There have never been more nerdy slots than there are now! From slots that are directly licensed after various properties (like The Avengers) to those which simply seek to capture an aesthetic that geeks enjoy (like Jack Hammer), these types of slots are pretty much everywhere these days. For better or for worse, though, not all of them are good. Well… Okay, it’s definitely for the worse. I kind of feel like a lot of developers (not all, not even most, but a lot nonetheless) don’t really GET the properties that they’re adapting.

Take, for example, the Game of Thrones slot. I absolutely adore Game of Thrones, it’s by far one of my favorite shows (or at least it was until last season, ugh). But when you play the slot, it’s hard to imagine that whoever designed it even watch a single episode, since all of the similarities to the source material are limited to the name, the symbols (which represent the noble houses) and the theme song blasting in the background to no end. It’s honestly a bit insulting, especially considering the limitless potential that a Game of Thrones slot could have.

Another common mistake I often see are developers adapting slots based on properties that not a whole lot of people really care about or want to see. One big example that immediately comes to mind is Microgaming’s Bridesmaids. I mean, really? I get that they were most likely trying to rope in the female demographic into slots, but boy oh boy was that the absolute worst way to go about it (okay, second worst, considering the fact that slots with sexy shirtless dudes and little else still exist). Adapting a show like True Blood into a slot makes sense, given that its most recent season premiere was viewed by almost six million people (mostly young women), but is there a single person on Earth who genuinely asked for a Bridesmaids slot?

Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of nerds tend to be gamers as well (I mean, the Venn diagram for the overlap between the two is pretty much just a circle), and that’s another thing I don’t feel like most slot developers understand. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s always exceptions to the rule – Playtech’s Spider-Man slot had quite a lot of minigames in it which, while reliant mostly on luck in order to adhere to gambling regulations, still looked and felt like traditional videogames. The bonus game in Aliens, while requiring absolutely no input whatsoever (you could literally get up and walk away, and the bonus would play itself) brought to mind classic “Alien VS Predator” shooters in its visuals and presentations, and was still crazy exciting. But aside from a small number of examples, most bonuses in these types of games are really dumb, and I do feel like that’s off-putting to the primary target demographic.

So, to put it simply, these are the three biggest pieces of advice that I can give to any developer trying their hand at a slot meant for the nerd audience – adhere to the source material, adapt something people care about and make it interactive and appealing rather than just another run of the mill slot. If any dev was reading this, I hope you found it interesting and I look forward to playing your slot! As for the rest of you, I’ll catch you next time with another article!

Let’s face it, folks – us nerds? We rule the world right now. The biggest franchise in the whole world is based on characters that we and we alone have been invested in for decades. Every American TV channel, from traditional ones like ABC and CW to online ones like Netflix and Hulu is in a race to put as much high-quality superhero stuff on TV as humanly possible (I mean, hell, Hulu was that one place people went to if they missed an episode of some other show, and now they’re making the best adaptation of Runaways ever), and comic books… Um, have never sold worse. But that’s a story for another day! My point is, there’s plenty of content for us nerds to pick from, and that includes online slots! There’s so many really cool slots for us to choose from that it’s really impossible for me to pick just three… But I’ll do it anyway! Here are the three best slots for nerds!

3. Battlestar Galactica

Star Wars and Star Trek are way too mainstream! You know where it’s really at when it comes to sci-fi? Battlestar friggin’ Galactica! While the series has a rather vocal cult following (trust me – I’m there), the majority of people have mostly heard the name, but have no idea what the show’s really about. And trust me, it’s better this way, because it’s best experienced without any prior knowledge, so that the many, many surprises and shocks can hit you fresh! Of a similar quality is Microgaming’s licensed slot, which, unlike so many licensed slots, actually uses pictures and clips from the show! It also gives you quite a lot of unique features, such as a leveling system. When’s the last time you’ve leveled up in a slot? It’s just as amazing as it sounds!

2. Aliens

There’s not a lot of sequels that are better than the original, but Aliens is definitely among them. I once read that horror sequels never work because when you know what the threat is, there’s no more fear and the only thing left to do is blast it to bits. Aliens embraced that principle head-on, giving us one of the best action movies of all time while still keeping a tense atmosphere with its tight, narrow hallways and enemies that can pop out from anywhere. The slot, somehow, manages to stick to that perfectly with literally the best bonus game I’ve ever seen in my life, in which you play a space marine making his way to the Queen’s nest with the intent of putting a bullet in her skull. Whether or not you succeed depends on luck, of course, which only makes the game even more tense!

1. The Avengers

It’s not unfair to say that Marvel (and, to a certain extent, Christopher Nolan with The Dark Knight) helped revolutionize nerd culture and bring about the golden age we’re in right now. I mean, Marvel took a C-list superhero and managed to make him into an international star, to the point where he pretty much kicked Spider-Man off as the face of their company. And his movie didn’t even have a script when shooting! That’s some movie magic right there. What’s even more impressive, however, is PlayTech’s slot adaptation of Marvel’s biggest movie (well, at least until Civil War came out last year), which is just mind-blowingly awesome. Every Avenger has his own bonus round that brings about something completely different (sometimes it’s a bonus round, other times it’s something that helps in-game, like extra wilds or free spins), and you can keep retriggering bonuses practically indefinitely if you’re lucky. And the best part, at least for me, was that each Avenger has a unique, original music theme that plays during their bonus, and they all kick ass. When’s the last time a slot’s music kicked ass?!

Hello there, nerds and geeks of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my blog! The thing is, I’ve been a nerd since I was a little kid (yeah, the type that wore the big, dorky glasses and spent his time playing Game Boy in class instead of, you know, paying attention). And I’ve been gambling (more specifically, on slot machines) since I was in college. I’m not addicted to slots or anything like that, I only spend about five to ten quid a month on slots, since I usually tend to make a lot of my investment back… Which I then proceed to put right back into slots. Now that I think about it, maybe I do have a problem.

Anyway, all joking aside, I’m guessing you’re wondering why I’m talking so much about myself, and just what the hell is the point of this little blog of mine. Well, the truth is, I see a TON of sites for nerds. As in, hundreds. There has literally never been a better time to be a geek than in the last ten years! I also see a ton of websites dedicated to slots and gambling. The rise of online gambling is pretty much the best thing to have ever happened to casinos, and the players that enjoy them. Everyone and their mother has their own casino site these days (I mean, you’re sort of looking at the living proof)! But I’ve never seen a casino site meant just for nerds. There may be a thousand for all I know, but I’ve never personally been able to find one, myself.

So I created my own! Welcome to Lahacal, the only site (as far as I know) that caters specifically to nerds with an affinity to slots! We’ll be talking about nerd things, slot things, and most importantly, nerd-themed slots! Hope you guys have fun!