Nov
30
2015
By Travel Tunica on Monday November 30, 2015
With Homer and Marge characters handing out doughnuts – with sprinkles, of course – the crowds at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas just had to see what was going on. What it was, of course, was the debut of The Simpsons as a slot machine, a big attention-grabber from Scientific Games.
Scientific Games has quickly become a major force in the casino world, having acquired slotmaking giants Bally Technologies and WMS Gaming as well as WMS’ sister company Williams Interactive and table games leader Shuffle Master.
This was the first year all those companies were in the same booth under the Scientific Games umbrella, and The Simpsons gave the booth a show-stopper. It’s big and beautiful, loaded with features based on the long-running animated TV favorite. As the theme music plays, animation, clips and audio feature Homer, Marge, Apu, Mr. Burns, Moe, Chief Wiggum and plenty of TV regulars.
It’s all on the Gamescape cabinet that practically envelops the player in Simpsons atmosphere. Look straight ahead, and instead of one screen, you have a triptych – a main monitor for gameplay flanked by two narrower screens that provide show scenes and track your bonus event. Up top is a 40-inch top screen that curves back toward you. And the virtual button panel is a touch-screen display that integrates it all.
When a spin of the video reels bring the same character to the four corners, it launches that character’s bonus. It also changes the scene. In the Apu bonus, the top screen takes out outside the Kwik-E-Mart, while the side screens set the scene inside. The Homer bonus takes you to the nuclear power plant.
A motion sensor makes you part of the game. In the Homer bonus, to add multipliers and wild symbols, you start by moving your hand over the sensor to guide Homer’s hand to catch sprinkles falling off a doughnut. Then you go into a free-spin bonus.
There’s so much here that no one will be able just to pass by The Simpsons. Whether you play or not, you’re going to have to stop to see what’s going on.