How To Make A Nerd-Themed Slot

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!