Server-based games

A days ago, Richard Velota of the LV Sun wrote an article about the future of the casino floor. It got picked up in a few other periodicals, and presents a really good view of the state of the art of server-based slots, which is where the industry is heading. From the LV Sun:

Some day gamblers will be able to stride up to a slot machine, insert their slot club cards and be offered a list of their favorite games at the exact denominations they like to play.

And if it’s the player’s birthday, the machine may automatically print out a voucher for a free meal at one of the casino’s restaurants.

Welcome to the world of server-based casino games. Experts say they have the potential of being the next big advancement in industry technology, an innovation that could increase the appeal of slot machines the way ticket in, ticket out technology has.

Industry professionals got their first look at the technology at this year’s Global Gaming Expo in September. Regulators are slowly advancing the rules and technical standards to equipment manufacturers and casino operators so that field trials can begin next year.

The top Nevada players in server-based games — Reno-based slot machine behemoth International Game Technology and Las Vegas rival Alliance Gaming Inc. — are excited to bring the technology to the market, but aren’t talking much about how it will change a slot player’s experience. They don’t want to tip their competitive hands.

In the early stages, the focus will be on how the technology can make a slot floor more profitable for operators.

“Today, if I have a slot floor with 2,000 machines and I want to make changes, I’d have to go to each and every one of them, open them up and change out the components,” IGT spokesman Ed Rogich said. “Not only does that take a lot of time, but the machines are down for that period of time.”

Rogich said that type of transformation is particularly cumbersome for software changes involving currency modifications because every machine has to be altered to recognize the new bills produced by the U.S. Treasury.

But with server-based games, every machine is electronically linked to a central computer file server and changes can be made in the time it takes for a software download. With the large bandwidth most slot systems use, changes can be made almost instantaneously.

Bob Luciano, Alliance Gaming’s chief technology officer, demonstrated the capability of one of its system by changing games and denominations on 10 slots linked in a showroom. The modification involved a few computer mouse clicks and took just seconds.

New technology promises gambling as you like it

As always, this innovation translates into lower labor costs. Changing out slots isn’t just time-consuming–it requires people to physically move the slots. While you might be losing $150 or so by having the machine down, you’re out a few hundred dollars more for salary, etc.

But “lower labor costs” is, for some, a pleasant way to say, “you’re out of a job.”

I think that this would be an even better innovation if they could give the server a voice and personality, like the HAL 9000. I see some real possibilities there. Can you imagine the trouble that a sentient computer that controlled slots can get in to? I’m thinking about Mike in Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress here. Could be interesting.

So if you are a slot tech, start brushing up on software–someone’s going to have to be on hand to fix the system if it crashes. You might as well get a piece of those casino profits.

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