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HOW A MAGIC CARPET RIDE BECAME A SLOT MACHINE Q&A: BRAD ROSE RIGHT NOW ? By Ron Sylvester staff writer A laddin & the Magic Quest is as much a ride as it is a slot machine. The penny slot that began appearing in casinos two weeks ago gives players the sensation of a magic moving seat riding carpet. A sways and bobs as a virtual carpet flies through a castle. Players col- ROSE lect treasures and try to save a princess in the game based on the "1001 Nights" fable. Brad Rose, Gaming, directed the team of about a dozen technicians who designed the game. He sat down with VEGAS INC to talk about the technology behind the game and the next generation of slots. Why model a slot machine around a ou get a whole lot of players, a ma- jority of them now, who want to play these games for bonus rounds. So what we built this vision around was a bonus ride. flying carpet? Y The idea was once you experience it, you will keep playing, keep reaching into your pocket, putting in money, to try to win this ride. From there, we asked what would fit well. We thought kind of magical and have a treasure in- volved?" Aladdin was a natural fit. lead producer at WMS Were there any limitations or ideas you couldn't do? T he CP3 memory board is 10 times as powerful as any game we have in the field. With previous processors, we would have reached a point where we would have said we can't do any more. With this, what we ended up with was pretty much what we envisioned in our original story boards. In the game, there is a secondary bo- nus called "Clash of the Genie." This little Aladdin character takes on this huge genie. You really feel the power of that genie and how small and vulner- able you are as you try to get jewels and save the princess. That probably would have gotten cut if we hadn't had the ex- tra horsepower. of race cars. But we thought, "We're in Were you concerned that the game the world of casinos. What would be might not work? W hen we tested the game with fo- cus groups, we would get these kind of "wow" reactions. When the moderator asked people what gave them that reac- tion, the answer we got the most was, "I play for the experience and to be enter- tained. To be moved around like that — I never thought I could get that kind of an experience out of a slot machine." Slots are such an emotional experi- ence. These people are putting their a concern by some that this wouldn't work. People would be drinking and fall off. But what we found was that this was something people wanted. How have people reacted since the game hit the casinos? I went to South Point and Red Rock to watch people play. I sit next to them and never tell them who I am. I love when they start telling me about the game and how it works. You'll hit the bonus and they'll say, "OK, this is what you have to do." So I think, "How much have you played this game that you can articulate it back to me?" It had only been out a week, and they're telling me how to play it. Players really take own- ership in these games. What's next for slot machines? P hard-earned money into this. There was market. eople ask all the time when we're go- ing to have 3-D slots. You can bet when the technology is there, we'll be in that 6 | 9 JULY 2012 |