and the award- winning Lightning Link, Dragon Link, and
Dragon Cash slots from Aristocrat Technologies are likely to be on the top of most of their lists. Check out this month’s cover feature, Lucky Wins starting on page 12, and Big Winners! on page 26, and see all the photos of those
who won recently on these slots.
with casinos across the country, accruing up to millions for the top progressive. Wheel of Fortune Slots awarded a record-setting $14.4 million jackpot in 2009 to a lucky player in Biloxi, Mississippi. Begun before video slots came on the scene, you can still find large denomination Wheel of Fortune reel spinners in High Limit Rooms.
Multiplying Wild Symbols: These reel spinners had wild
symbols that multiplied, at first doubling the jackpot in a winning combination, first created by IGT with the still ubiquitous Double Diamond slot.
Multiple Progressives:
Those winners found their casino sweet spots on slots the days they won. Finding your sweet slot — the game that treats you to a rollicking fun time, ending in a generous jackpot—is the goal of every casino player.
original forms, all three of these slots from Bally/Scientific Games had a simple pay table that is what slot
makers called “buy
And paying attention to slot trends may lead
you to your winning slot. Unless, of course, you haveasweetslotfromthepast:anoldiebut 3-creditbet.Infact,if
slot—the game
thattreatsyoutoa
rollicking fun time,
goodie that’s still on the casino floor because enough players return again and again to play it.
Past Winning Slot Concepts
If you’ve been a slot player over the years, you’ve seen a lot of slot game concepts come and go. Some became trendsetters including the enduring Blazing 7s, Double Diamond, and Wheel of Fortune® that are still on every casino floor. They introduced new slot features that have been updated over the years; but the original reel-spinning slots can still be found at your favorite casinos as they’re major player favorites. Do you remember these following slot trends?
Multipliers: Think back to when you played so many different variations of the classic reel spinners multipliers Blazing 7s or 2x 5x 10x Bonus Times, or Quick Hits. In their
you didn’t play at least two credits, you didn’t get paid for the 7s or Quick Hits at all. The payouts doubled on the third credit and paid the progressive jackpot for three Blazing 7s.
Wheels: Wheel of Fortune® from IGT began a wheel-bonus affair with slot players that has never lost its appeal. It became part of the wide-area progressive concept begun with IGT’s MegaBucks slot that
endinginagenerous These slots had four
a pay” games. The games rewarded those playing the maximum
“Finding your sweet
jackpot—is the goal of every casino player. And paying attention to slot trends may lead you to your winning slot.”
linked the top jackpot
prizes displayed on top of a game, with static bonus awards and casino linked progressive jackpots.
Video Slots: When multi-line video slots appeared in the late
1990s, game concepts exploded with more features, including second screen bonus rounds that incorporated music and video, primed for showcasing tv- and
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
SEPTEMBER 2021
movie-themed slots.