Friday, December 7, 2012

Fortune Friday: Storytellling Slot Machines

Miss Scarlett in the casino with a high heeled shoe.

I recently went to Las Vegas and was amazed by the number of themed slot machines based on TV shows and movies. It's seems that the slot machine making community recognized the power of story telling and the graviational pull of some of our favorite characters. The slots had pictures, soundbytes and little bits of theme songs from these shows - everything from Gone with the Wind to Ghostbusters and everything in between. I took a few photos of some of the best (not my best photos, the lighting in casinos is challenging, but you get the idea.)


Monster Mash. 


I talked to a casino employee who told me that the casino actually pays royalties for the use of this material, which makes sense. Do people actually prefer these machines because of the familiarity? My anecdotal survey said yes. There were always more people sitting at the themed machines than the rows of non-themed machines.
Inconceivable.


In this photo, Tom Cruise, who played the lead in Top Gun, is noticably absent. My guess is that he had enough strings in his contract that he could opt out of having his face on a slot machine.


It's Greased Lightening...really it's the car and some slot machines. They got really fancy here. The car doesn't look too fast. I think this version would have lost the race for pinks. 




What is your favorite themed slot machine?



I still don't think I am ready for Martin Freeman (BBC Watson) to play Bilbo Baggins. Are you?  It won't stop from seeing the movie though. 

5 comments:

  1. Hi Deborah,
    I've been going to Vegas since 1999 to visit my father & his wife, so I've certainly been to many casinos. I've noticed these popping up over the years; they do seem to be very expensive pieces of equipment, and I have tried some of them (i.e. The Wizard of Oz, Michael Jackson, The Hangover, Airplane The Movie, Monopoly); IMHO, they are rather expensive to play, and they don't pay back very well. Sometimes I'll try them, but I tend to steer clear of them. Since my father is a "local," when my sister and I visit, we really enjoy going to the casinos where the locals go, and stay away from the Strip. We've visited the Strip in the past, and it's wonderful, a must-see, but the casinos geared toward locals seem to pay better, and the cost of food is low. My father will point out some of his favorite machines; this past August, it paid off nicely for me when I stopped at one of his favorite kind of machines, one he had pointed out years earlier (hence my reason to stop & give it a try) ~ it was wild. But we also love to play Bingo ~ it's a blast.
    BTW ~ your photos are terrific ~ I think they came out great :-)

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  2. Thanks Kathleen! It does seem that the theming in these machines attract people. There were busier than others. I guess it adds to the entertainment value. An employee did tell them they cost more because the casino has to pay more for the theming. I wonder if that translates to fewer winners.

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  3. Thank you for your detail Slot Game I love it

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  4. I think that doesn't matter what you prefer (themed machines or non-themed machines) you always want to be a winner. That is why I have my own rules for slot machines and they help me a lot https://casinority.com/slot-machine-rules/

    ReplyDelete