Take a walk on the board to Pass Go & Collect $200

Smart gaming managers will be using this time to think about their gaming room. I once heard a good gaming room is like a Monopoly board.  You have your Mayfair and Park Lane (High Denom) and you will also have your Old Kent Road and Whitechapel Road (20 cent betters). Each section of your floor used to walk you through a step up in real estate and it was a natural flow that made sense. The more you weaved through your floor, the higher the end of town your member used to find themselves in.

With the evolution of the Multi game product, gaming managers everywhere are now asking how do I segment my floor? The answer now is the same as it has always been – by Member Segment. We need to ask ourselves who used to play the 1 cent machines and who played the 2 cent machines? What type of 1 cent machines did we have at the front of our gaming rooms and what did we have on the fringe next to the 2 cent machines?

Ask any gaming manager and they will tell you traffic flow is the most important consideration when laying out a gaming floor.

You want to put high occupancy low average bet machines at the front entrance of the room, so when a customer walks in they instantly see people playing and having fun. Welcome to Old Kent Road! These are the games that fill up first and will create an instant atmosphere for your room. These machines are your time on device product and quite often a 25c-30c cover all line bet. If you have a daytime bingo crowd these are their key games – quite often cartoonish and have longer feature pays or multiple feature options for greatest time on device.

Behind these games you want your next step around the board into Pall Mall to be your higher cover bet games. The ones that cost 50c-60c to cover all lines. These are your Hold and Spin and your SAP games. Particularity those without the $1 and $2 denominations. In the past themed or licensed games were quite often found in these areas – Though we have not seen many in recent times you will still find them pop up from time to time. Scientific games have had great recent success with their (ironically!) Monopoly game. Also, in this end of town you are going to find game families and links – Lightning, Bubble, All Aboard, Penny Pier and Pan Chang games that are paired up in 3-4’s or above and are instantly recognised by your members. If you are keen on launch pads, then this is where you will find this product as well.

Stepping around the board and we find ourselves in the Stand where you are going to find your SAP product that has the $1 and $2 denominations as well as those games designed for the more traditional gambler. This is Dragon and the newer Lightning Product – Any SAP that has the higher denominations as well as that middle $1,000 SAP which every gaming manager knows is the key to the increased popularity of that machine above its counter parts. Think of your Players Choice Diamonds and Champion Series in this section as well.

For clubs that have an MTGM offering this is where we step into Regent Street. Often in corners or off in its own room, these machines are often flanked by different dividers (often plants) and lets your customer know you have certainly entered a new part of town – it should also be private and easily bypassed for those who don’t wish to participate. Having these neighbored with your high end SAP’s provide the good opportunity for shared play – those MTGM players who often take a break from their games and hit the EGM’s for a short period of time.

Heading straight towards Go and we find ourselves at Mayfair.

The few dollar machines that are left – Think Big Red or the soon to come Dollar Strike from Aristocrat. These are like your MTGM’s hidden by dividers and provide lots of nooks and crannies compared to the more open and inviting designs of your Old Kent Road and Pall Mall. Designed for privacy and the ultimate punter these are you quick in and out sections with a separate entrance that is not like Old Kent Road.

The train stations placed equally around the board are your CRT’s or Cashiers. Strategically placed in each section so that each of your member segments don’t have to travel too far from their comfort zones to redeem tickets or credits from their cashless cards. They have a single task – to exchange credits for dollars, much like a train’s single purpose is to get members from one place to another our trains on the board allow our members to get on or off the boardwalk!

But what of the Chance and Community Chest Cards I hear you ask?

That’s easy – They are your staff. Every encounter gives you an opportunity to have a Good or a bad experience on the board. Your staff are the variables in the room, and we have the ability to give our members the chance to ‘Advance to go and collect $200!’  or ‘Go directly to Jail!’ Our staff’s interactions with our members throughout the board determine if these experiences are good or bad. In addition to the staff themselves all the facilities the staff need to service the room are scattered around the floor – Gaming bars, coffee stations, ticket paper or visitor cards- any area designed to help the staff serve your patrons on the gaming floor. Again, carefully placed along the board to ensure that no great distance is travelled between each zone.

Whatever the size of your gaming floor, be sure that each section of your room still tries to step up in real estate around the board. Don’t forget above all else stack your deck of Chance and Community Cards to ensure a positive experience is had by all!