This, is Blade Stepper, a modern spin on the classic 3-reel mechanical slot machine.

This, is Blade Stepper, a modern spin on the classic 3-reel mechanical slot machine.

As a leader in gaming, we must always be thinking of new ways to connect with our players and create products that resonate with them. And as the gaming industry has evolved in recent years to a video format, the classic mechanical players have been widely ignored. This traditional segment of slot players that we spoke with, were seeking and playing fairly old games that may have been on the casino floor for decades. When we noticed this trend we sought to learn more, and why. Reasons immerged that were seemingly simple yet overlooked by the industry for years. Whether it was simple one to three pay-line games, familiar reel symbols, or even the raw mechanics of a pull handle, these players knew what they loved and rarely strayed. From our customer s perspective, no one was offering replacements for these older games, and we saw this as an opportunity. Some of our customers were even telling us that they frequently consolidated two or three broken mechanical slots to keep one working on their floor. All of the signs were there for us to reimagine the classic stepper for our customers, and for this loyal player segment.

The overall design of Blade Stepper is retro in nature. Inspiration came from the cues of classic arched top-boxes and clean flowing lines that were prevalent on slots three to four decades ago. Just like the automotive industry builds modern cars inspired by their classics, we designed a modern platform with all of the character and features of the best classic games. This ultimately led us to the design you see here.

Keeping on point with a modern-retro design, we integrated our high definition displays with vivid glass artwork. This design combination is so brilliant that Blade Stepper has the brightest and most crisp displays in the industry. The artwork that spans across glass and display screen is virtually seamless, so seamless that it s nearly impossible to see where the printed glass meets high definition screens. Our hardware engineers selected new monitors and upped the display brightness to 1000 nits, while maintaining excellent contrast and black levels. The result of these innovations for Blade Stepper really allows our game artists to create absolutely amazing artwork that just a couple of years ago we couldn t have even imagined.

Once a player takes a spin they will notice how vibrant the reels are. Game development went to great lengths to make sure the reel arrays are extremely vivid and bright. New LCD technology was developed to make sure the reels were not obstructed during gameplay by LCD glare or distortion. Design of the reel surround was engineered with extremely tight tolerances, bringing a new level of refinement to this game segment. Surrounding the reel array is a high definition LCD screen with touch capabilities which allows us to highlight wins on a mechanical game, unlike the player has seen before. This combination of classic reel functionality supplemented with realistic graphics is an absolute winner.

The Blade Stepper cabinet uses our innovative halo-effect emotive lighting that continues around the entire cabinet bezel. This impactful lighting strategy was also chosen on our Blade video cabinet. We use the emotive lighting to emphasize wins and create a gaming environment that extends beyond the reels, fully immersing the player into the gaming experience.

Blade Stepper has a personal storage area just under the button panel, this is where players can set their drink or hang their purse. When selecting materials to build Blade Stepper, we chose the highest quality structural and finishing materials, such as soft-touch button panels and premium plastics and metals throughout. As players interact and touch Blade Stepper, they know that they are playing on a well crafted machine.

Button panels come in traditional layouts and designs focused on familiarity. We intentionally chose not to integrate our LCD buttons that work great for our video products. Instead, you will find a classic printed and backlit button array that is simple to use and read due to the high-contrast design. Next, we knew the pull handle was going to be a challenge. Modern slots are much wider than classic mechanical games due to large 24 inch screens and wider footprints, while being set in ever tighter banking layouts. Engineers spent countless hours creating a new pull handle that looked the part, felt and sounded right, and also fit within the width constraints we faced for our customers. The result is a pull handle that is positioned slightly forward, within arms reach, has a remarkably great feel, and allows Blade Stepper to be banked much closer than any stepper before. Because it was possible to engineer a pull handle and keep wide 24 inch displays, game designers can now display credit meters and game artwork unlike before.

The modern hardware choice of progressive meters has been LCD panels for quite some time now. A problem lies in this choice though, because the industry seemed to compromise brightness for technology. The farther you walk away from LCD progressive meters, the dimmer the display becomes. This technological update may have seemed good on the surface but limited the wow factor of displaying huge progressive totals across the casino floor. The player draw on huge progressives was waning with LCD progressive meters. We opted to develop a new version of the traditional LED dot-matrix progressive display. The result is a progressive meter that is four times brighter than other LCD progressive displays on the casino floor today.

As we continue to enhance the player s experience, we compliment the gaming visuals with an incredible auditory experience. Players will be taken back by how clear and crisp game-play sounds are delivered. Our partnership with various manufactures of high-end audio equipment from around the globe ensures that players will be fully immersed in game play.

Powering the Blade Stepper is the CPU-NXT3 processor, an extremely fast and versatile processor used to power our growing library of new games. This multi-core processor not only boosts performance of startup times and software updates, it enables our game designers to build games with brilliant graphics and create an impactful 3D gaming experience across both video and stepper platforms.

Blade Stepper will be offered in both high and low denominations. The first three launching themes are high denomination and focus on providing our new stepper experience in denominations of quarter and above.

Wheel Hot 777 plays off of the traditional slot symbols of sevens. Most notable to classic slot players, Wheel Hot 777 offers a wheel bonus displayed on the top box that players can activate by landing combinations of sevens on the stepper reel during basegame play. This game plays and looks brilliant on Blade Stepper. The wheel hot bonus is triggered by any winning sevens combination with max bet. The top screen features three wheels. One for each winning sevens combination. Three mixed sevens pays between fifty and five hundred credits. Three red sevens pays between one hundred and one thousand credits. Three hot sevens pays between five hundred to ten thousand credits. Each win awards one spin on the associated bonus wheel. Once initiated, the wheel spins and stops on a wedge, awarding the value shown. The progressive jackpot is awarded by landing on the progressive wedge on the hot sevens wheel.

Roll 7s is another launching theme that focuses on familiar classic symbols like bars, seven, and wilds. This basegame play is complimented by a unique and innovative progressive mechanic. The roll sevens progressive paytable has credit values for the first four credits played. The fifth credit gives you the opportunity to win the progressive value for each winning combination. With max bet, if a winning combination lands on the reels, the dice are rolled. Roll a seven to win the progressive. Roll doubles and the progressive increases and another dice roll is awarded. Roll anything else and the fourth credit paytable value is awarded.

Aftershock offers a unique spin on the traditional slot. Five paylines offer the chance to play a random free spin bonus in which ever spin is a winner. If you hit the free spin bonus, then the HD displays activate and music builds, while adrenalin starts to rise, and your heart beats faster with anticipation of between one and seven winning spins. Players will be immersed in a new slot experience with Aftershock stepper. The Aftershock feature may be triggered during any wagered spin. During the Aftershock feature, every spin is guaranteed to be a winning combination with up to seven spins awarded. During the Aftershock feature, if any double wild or triple wild lands on or within one position of the center payline, the shocking wild is triggered. The triggering double wild and or triple wild will remain and nudge within one position of the center payline for the remainder of the Aftershock feature spins.