International Game Technology, one of the world’s leading gaming companies, wields a powerful presence on gaming floors with its video poker products.
IGT’s founding father, Si Redd, developed and acquired the original patent on video poker. The familiar computer interface and the company’s eventual partnership with Ernie Moody, who invented multi-hand play, combine to make IGT video poker the games of choice for the vast majority of people who play.
A few years ago the company was challenged to develop themes outside of the core product. IGT responded big time by doing some imaginative tweaking to the existing games that today are staples in casinos across the country.
One solution was to add a sixth coin feature to some games, a departure from the traditionally accepted five coin max play per hand. It made the slot machine option known as the “buy-a-pay” component adaptable to video poker.
In creating the sixth coin feature and at the same time giving players a bonus, the pay tables required little adjustment.
One of the games, Ultimate 4-of-a-Kind Bonus Poker, is a popular addition to IGT’s video poker arsenal. In addition to the base game, a sixth credit buy-a-pay feature qualifies for a touch screen “pick ‘em” bonus round every time the player gets any 4-of-a-kind.
The bonus round is activated when the player gets any 4-of-a-kind.
When the bonus round kicks in, 53 cards (including a joker) appear face down on the screen. Each card you select has a bonus credit value of 200 for 5s through Kings, 300 for 2s, 3s and 4s, and 400 for aces. Pick the joker and you automatically win 3,996 credits and the bonus round is over.
Another release was Ultimate X (Ultimate Times) Poker, which brings an added dimension of excitement to multi-hand play in that every winning combination you have in the current hand triggers a bonus multiplier for the next hand. Again, the sixth credit buy-a-pay wager qualifies the player for the feature.
For example, say you initiate a play on a Five Play game and win with a pair of jacks on one hand, 3-of-a-kind on another, and a full house on another. The remaining two hands are losers. On the very next play, you are awarded a 12-times multiplier on the hand you got a full house, a 4-times multiplier on the hand you got 3-of-a-kind, and a 2-times multiplier on the hand you got the pair of jacks.
This game creates anticipation for every play you initiate, hoping of course for premium hands on the ones you have been awarded the multipliers. The amounts of the multipliers are fixed as part of the pay table. You can see exactly what each winning combination pays based upon which family of game you’re playing.
