Evolution Gaming has made 2020 their year.
In case you aren’t familiar with the company, Evolution Gaming is a global leader in live casino games manufacturing.
Since the firm’s conception in 2006, it has produced dozens of premium, cutting-edge live casino products. Specifically, in 2020, Evolution stirred the live dealer world with a wheel of fortune hybrid game Crazy Time.
Crazy Time is an interactive live casino game with four bonus rounds – Pachinko, Cash Hunt, Coin Flip and Crazy Time. It is the world’s most expensive and extravagant casino game ever made!
The exciting game’s thrilling bonus rounds are set to hit Evolution Gaming casinos on July 1, 2020.
The company’s Chief Product Officer Todd Haushalter was so generous as to have a chat with CasinosOnline.com. We asked the Evolution CPO all that you players want to know. Here is the exclusive interview with Mr Haushalter.
- You’re getting ready to launch Crazy Time, can you tell us a little bit about the game?
I am so proud of the team on this one and I really do believe it is the most fun casino game ever made! It’s our latest game show, and it is loaded with exciting bonus games. It really is the boldest, most expensive, and most fun game ever created. We’re super excited for it to be live everywhere!
Crazy Time is another big giant wheel game and it is all about hitting the bonus games on the big wheel — Cash Hunt, Coin Flip, Pachinko and the Crazy Time are the bonuses and there are also four other bets you can make 1, 2, 5, and 10, which all pay simple odds. Also, each spin players have a chance for their bet spot to be multiplied up to 50x with a sort of mini-slot that chooses a lucky bet spot. It is really easy to play as you just bet on where you think the wheel will land and hopefully that is a bonus game with a multiplier.
Crazy Time launches on 1 July and I can’t wait!
The inspiration for the game is from an American game show I grew up watching called The Price is Right.
- What is your favourite Crazy Time feature and why?
There is so much to talk about, but it has to be the bonus rounds and the all round variety! You just never know what’s around the corner and it is loaded with little Easter eggs to discover. Each bonus round is uniquely special, they are like game shows within the game show. In fact, the inspiration for the game is from an American game show I grew up watching called The Price is Right. The bonus games are so big and bold that they could be their own independent live games, but we decided to go all in and put all four bonus rounds into one giant game. Crazy Time is so interesting that I think people will be happy to watch it even without playing.
- Crazy Time is the perfect example of Evolution’s innovative development – feature-stacked, entertaining and rewarding. Can we get a taste of what else is up Evolution’s sleeve? Any new ground-breaking products?
During 2020, we have already rolled out several games. One that we’re really proud of is Mega Ball, a uniquely entertaining game show that uses familiar bingo-style bouncing ball game mechanics that players know and love.
The game is fun, nostalgic, you can win huge money and is exceptionally simple to play. In the main game 20 balls are randomly drawn at a very fast pace by the ball drawing machine and the numbers are automatically marked on players’ Mega Ball cards. Players simply sit back and watch in anticipation to see if the numbers on their cards match the balls drawn. Up to 12 lines per card are available and the more lines the player makes, the more money they can win. The 21stball – the Mega Ball – to which random multipliers of between 5x and 100x are applied, can multiply the winnings if this number creates a line! There’s also the elusive second Mega Ball and when that comes out there’s the possibility for players to multiply their winnings by up to 1,000,000x!
The game is designed to appeal to a wide audience of online players, many of whom may never have played Live Casino games before.
So much more is to come, we will be continuing to modify classic games. What I can say is that we are launching Power Blackjack, Craps, a new Blackjack interface, and more and then of course there are a bunch of things that I can’t talk about yet, that are sure to delight players.
- Where did the inspiration for the money wheel game come from?
The inspiration derives from our first game show Dream Catcher which we launched in 2017. That game was born out of the idea to begin creating more interactive games for the next generation of online players, who either don’t play Live Casino, don’t find traditional table games interesting enough or they are looking for an alternative to slots. Most new games fit squarely into categories: slots, tables, virtual sports, and as a result most new innovations fit this traditional mould. With Dream Catcher we took a big gamble in creating a game that did not fit within the traditional categories because it ran the risk of having no natural player base. That however proved to be no problem at all and the game quickly grew a large player and fan base.
Everyone is familiar with the concept of the lucky wheel, and that if the flapper lands on what you placed your bet on, then you win. This simple, easily understood foundation was one that we believed we could build on with Dream Catcher.
With Dream Catcher the magic happens when the flapper lands on one of the two special multiplier sections, which are 2x and 7x. When these hit, all bets are locked, potential payouts are multiplied so after a 7x, the 40 pays 280x your initial bet. If the multiplier is hit twice in a row it multiplies again so another 7x would then pay 1,960 to 1 odds. This can keep going and it’s incredibly exciting when it happens. And it was something players loved. The thrill of the multipliers and the potential to win big were an instant success.
Not only that but the game show hosts (dealers) play a critical role in giving the game a flavour that is totally different from any sort of traditional gambling game. They are given a lot of freedom and encouragement to engage with players, who in turn have proven to be quite chatty on Dream Catcher. It is almost something of a community that has formed around different hosts who each bring their own style to the game.
It truly comes down to making games we want to play and we think will be fun. Nothing more and nothing less.
- Crazy Time is also a revolutionary casino game. How could Evolution ever surpass its success?
Well this is a tricky balance. We want to lead players into the next generation of games, so we need to be ahead of the last gen games but not too far ahead. It truly comes down to making games we want to play and we think will be fun. Nothing more and nothing less. We are also innovators and challenge ourselves to do what no one has done before. Each year we push ourselves further and aim to deliver even more exciting games for players. With each new game we learn more and more, every time we create a game we push all the boundaries to the limits, we don’t give up if we face a challenge, whether that may be a technical challenge, getting elements that no manufacturer out there currently makes or pushing the studio and game design to limits of what our minds can conceive. Once we start developing the game we get to a point where we are 95% done and then all eyes are on the tiny details, we question everything, we agonise over each and every pixel and that’s all because we want the game to be the absolute best it can be.
- Are any of the upcoming releases going to feature even more bonus rounds? Can we expect more similar or even ‘crazier’ products in the future?
For the future, we are always thinking up new game ideas! We are focusing on creating more wild new game shows like Crazy Time…or maybe not quite this wild but you get the idea. We also are paying homage to the casino classics. You’ll just have to wait to see what the future holds!
Bonus rounds, exclusivity and innovation – that’s what Evolution seems to be all about right now. With every new launch, Evolution looks to outdo not only competition but also itself. That effective strategy has placed Evolution to the throne of live dealer suppliers.
To keep players on their toes, Mr Haushalter avoided revealing too much about upcoming releases from Evolution Gaming.
Luckily, CasinosOnline managed to grab a sneak peek into what’s going to boost the company’s portfolio later this year. Therefore, stick with us as we’re going to talk about new releases very soon – sooner than you expect.
With all that said, take a closer look at what this engaging, gorgeous game has to offer in the exclusive video below!
