Blazing
7's - What makes this game a classic -- and why it has lasted two decaded |
It was in the early years of the electronic, virtual-reel slot machine that Bally Gaming (then Bally Manufacturing) came up with the reel-spinner that would save the slot-maker, several times over. Bally was on the decline in 1987, having diversified beyond fiscal efficiency in the early '80s to the point where it's one-time stranglehold on the slot manufacturer, International Game Technology. However, it would be games such as this month's Hall of Fame entry that would revive Bally, and keep it moving all the way into the 21st century. Bob Manz had started with Bally in Chicago in 1970, and was a project manager in the engineering department before moving to Las Vegas in 1983 to work exclusively in game design. After working on Bally's first generation of electronic slot machines, Manz was in the thick of developing games for what was to be the prototype of the classic Bally electronic slot, the E2000 series, when he completed work on a game that was to define the classic reel-spinning genre, for Bally and countless imitators: Blazing 7s The concept was simple: Players likes to see winning "7" combinations; let's place several in the pay schedule. Bally rival Universal had used this concept first in a game called "Magnificent 7s," which had red 7s and blue 7s (the top jackpot), with an extra pay table win for mixed 7s. It was a three-coin buy-a-pay game, with the first coin activating bar and cherry combinations, the second coin multiplying those jackpots, and the third coin activating the "7" combinations. Magnificent 7s did moderately well for Universal, but wasn't a smash hit-and like other Universal games, it disappeared after manufacturer's so-called "near-miss" method of mapping reel results in the virtual program (lots of losing combinations that led players to believe they "almost" won, such as 7-7-blank) was outlawed by regulatory authorities. Manz was to take the "7" concept and apply some serious math to it- a mathematics program that would make it the most popular Bally reel-spinner of the modern age. There was some tinkering at the bottom of the pay table- the first coin bought the bar wins and three blanks were added as a paying combination; the second coin activated two of the three "7" combinations and the third coin activated the top jackpot. But the slam-dunk change would come at the top of the pay table, not only in the program math but in the art-work. The secondary "7" symbol was a red 7, but Manz added fire to the image of the 7 for the top jackpot. ("The reason I put fire underneath the 7s was to represent a hot slot," Manz says.) All "7" wins were generous, Mixed 7s paid 150 coins at max bet. Red 7s paid 300 coins. The top Blazing 7s combination pays 1,000 coins- $1,000 on a dollar machine; $250 in quarters. The kicker? It hit. A lot. "I designed it to be a gambling slot machine," says Manz, who is now vice president of game content for Class II slot supplier Rocket Gaming. "The hit frequency wasn't the best on it but a player could win a jackpot every 4,096 plays on a 32-stop machine. If you put 10 Blazing 7s games together with an average of 10 plays per minute On each game, you will see a jackpot every 30 minutes on one of those machines. That's what made it so popular." Banks of Blazing 7s games became focal points of casinos- crowded areas in which reel-spinning was often punctuated by the excitement of a jackpot, and in which players jockeyed for a position at one of the machines. "I gave the gambler a fair shake at winning the jackpot," Manz says, " and that's why this game was first designed in 1987 and it is still Bally's top-earning slot." Not only has it had nearly 19 years of legs, but Blazing 7s has served as the model for countless new Bally games, from reel-spinners multiplying the "7" combinations like Double Blazing 7s and Triple Blazing 7s to multiple pay-line games like Diamond Line 7s, to more modern offerings like Bonus Times and Roaring 20s in the ProSlot Series. High-end games like Monte Carlo, the latest video slots like Hot Shot Progressives…all of them start with the Blazing 7s model. For years, the list of the top -10 most popular slot games in the United States, measured by earnings, has included one constant from Bally, and it is the simple reel-spinner with the fiery 7 combinations and the frequent top jackpots. Before leaving Bally in 1993, Manz designed many other successful slots, including classics like Black and White. But Blazing 7s is his legacy.
|