New Progressive Slot Machines

By John Grochowski on Monday April 15, 2013

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Back when slot machines were a three-reel world, progressive jackpots were available only to those willing to bet the max. If you weren’t going to bet three coins, or two coins on some high-denomination machines, you weren’t going to be eligible for the progressive.

That format doesn’t work very well on the penny video slots that rule the roost in modern casinos. Betting the max means 300, 400, sometimes 500 coins, not two or three as on the quarter and dollar games with mechanical reels. Most players don’t bet the max.

One solution has been to make progressive jackpots a separate side bet. On a 25-line game, your minimum bet to cover all the paylines might be 25 cents, but there’s also a side bet of 10 or 15 coins to cover the progressive jackpot.

Konami Gaming is taking that a step farther with its new Jackpot Streams system. To be eligible for the progressives, you have to make a side bet, but you can choose how big that side bet is. Jackpot Streams can be layered onto most Konami games, so a casino operator could offer you the China Shores or Egyptian Eyes games you’re used to playing, and add on the jackpot features.

Players choose how big to make their progressive wagers. The higher the wager, the greater the chance to trigger the progressive. The top box features a video representation of the old “pusher” games, where a coin flipped into the right spot enables the mechanical pusher to send coins cascading off the ledge and into your tray. My wife loved those games — she could never resist them.

In Jackpot Stream, you can win credits via the virtual push, and if a coin is pushed into a jackpot receptacle, the corresponding progressive is awarded.

If players respond, the variable jackpot wager could be a trendsetter, something new for game designers to add to their toolkits.