‘Ying Cai Shen’ first IGT slot product from Beijing studio

“Ying Cai Shen” is a linked progressive slot machine product described by maker International Game Technology Plc (IGT) as the first to be developed via the brand’s Beijing game-design studio.

The offer – pictured on the CrystalDual 27 cabinet – is already a hit in Asia Pacific, noted Michael Cheers, IGT’s sales director for Asia, in comments to GGRAsia.

The work of the Beijing studio ensured the ‘integrity” of the Chinese symbols used in the games, said Mr Cheers.

He added, regarding game graphics: “The importance of understanding the history, and respecting the art and the way they [the symbols] are designed; is very important. That comes across very well from our Beijing studio.”

The designers in that facility “are very familiar with – and often share – the same preferences as the players we want to be appealing to,” noted the IGT executive.

“What we might call the ‘volatility appetite’” of those players in terms of game style, “is something that we think the Beijing team, through the art, through the maths and through the way they put the games together, and the appeal of game features,” understands clearly, added Mr Cheers.

The Ying Cai Shen platform, available in Macau, the Philippines, and Malaysia, is in single-denomination format, and offers a game of the same name, as well as the games “Ingot Fulfill”, and “Fortunes Fulfilled”.

“In a growth market like the Philippines, the linked progressive product has a very strong following,” said Mr Cheers. “Often, over 50 percent of the floor can be linked [product] in the Philippines,” he added.

In Macau, the big jackpots offered by the link might appeal to casino customers “not totally familiar with a slot, but used to playing a table”.

Mr Cheers observed that as the Singapore casino sector “continues its recovery, we are very excited that… Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa will have the latest” IGT slots, with the possibility of two games from the Ying Cai Shen family being available in Singapore in the fourth quarter.