kodiak entertainment presents THe Periodical Paw february 2011 volume 1 / issue 1

Transcription

1 kodiak entertainment presents THe Periodical Paw february 2011 volume 1 / issue 1

2 The New Year has already made its mark with resolutions in tow. We d like to officially welcome you to our first of many more to come Kodiak Entertainment periodical. We have a lot planned for the year and it s our hope that this periodical will keep you current on all of the development. If you re just joining us, then it would be an apt time to tell you about us! Kodiak Entertainment is based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. We are a proven developer and supplier of fully integrated community gaming systems and solutions. This is illustrated by our wide variety of both traditional and unique bingo games, as well as player interactive InstantWin and FastMatch game suites. We have also created slot based games for third party distributors. Our primarily goal, however, is to continue to improve upon and introduce new gaming experiences for the gaming industry. We re ever relentless and consider our community gaming system a constant work in progress. Every single refinement means more for players and operators. It is this type of commitment that is required to continually innovate while maintaining ease of operation and reliability. It is challenging, but a little tender love and care and our group of dedicated professionals makes the journey worthwhile.

3 RELEASE REPORT Our latest software version has officially gone live! Deployment and installation started in January 2011 having successfully completed GLI testing. This version features new entertainment, enhanced functionality and a number of other operational improvements.** Details were outlined in updated manuals, s and WebEx training sessions. U Call Em TM A strategic bingo game that offers increased player participation through player decisions made in traditional play! Fun, new and exciting! The player has a choice to call the next called ball from a selection of three randomly generated balls. The ball with the most votes is called! This game variant can be applied to any bingo pattern game. U Call Em TM is Kodiak Entertainment patent pending. Golden Dragon Our newest InstantWin game! Tournament Mode Now available for InstantWin and FastMatch games! If you want to drive traffic to your community gaming site, reward and recognize loyal players, or just offer something different. Seamless and easy to implement, tournament mode can be run during regular session bingo play! Players have a higher payout percentage for rapid accumulation of credits. RNG Ball Caller and Automated Caller Enhanced functionality addressing challenges and requests from both staff and the player. These improvements continue to move the Kodiak Entertainment bingo system forward. Details regarding user feedback, expectations and implementation appear elsewhere in our periodical. Game Status What does it means for you? For those of you who want to replace your ball blower and flashboards, the updated Kodiak system offers up to three digital game status displays, optional male / female digital voices for ball calling and a variety of bingo status messages. Community gaming sites can select any / all of the following: current game status including callboard, game pattern and winning cards, bonanza board and called balls. These outputs along with the available digital voices can be integrated with your in house audio visual systems. Setting Bingo Game Prizes The Kodiak system has always allowed bingo game prizes, either as a percentage of the buy or as a fixed prize per game, to be preset in the gaming site bingo programs. Prizes could also be set by gaming sites on a game by game basis. This proved time consuming for site staff. Sites now also have the ability to set bingo prize amounts over a range of games on a real time basis on game day. Responsible Gaming Messages Organizations that are active participants in responsible gaming initiatives may now place responsible gaming messages on the Kodiak Entertainment system. ** Availability is dependent on the type of hardware installed and / or the regulations applicable to your community gaming site.

4 Operational Improvement: RNG Ball Caller and Automated Caller As many of you are aware, we have provided the automated caller functionality for a number of years. To date, seven community gaming sites are successfully using the automated caller system on a daily basis. Bingo play through Lightning Bingo, all electronic bingo sessions and a combination of paper and electronic sessions have yielded success. The desire to transition away from traditional ball blowers has been accelerated by the availability of speed bingo games, the need for increased efficiency and the search for increased revenues. The emergence of all electronic bingo sites and Kodiak Entertainment s own Lightning Bingo has helped drive this change. With input from the field, Kodiak has further improved its automated calling functionality by addressing both challenges and requests to streamline the operational ease of use. The updated system can now be utilized as a RNG based ball caller for both paper and electronic bingo play. It also allows for games to be hosted using the fully automated caller option. Even if you do not want to transition right away from using a traditional ball blower, the RNG and automated caller function is ready and waiting to be used as a back up should the ball blower fail. Further Study on the Opportunities of the Automated Caller The functionality of the automated caller was driven mainly by the challenges of finding and training the right people for the caller position by many community gaming sites. Historically, this position has been expensive to staff for on low player attendance sessions. Recent experiences by sites implementing the previous version of the automatic caller also provided insight towards player reaction and operations feedback as well as other opportunities to improve functionality. Here is some of what we discovered: (1) Chances Boardwalk in Squamish: One of the first all electronic sites, decided to launch their site without installing a traditional ball blower. Why? It allowed them to simply eliminate the ball blower, freeing up floor space which led to increased flexibility in respect to other types of entertainment. It also enabled them to utilize their in house audio visual system more effectively and they could launch their site without dealing with the necessity of hiring and training callers. (2) Ball blower failures: Have resulted in the cancellation of one or more bingo sessions. The automated caller helped address this issue. Even if a ball blower had failed, the automated caller could serve as a back up to ensure bingo sessions were not lost. (3) Player response: When change occurs one must always take into consideration the player s response. To date there has been very little, if any, negative feedback from either staff or players. Reaction has been very positive when the automated caller is used in conjunction with a game host. (4) Game Hosts: Have you ever had the opportunity to go to bingo halls in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy? The game atmosphere is quite different caused by their use of game hosts rather than bingo callers. These hosts, radiating charm, warmth and personality are able to engage the players, provide entertainment and social interaction. We all know how callers become popular with players. In Europe, hosts have become celebrities going so far as an annual contest to find the best host in the country. It is a spectacle served as a televised event with prizes for the winning host. Looking at bingo in other places in the world, we can ask ourselves if this is an opportunity in North America as well. Initial findings in British Columbia, using the automated caller with game host suggests that it is. Players like to have their games hosted! It is not even unusual to see a slot player come on over to see what all the noise is about. So as bingo and Kodiak Entertainment look to the future, what can the transition from caller to game host mean for your site? Simply put, it will make social gaming more exciting and enjoyable, it is entertainment after all! An engaged audience means your seats are full. Make every night your busy night! Attracting new players is always a good thing and ultimately, it increases revenues.

5 remember to pack lunch wear my A GOOD to protect from the sun pack a for immediate relief don t forget match three to win

6 COME VISIT KODIAK ENTERTAINMENT at the 15th ANNUAL.. GUS THE BOUVIER Over 100 lbs, loves visitors. ( Yes. He works here too. ) STOP BY BOOTH 213 / 215 from APRIL 18 20, 2011 at the VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE FOR A SNEAK PEAK at the NEWS GAMES AND FEATURES FOR OUR NEXT RELEASE!

7 Did you know? Kodiak Entertainment is a proud sponsor of the Get Bear Smart Society, a registered Canadian charity, that works hard to ensure people and bears safely and respectfully coexist by championing progressive management policies and human behaviours that reduce human bear conflicts. This inevitably improves public safety, limits property damage and reduces the number of bears that needlessly die each year as a result of these preventable conflicts. Get Bear Smart accomplishes their mission by: educating people about how to prevent human bear conflicts in and around their homes, neighbourhoods and communities; helping policymakers find cost effective solutions to the challenges of creating Bear Smart communities, including the implementation of effective conflict management policies and regulations and bear proof waste management systems; and promoting innovative and practical non lethal bear management practices. BINGO FOR LIFE Thomas Glass, a professor at Harvard University s School of Public Health, has reported that social activities such as Bingo and playing cards, can help people achieve longevity in their lives. BINGO FOR SHARPER MINDS Psychologist Iseli Krauss, EdD, who teaches at Clarion University, has reported test results which prove that playing Bingo on a consistent basis may keep the players minds alert as they age.

8 Thank you for reading! Please look forward to our next periodical. If you have any questions or comments, use the following methods below to contact us! telephone 1 ( 604 ) fax 1 ( 604 ) kodiakentertainment.com You re annoyed aren t you that I made more at bingo last year than you did on the stockmarket.

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