I’ve seen “Casablanca” at least a dozen times. I’ve seen it in a theater as part of a series of classic films. I’ve seen it on TV in pre-home video days, and I’ve seen it on VHS and DVD.
Until this fall’s Global Gaming Expo at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas, I’d never seen it on a slot machine. But when I saw a sign in the corridor touting a Casablanca slot at the Everi booth, I knew I had to take a look.
Everi’s slots were set up in demo mode so all I had to do was touch the demo icon and a menu of bonus events and features appeared. I could take my choice.
Casablanca is a five-reel video slot with a five-level progressive jackpot that at the expo was set up with a top level building from $250,000.
On the base game, reel symbols include characters from the classic Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman World War II-era drama of love and redemption. Other reel symbols include film icons such as Sam’s piano, chips on a roulette layout and the sign for Rick’s Café Americain, where proprietor Rick (Bogart) was drawn back into the good fight by lost love Ilsa (Bergman) and her husband, resistance leader Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid).
When I touched the bonus menu to select a wheel spin, the sounds were of a roulette wheel – presumably the gaffed wheel where Rick enabled a stranded Bulgarian couple to win enough money to leave for America.
A big win with five Rick symbols brought a scene from the film as Rick tells Ilsa, “I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”
And I just had to see what would happen after a progressive payout. This time, Ilsa urged Sam, “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By.’”
It’s a fun game with multiple bonuses, features and jackpots, made all the more fun by the imagery and classic scenes from one of the greatest movies ever made.
