Monday, October 14, 2013

G2E Trip Report! Fun at the Global Gaming Expo playing the new slots!

G2E is held in Las Vegas each year around the end of September or early October. It's the world's largest gaming event for the industry where the slot and other gaming related companies show off their new products to the casino executives and other industry professionals. There's a lot of networking, conferences and three days of exhibits. It's also a chance to try out and experience the new slot machines before most of them are available for real play at a casino!
So if it's a industry event why have I been to it the last four years? Fortunately some of the exhibitor's provide free passes to those interested in their products and if you keep a eye out on various gaming websites you might be offered the chance to register for this convention, if you have the interest.
G2E was a couple weeks ago so I'm not breaking any new ground here as far as announcing what new slots are coming out, I'm approaching this from my personal viewpoint of roaming the exhibit hall and why I enjoy attending this event.
Due to crowds and slacking off for a few minutes at Venetian's Gold Lounge I missed the opening ceremony and cutting of the ribbon that opens up the doors to the exhibits, but as the crowds passed through the doors into the conference center the Avatar characters were still around for photos. Yes, there's new slot machines coming to you with a Avatar theme from IGT!
In past years photos have been discouraged and videos only allowed to those with press passes or other credentials and even the press has to be under escort unless they have made arrangements with the individual companies to take videos within their booths.
Lately the rules have been relaxed to where all are allowed to take photos from outside the booths on the main walk ways and within some of the booths they were allowing photos. However the companies that don't want photos or videos taken had a lot of security at their booths and they would quickly shut people down if they caught them taking photos. If you continue to do it after being asked to stop they can remove you from the convention center.
There's always lots of little free gift promotions being handed out, with these costumed ladies it was colorful lollipops.
The first day of the event I was only there for a few hours and I was walking around with friends Shamus and Slotspert. Always interesting to view the slots with these two as they are more knowledgable then me about the technical aspects of slot machines.
WMS studios has a fun new BEETLEJUICE slot so there were a couple Beetlejuice characters around the WMS booth. I really had fun with the Beetlejuice slot. It might have been a fluke but I hit the bonuses a lot even when a WMS rep wasn't around to bring up a bonus for me manually.
 Below I have a video of the bonus in the photo above.
I also found this slot hilarious, especially the above free spin bonus with the giant heads where the song DIO plays and you see that scene from the movie where Beetlejuice makes them sing and dance to it during dinner. Made me want to watch the movie Beetlejuice again and I haven't thought of it in years. Here's a video of a Beetlejuice slot bonus, thanks to WMS studios for giving me permission to record it.

I was excited to see the new Gold Fish 3 slot as the sequels to the original Gold Fish so far have not been my favorite slots. Love the graphics of this new Gold Fish, but not to sure about the spinning wheel for selection of bonuses. A lot of games arriving soon to a casino near you involve wheels this year.
Below is a video of the new Gold Fish Slot. Thanks Shamus for arranging with WMS Studios to let me take this and a few other videos at their booth during G2E.

There's a new reel type Willy Wonka slot. Since I love the original Wonka slot I was excited to see this sequel. Here's a video of it:


Some random photos of slots on the WMS exhibit floor.
Yes, there's a new Star Trek arriving in the future!
Spy v Spy was a cute slot. I'll be uploading a video of this soon to my youtube channel. If you enjoy watching slot videos here's the link to my channel, subscribe if you want notice when videos have been uploaded. 
I was so excited to hear about the single player and non community new Clue slot. However after playing it I was less excited. I'm not sure I prefer these bonuses over the original version of Clue and I didn't care that much for the look of the Clue characters. However, I will try it when it arrives on the casino floor and perhaps I'll enjoy it more then.
Iron Man was interesting to play but not sure how much I will personally like it when I play it for real.
New Monster Progressives slots from WMS Studios.
The Ferris Bueller slot is already arriving on casino floors so you can try it out for yourself soon.
For some reason I can't find my photos of the IGT Jurassic Park slot which Boots and I played together. I'm upset about that because I ended up liking this slot and I didn't think I would. The game play allows you to save up bonus credits and play them when you want (or you can play the bonus immediately), so you can wait for someone to play with as a community bonus like Boots and I did or you can play your bonus alone. We found bonuses at G2E to be frequent and if they are anything like that for real on the casino floor I can see myself enjoying this slot a lot as the bonuses were both fun and had the potential for good win amounts.

There was lots of photo ops set up by various slot companies for attendees. For Jurassic Park they had this set up outside of the exhibit hall doors. I don't believe this park ranger is trying to pull me out of the jaws, doesn't it look like she is pushing me in? LOL!
The new Jetson's slot brought back fond cartoon memories from my childhood, but will I win on it?
Another Beetlejuice character and moi!
I had to pose with the man dressed up as Ironman. Watch out evil doers we are on the job!
This lady reminded me of the Johnny Depp version of Willy Wonka. She was sweet but I don't want any reminders of that creepy movie!
I loved the theme of WMS new OMG Kittens slot! I call it Oh My God, Kittens but I guess its real name is Oh My Gosh Kittens. I'm loving the graphics, but I'm lobbying for them to take this theme and make the slot have funny, cute bonuses like the original Gold Fish. Anyone for a hair ball bonus? That's my idea, and not part of this slot bonuses. Okay, so now we know why I don't design slots!
More random scenes from G2E to try to give you a feel for it if you are interested in attending in the future.
I didn't care for the theme of the David Copperfield slot, though I'm sure he has fans.
Titanic is a slot I'm looking forward to playing for real. It always had people playing it when I passed so I didn't get a chance to try it for myself.
Shamus took a lot of photos of me with show girls. I still haven't seen most of them. (hint hint to Shamus)
There's two versions of the Avatar slot by IGT that I tried and I enjoyed them playing them. High on entertainment value, but not sure yet about potential for big wins.
Of course I was playing with fake credits so we'll see how much I love it when it's for real money. However the theme and graphics are great.
More photo ops, this time at the IGT booth. By the way I could have sworn I saw a new version of one of my old favorites Little Green Men at G2E this year and took a photo of it, but perhaps it was my imagination because I can't find it now. I'm hoping I did see this slot because I miss the Little Green Men theme.

A new Buffalo! Can't wait to play it for real and see if I'm luckier on this new one.
Briefly played Sherlock Holmes and it seemed a lot more interesting and fun then the former version of this slot.
I only had the chance to play the new Rolling Stones slot briefly but it seemed fun. Not sure about potential pay outs.
ZZtop was represented too!
Batman Mobile!
Below is Adam West signing a photo for me. By the way, he was very friendly and tried to connect with everyone. It made the line take more time, but it was really nice to see him make that effort as so many times at these types of photo signings they don't. Adam West still has that marvelous voice! Gwen was with me this second day of the convention and took this photo for me. For some reason I can't find any photos of Gwen at G2E, hmmmm.
New Grease slot that I know my friend Liz will be looking forward to playing as she as done well with the original version of it.
It's Monopoly, no it's WOF, it's Monopoly with a Wheel of Fortune theme. What took WMS so long to think of this? :)
Hagar the Horrible anyone?
The Multimedia Games booth had some of the coolest give aways at the show!
Here's where they were making T-Shirts to order with various themes and colors. They also had other goodies such as a Zombie sleep mask that my friend Boots was to enjoy wearing for a couple photos in my upcoming trip report.
The slot that I personally found the most interesting at Multimedia games was Femme Fatales and I'll be keeping a eye out for it on the casino floors.
I had to throw in this photo to prove what a small world it is sometimes. The gentleman below was the president of a non-gambling related gaming company my husband and I worked for many years ago in Virginia. I haven't seen John for years and had no idea he would be at G2E. However he's starting up a new gaming related company so perhaps next year I will be taking photos of their booth!  It was a lovely surprised to run into him and I guess if I read more posts on my personal Facebook account I might have known he was going to be there, OOPS!
 
This was the 3rd and last day of the exhibit hall and Boots and I were going around together that day. We played the new Tarzan. Not sure yet if I like it or not, but then I might just be bitter because I can't win on the Tarzan and Jane slot currently at many casinos.
I had a fun bonus on my brief play on the new Batman slot. Not sure about how pay outs will be but I did prefer this nostalgic Batman to the various Batman slots currently on the casino floors.
A new Ghostbusters slot that reminds me a lot of the Twilight Zone 3D slots on the casinos floors. Since I've had fun and been lucky with the new Twilight Zone slots I'm looking forward to playing this new Ghostbusters in the future.
As I was walking around with my friend Boots playing various slots at G2E the one we found that we played the longest was Back to the Future! The graphics were not the best, but the game play was a lot of fun. Of course we'll have to wait to see how pay outs are in the future and if the bonuses come around as frequently on the casino floor as they did at G2E. :)
I'm not a fan of the original Ruby Slippers, mainly because I have played it a lot at various times and seldom get a bonus on it or even experience much of a fun factor. However, I have fallen in love with the new version of Ruby Slippers. The graphics, the game play, the fun factor for me was incredible. I can't wait to play this for real on the casino floor when it's released!
Here's a video of a Ruby Slippers Slot Bonus that WMS Studios allowed me to take thanks to Shamus. I also had a great picker helping me out and sadly I can't recall his handle on SF at the moment.

There's a new Superman slot, which I thought was more fun then the one currently on the casino floors.
A photo of me, Boots (taking advantage of her Zombie sleep mask and Mr and Mrs Slotnoodles at the WMS booth.
The goodies I came home with from the various slot manufacturer's booths at G2E.
Interested in perhaps attending the exhibit hall at a future G2E? Here's a link to their website.
http://www.globalgamingexpo.com

When it's closer to next  year's G2E dates keep a eye out on the website of various slot manufacturer's and other companies that have booths at G2E as frequently they offer free passes to the exhibit hall. You can also become a member of Players Life Forum as Shamus the moderator of that forum usually has some free passes to hand out each year to forum members.
http://www.playerslife.com

9 comments:

  1. Just wanted to say thanks so much for this post and your blog. I've been subscribed to it for a while and this post has made me so excited for the new slots. I wonder how long I'll have to wait until I see the new Star Trek or Ruby Slippers make into Vegas casinos. Hopefully they'll be there before 2014 :)

    Thanks again!

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  2. Hi Robert, it's good to hear you like the blog. :) Some of the new slots from G2E are already making it to the casino floors. Not sure on when Star Trek or Ruby Slippers will be released. If you have a Facebook account WMS Studios has a FB page where they announce when they start putting new slots out and they also take questions here. In addition there's a link to a slot finder of WMS slots and what casinos they are at, look for it at the top of their Facebook page. :)

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  3. OMG Kittens, Star Trek, Goldfish (yeah!) Stones and so many other slots I can't wait to try. I love LOTR and Willy Wonka (it was very good to me last month), so I'll probably like this new WW too.Thanks so much, Diana.


    Shorelinepaws

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    1. So nice to hear from you and that you love WW too. So far Willy Wonka hasn't been that good to me, but I love the slot. I saw a photo where someone won that 5k golden ticket on a 40 cent bet! The new Ruby Slippers 2 really captured my attention, just hope I can get some bonuses on it in the future.

      Good luck on your next trip to Vegas! I'm making a quick stop in November for 2 nights on the 23rd and 24th.

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    2. Been so busy I didn't get back to your reply, but wanted to say that I agree Ruby Slippers 2 does look fun. I got a chance to try Iron Man recently. Took me a while to get used to it, but I got a fun bonus. Looks like we will be in LV the same weekend as you are. Originally, we were not going back until a Dec. Bellagio stay, but a V/P offer popped up that got my husband's attention, so we booked it -and that's Grazie Gifts weekend as well. Should be fun! Hope I get a chance to say "hi" and good luck to you as well!

      Shorelinepaws

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    3. We ended up going for 3 nights. I'll message you on TA and see if we can make sure we run into each other on this next trip. :)

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  4. Thanks for sharing! I'm excited to play some of these new slots.

    I know it may change over time, but if you had to pick, what would you say are your favorite 'go to' machines that you look forward to playing each trip.

    Cindy

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  5. Cindy, my favorites of the penny slots would be Beverly Hillbillies, Clue, The Mummy (video version) original Wizard of Oz, Lord of the Rings,Aladdin, Kitty Glitter (when I can find it) and Willy Wonka.

    Of the $1 slots, the older version of DaVinci Diamonds, Quick Hits and Cleopatra.

    Of the $5 slots, Wheel of Fortune, Top Dollar and Pinball.

    Good luck on your next trip!

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  6. I hate those tall screens, because I feel like im going to fall out of my chair when I look up.

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