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Slot
Versions - Brand Names
by John
Grochowski
Brand Name Slot Versions are hitting the casino floor at a
tremendous pace.
Here are some examples of these slot versions with
descriptions.
"I Love Lucy." "M*A*S*H." "The
Honeymooners." "The Three Stooges." "Laverne and
Shirley." "The Beverly
Hillbillies." "The Munsters."
TVLand, or maybe Nick at Night?
“The Price Is Right." "Jeopardy!" "Hollywood
Squares." "The Match Game." "Let's Make a Deal." And,
of course, "Wheel of Fortune."
Maybe the Game Show Network or syndication in any market.
Clint Eastwood. Marilyn Monroe. Bogart and Bergman. James
Dean.
Could be American Movie Classics, or maybe Turner Classic
movies. Budweiser. Popeil.
Yep. Even the commercials are covered.
OK, put away the remotes. We don’t really need them. A
stroll through the slots floor or a visit online will do.
That’s where
the
stars come out for many of our old TV and movie favorites.
Of course, not every game will be on any given casino floor.
Prime time for a slot machine is even shorter than that for a
television show.
But even with older games, you can count on some old friends to
surprise you
every now and again.
You walk into an unfamiliar casino,
find all the latest
games and flickering in a corner, there it is --- a rerun.
So let’s put away our TV Guides and tune in to some
of the
games we’ve been viewing over the last few years. Most seem made for
the video
screen --- after all, that’s where we originally saw them.
Let’s take a spin through a few film favorites, then come
back next time and check out some TV nostalgia.
Clint
Eastwood:
After the initial release of A Fistful of
Dollars: Wanted, and A Fistful of Dollars: Wild Shot had Clint shooting
straight in the Old West , WMS Gaming has turned to a different
Eastwood
character with the 15-line video Dirty Harry slots. The Make My Day
bonus puts
Harry on the trail of a criminal --- roll the dice in the top box and
hope
you’re on the right track. No gunplay is necessary in the ‘Do You Feel
Lucky'
bonus. Just decide if you like your bonus, or feel lucky enough to try
for a
bigger one.
Monty Python
And The Holy Grail: A 15-line IGT video slot
with a die and game board in the top box, this one has the Python crew
stamping
their own brand of silliness on the Arthurian legend. The top box die
is for
the Holy Grail bonus, with seven rolls of the die up top and a look at
the
“Camelot” song scene on the screen below. There are plenty of film
clips, and
multiple bonuses --- watch out for the Trojan Rabbit.
Men In Black:
The sci-fi comedy crew romp through three WMS video
games now --- Men In Black, Men In Black Riches of the Universe and Men
In
Black Galactic payback. In the original, go alien hunting by choosing
among 20
Top Secret file folders.
Each contains either a bonus amount
or a picture of an
alien. Bonuses accumulate until the player finds an alien picture. That
launches yet another screen with animation of people in a park.
The
player must
decide which person is really the alien matching the picture. When the
choice
is made, the screen "X-rays" the chosen one's head. If it's really an
alien in disguise, the player gets the largest bonus.
Austin Powers:
Just as in the theaters, Austin Powers isn’t
so much a one-time oddball as a shagadelic oddball franchise for IGT
--- Austin
Powers, Austin Powers in Goldmember in both video and reel-spinning
slots,
Austin Powers Poker.
The original Austin Powers video slot
brings together our
hero with Mini Me, Dr. Evil and all the sights and sounds of the
movies. Visit
Dr. Evil in his headquarters underground to go for a bonus multiplier,
or match
characters to find the Fat Bastard. The “Goldmember” versions even come
with a
spinning silver disco ball for top-box bonuses.
Marilyn
Monroe:
Available in both a reel-spinning game with
a top box bonus and the video game with Marilyn symbols, diamonds,
voiceovers
and music befitting one of Hollywood’s
most glamorous stars, Marilyn Monroe is a gem in the IGT collection.
The
video
slot is part of the “Diamond Cinema” series that brings a whole cast of
Hollywood
legends to the slots floor ---- James Dean, Bogart & Bergman,
Steve McQueen
and Frank Sinatra.
The Beverly
Hillbillies: “Come and listen to my story about a man
named Jed …” The
Clampetts may have been millionaires, but it only takes pennies to play
this
video slot made for the one-cent market. With images along with the
Clampett
clan, pigs in the mud, moonshine and more, The Beverly Hillbillies
takes you
from the backwoods to the mansion with the cee-ment pond.
And
when you get to
the Bubblin’ Crude bonus, the familiar theme song plays along with a
video clip
of the TV show opening, with Jed shootin’ at some food and bagging the
crude
instead. Oil, that is.
I Dream Of
Jeannie: Barbara Eden works a little magic of her
own in a series of games. Jeannie’s bottle in the top box spins through
bonus
numbers while an animated Jeannie she dances onscreen in one bonus. In
one
version, you touch bottles on the beach to collect bonuses.
The
more you
collect before finding Jeannie’s the better. When you find it, Eden’s
voice apologizes, saying “Sorry master,” as she dissolves into her
bottle.
Saturday
Night
Live: All the classic comedy bits on the
long-running NBC series have given ample material for a multigame
series.
There’s the Church Lady, Wayne’s
World, Hans & Franz, the Coneheads --- it can go on and on.
Remember the
Coneheads lifting complete six packs to “consume mass quantities”?
Here, one
bonus round is the chance to Win Mass Quantities by bouncing your
spaceship off
planets to reveal bonus amounts.
Or you can try the
Senso-Ring toss, selecting
either an animated version of Jane Curtin’s Prymat or Dan Aykroyd’s
Beldar to
toss the rings over the other’s cone. Unearthly fun.
Wheel Of
Fortune: The hottest thing in slots for most of a
decade, Wheel of Fortune has spawned sequel after sequel, both on
three-reel-spinners and in five-reel video. The original reel-spinner,
with the
top-box wheel spinning while the audience on the game’s audio chants
“WHEEL!
OF! FORTUNE!” remains a staple of any slot floor. Video versions were
inevitable.
There are several, including Wheel of Fortune
Special Edition ---
Triple Action, featuring live-action video of TV hosts Pat Sajak and
Vanna
White.
Hollywood
Squares: uses game themes and the images of stars in a
whole series of games.
In the original, Whoopi Goldberg is center square as you choose stars
to answer
questions in the game’s version of tic-tac-toe. New in the franchise is
Premiere Night, with live-action video of Joan Rivers announcing as a
limo
pulls up. Touch the car's windows to choose a celebrity for bonuses.
There’s
also Hollywood Squares Prize Fun, with an unusual “wheel” on top. A
circle is
divided into wedges depicting stars, but it’s not the circle that
spins. It’s
the wedges, each with a different celebrity on each of its three sides.
Rocky And
Bullwinkle: The plucky little squirrel and
muscular moose are on the way into casinos with a series of games.
There is a
full complement of Jay Ward characters on both five-reel video and
three-reel
versions --- help Dudley Doright save Nell from Snidely Whiplash, or
take a
trip with Peabody and Sherman in the Wayback Machine. “Hey Rocky! Want
to watch
me pull a rabbit out of my hat?”
Popeye:
The cartoon Sailor Man has starred in games for with
spinning reels for the main game and a video screen for bonuses in the
top box.
Popeye draws his strength from spinach --- it just seems right somehow
when he
seems down for the count, but Swee’ Pea delivers a can of spinach so he
can
continue knocking down Brutus’ goons on his way to rescue Olive Oyl.
But Wait! Win More! Think back on late-night TV commercials,
and chances are you’ll come up with a product or two from Popeil or
Ronco.
Which is your favorite? The Pocket Fisherman, perhaps?
Here,
you can pick a
Popeil product such as the electric inside-the-shell egg scrambler, and
inventor and TV pitchmeister Ron Popeil comes along to announce your
bonus
round.
No matter how much a bargain any product seemed in
the old
commercials,
there was always something extra. Same thing here. After your initial
bonus,
Popeil will keep pitching: “But wait! There’s
more!”
Now, put that remote on “pause,” it’s time to play your
favorites.
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