| In Money Spin, a spin of the wheel can give the player a bonus payoff, just as in earlier Wheel of Fortune games. But it also can yield both a bonus and an extra spin of the wheel, or free spins of the video reels. On the free spins on the video screen, the scene changes from the standard five reels and 15 paylines to six reels and 20 paylines. At the end of it all, animation of TV host Pat Sajak appears on the screen to spin a wheel for a multiplier value. "Slots," "skill" and "knowledge" are not usually words that go together. Slot machines traditionally are games of pure chance. You win if you're in the right place at the right time, and lose if you're not. That's even true on the bonus rounds of most modern multiline video slots. Your choices make a difference, but there's no way of knowing whether the kung pao chicken is hiding a bigger bonus than the General's chicken on Fortune Cookie, or which package is hiding the Pooper that will stop the round on Jackpot Party. Video slots from Mikohn Gaming are different. In games that include "Battleship," "Yahtzee," "Clue" and "Ripley's Believe It or Not," Mikohn has offered players a chance to test skill and knowledge. Skill isn't going to put you over the top on these games--the math is worked out so the house will retain an edge even against the biggest trivia experts--but they add a little interest for players who want more than spinning reels and bonus rounds played out by animated characters. That is not the largest share of the slot market. Most players are more than willing to trust their luck. Fun concepts and characters drive the bonus rounds on video slots. But as it happens, I like Mikohn's trivia rounds and little tests of skill, so I was looking forward to its display at September's Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. I was no sooner seated at the new Yahtzee Looking for Love game, than I was greeted by Olaf Vancura, Mikohn's director of game development and a fellow gaming author whose books include Smart Casino Gambling and, with Ken Fuchs, Knockout Blackjack. Vancura gave me a guided tour through Mikohn's latest and greatest--Wink's Survey of America, Trivial Pursuit and Ripley's Treasures of the World in addition to the new Yahtzee game. Yahtzee Looking for Love includes a small element of skill in its a Fair Maiden bonus round, which features a die dressed as a maiden in a medieval tower. Another die rolls to establish a base number on the outside. The player then must guess whether the next roll will be higher or lower. If the guess is correct, the second die jumps atop the first, and another die comes out ready to roll. Now the player must guess whether this die will roll higher or lower than the second one, with a bigger bonus on the line. Making it all the way through the round by stacking six dice high enough to rescue the damsel from the tower not only brings the full bonus, it qualifies the player for a bonus-within-a-bonus. The tower scene is replaced by a choice of honeymoon destinations. The player touches the screen to choose a destination, which then reveals one final bonus award. As in many Mikohn games, strategy makes a difference but the strategy is simple. To maximize chances, pick "higher" if the previous die shows 1, 2 or 3, but if 4, 5 or 6 are shown, pick "lower." |
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