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Video Poker IGT Video Poker

Discussion in 'Video Poker' started by gregluvsvegas, Sep 16, 2016.

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  1. gregluvsvegas

    gregluvsvegas Roller

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    Does anyone know why virtually all VP is IGT? I know that Bally had a number of VP options in the 80s and 90s but they have pretty much disappeared. Sigma (of Sigma Derby fame) made some interesting VP games back in the day as well. Today everywhere you look almost all VP, (and for that matter, video keno) is pretty much all IGT. Also, why did WMS never enter the VP fold?

    I like IGT VP but their newer machines really stink. The older cabinets (think -- old, small, upright coindroppers) had the buttons that lined up with the cards. You know by instinct the button you push would hold the cards you wanted to hold. The newer machines have squishy buttons that don't really line up with the cards, and there is an ever-so-slight delay between when you push the button and get a response from the machine. Annoying!

    You would think that after about 40 years of VP they would have this stuff figured out, but it seems that once all of these classic VP machine from yesteryear are gone, I am going to be one frustrated VP player.

    Any thoughts?
     
  2. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    Actually, I rather enjoy playing IGT games, including VP.
     
  3. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    I think IGT bought up all the other companies, or just were the giant on the block...
     
  4. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    From Si Redd's obituary article from the Las Vegas Sun in 2003, there is one sentence that explains a lot.

    http://lasvegassun.com/news/2003/oct/15/gaming-pioneer-known-for-invention-generosity-dies/

    A ten year head start was a pretty big deal I assume.

    As for WMS, I saw a few units in Vegas this last trip as reboots to their last effort. They made a major effort with Stations and CET casinos in 2013, but they flopped badly. They weren't any more comfortable than the newer IGT games, and the paytables generally blew. One place they lasted the longest afaik was Harrah's Joliet. Why? 9/6 DDB with a $5000 Royal and $275 straight flush at dollars (99.57%). When will casinos learn...
     
  5. TJC

    TJC VIP Whale

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    Drool.....
     
  6. Minnesota3

    Minnesota3 Tourist

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    Interesting subject, as I had never played a Bally video poker machine until the other night at my closest local casino. Had a strange game (can't remember the name) that mostly resembled 6/5 JOB, but quad 8's paid 800 coins instead of 125.
     
  7. Auggie

    Auggie Dovahkiin

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    Most VP is IGT because there isn't a lot of choice out there.

    First, IGT holds a lot of video poker patents. For games that IGT has patented, like "Spin Poker", "Dream Card Poker", "Pick a Pair", etc, - flat out they will not allow other companies to make those games. For basic video poker games (IE: Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild) IGT also holds a lot of patents on how those games play/work in a casino environment so unless a company can come up with a way to work the game around the IGT patents they will have to pay a royalty to IGT - that makes it very hard to beat your competition if you are giving them money, plus it cuts back on the profitability of making those machines in the first place.

    Next, its the casinos. When you go in to a casino and see a "Game King" machine or a "Double Bonus Poker" game - the casino owns that machine and its been long since paid for. At this point it just becomes cheaper for the casino to pay IGT to support and upgrade the machine than it is to buy a new one. Typically its expected that a bought slot machine will take about 100 days to pay for itself, which might be longer with video poker... and since VP machines probably don't draw new customers or drum up new business, any money put in to them is just money being flushed away unless the machine is at the point where it utterly has to be replaced (at which time why not get a new version of the same machine so it matches your casino floor).


    So there will still be new video poker games by companies that aren't IGT, like when LED Gaming put out "Big Split Poker" and "Multi-Strike Poker", but they are mostly going to be totally new concepts and games, stuff that will get around all the IGT patents, or use them only minimally.
     
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