New Game Review

by Frank Legato

3 Card Catch

AGS

AGS has launched a new table game similar to Three Card Poker, but with a twist that gives players an extra chance at a payoff.

Players are dealt three cards, then compete with the dealer heads-up to make the best three-card poker hand. With a natural pair of 8s or better—called Natural Pair Plus—all wagers are resolved. If the dealer’s hand doesn’t achieve 8s or better, a fourth card is dealt to all players who have not achieved the Natural Pair Plus, and players have the opportunity to “catch” a card that improves their hand.

Players whose hand is better than the dealer’s are paid 2-to-1 for 8s or better, 4-to-1 for a flush, 6-to-1 for a straight, 30-to-1 for three of a kind, 40-to-1 for a straight flush, and 100-to-1 for a royal flush.

There also is an “X-tra Bonus” side bet that gives winning players a bonus payment of even money for any natural hand or “caught” flush, 2-to-1 for a caught straight, 10-to-1 for a caught three of a kind, 20-to1 for a caught straight flush or 50-to-1 for a caught royal flush.

AGS’ award-winning STAXprogressive platform adds a five-level “must-hit-by” progressive side bet that offers players the chance to win quick-hitting progressive prizes for both natural and catch hands.

Manufacturer: AGS

Format: Live table game

Max Bet: Set by casino

Denomination: Set by casino

Top Award: Progressive; customizable reset

Theoretical Hold:

Base Game:

Pay Table 1 - 2.99%

Pay Table 2 - 2.37%

Natural Pair Plus:

Pay Table 1 – 7.75%

Pay Table 2 – 5.94%

Pay Table 3 – 7.20%

Pay Table 4 – 9.19%

STAX Progressive: Pay Table 1 – 16.45%

Cha-Ching!

Everi Holdings

This is a unique game on Everi’s Empire Flex cabinet. There are no reels. The base game is a picking game in which the player selects from a field of gift boxes to reveal potential credit awards, additional boxes, or coins that travel upward to fill one of three bonus pots.

The game is available exclusively in the penny denomination, but it features a huge range of bets. The player selects Purple Box Bets, Green Box Bets, Orange Box Bets or Red Box Bets.

The selection guides the color of the gift boxes in the picking game, and each contains a range of potential wagers—selecting Purple Box Bets places the selection of wagers in a range of 40 credits to 75 credits. Selecting Green places the wagers at 100 credits to 300 credits; Orange, 500 credits to 1,000 credits; and Red, 2,500 credits to the game’s max bet of 9,900 credits—$99.

Filling one of the pots at the top of the screen triggers one of three bonuses. In the Woosh Bonus, a wheel appears, its slices carrying credit amounts governed by the box color. In the Blast Bonus, a 15-by-8 grid of numbers appears. Some numbers disappear and others lock in place for a cumulative bonus. In the Pop Bonus, a grid appears with flashing numbers. The player hits a button to stop the flashing on five spaces, to award credit prizes, additional stops and/or all the prizes in the row or column in which an arrow appears.

Manufacturer: Everi Holdings

Platform: Empire Flex

Format: Picking game

Max Bet: 9,900

Denomination: .01

Top Award: Progressive; $5,000 reset

Hit Frequency: Approximately 40%

Theoretical Hold: 6%

Duo Fu Duo Cai Grand

Light & Wonder

This new game family consists of two inaugural titles, Duo Fu Duo Cai Grand Ingotcha (pictured) and Dragons. Both are five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slots featured on the Kascada Dual Screen cabinet.

The Ingotcha version features a persistent wild feature in the base game. Wilds are held in position for two spins, a count that returns to two as more wild symbols land and lock in position. When no wilds land in two spins, the player is paid and the wilds are released.

Also on the Ingotcha title, six or more bonus and/or wild or Wild Gold symbols trigger a holdand-re-spin feature. Coins lock in place with cashon-reels amounts for three spins, with the spin count returning to three with each additional coin. The bonus ends when three spins yield no coins or all 15 reel spots display coins, which awards the top Fortune Jackpot, a near-area progressive resetting at $25,000.

On the Dragon title, wild symbols remain on the reels and move up one row on subsequent spins until disappearing from the screen. This title also features a free-spin event in which the player picks the volatility by choosing the number of free games and wild symbols.

Both inaugural titles include the Golden Jackpot Feature, in which the player picks from a field to reveal “Fu Babies” corresponding to one of four main progressive jackpots.

Manufacturer: Light & Wonder

Platform: Kascada Dual Screen

Format: Five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot

Max Bet: 1,000

Denomination: .01, .02, .05

Top Award: Progressive; $25,000 reset

Hit Frequency: 33.97%

Theoretical Hold: 5.83%-12.82%

Fortune Harmony

Aristocrat Gaming

This new game family on Aristocrat’s MarsX Dual cabinet includes base games Phoenix & Dragon and Tiger & Dragon. The base games are in Aristocrat’s Reel Power scatter-pay format with a 3-4-5-4-3 reel setup, which yields 2,400 possible ways to win on each spin. Winning combinations pay left-to-right and right-to-left.

The games are available in a player-selectable multi-denomination setup; players choose from .01, .02 and .05 denominations.

The game includes two metamorphic pots that fill to trigger the Aristocrat Hold & Spin bonus event. The re-spin event includes double-sided cashon-reels symbols. In other words, each cash symbol that locks in place contains either one credit award or two credit amounts in a yin-yang configuration.

The Hold & Spin bonus progresses the same as similar Aristocrat games—the cash-on-reels coin symbols lock in place and the other reels re-spin. Landing at least one coin symbol returns the spin count to three, and the bonus proceeds until three spins yield no coins. The feature can award one of four progressive jackpots, resetting at $10 (Mini), $25 (Minor), $500 (Major) and $10,000 (Grand) on the penny version of the game. The Mini, Minor and Major jackpots scale up with increases in denomination.

Players can trigger the two pots simultaneously during the base game or the Hold & Spin feature. Three bonus symbols on the middle reels trigger eight free games.

Manufacturer: Aristocrat Gaming

Platform: MarsX Dual

Format: Five-reel, 2,400-ways-to-win video slot

Max Bet: 880

Denomination: .01, .02, .05 (multi-denom)

Top Award: Progressive; $10,000 reset

Hit Frequency: Approximately 30%

Theoretical Hold: 3.8%-9.98%