Resolved Your Slot of 2017!! Results:

[dunover]

Well, some surprising and not-so-surprising stuff here:

The results for the best (and worst) new slots of 2017:

Key:
*the long number is the total votes cast as read, 5 point for first choice down to 1 for fifth choice.
*the second number is the total score.
*the star * denotes how many first choices the slot had.

Winner: BONANZA (Big Time Gaming) 4444554544355454224544 ******* 90

Runner-up: Danger High Voltage (Big Time Gaming) **** 66

Third Place: Moon Princess (Play'n Go, last year's winner with Novomatic's Book Of Dead) 35525533 **** 31

4th. = Viking Runecraft (Play'n Go) 531512234 ** 26
4th. = Reactoonz (Play'n Go) 3521555 **** 26
6th. Jungle Spirit (Netent) 251432134 * 25
7th. White Rabbit (Big Time Gaming) 311221511111 * 20
8th. Pink Elephants (Thunderkick) PINK ELEPHANTS 251521 ** 16
9th. Flame Busters (Thunderkick) 344 11
10th. = Buffalo Blitz (Playtech) 35 * 8
10th. = Codex (Leander) 44 8

12th. Planet Of The Apes (Netent) 34 7
13th. = Emperor Of The Sea (Microgaming) 15 * 6
13th. = Cheshire Cat (WMS) 24 6
13th. = Blood Suckers II (Netent) 33 6
16th. = Divine Fortune (Netent) 311 5
16th. = Hot Sync (Quickspin) 23 5
18th. = Vikings Go Berzerk (Yggdrasil) 22 4
18th. = Halloween (Microgaming) 4 4
20th. = Jurassic World (Microgaming) 12 3
20th. = Ted (Blueprint) 12 3
20th. = Jungle Books (Yggdrasil) 3 3
20th. = Mermaid's Diamonds (Play'n Go) 3 3
20th. = Phoenix Sun (Quickspin) 3 3
25th. = Luchadora (Thunderkick) 2 2
25th. = Hong Kong Tower (Elk Studios) 2 2
25th. = Reel 'em In Lobster Potty (Barcrest) 2 2
25th. = Phantom Of The Opera (Microgaming) 2 2
25th. = The Matrix (Playtech) 2 2
25th. = Baywatch (IGT) 2 2
31st. = Mayana (Quickspin) 1 1
31st. = Orient Express (Yggdrasil) 1 1
31st. = Wolf Cub (Netent) 1 1
31st. = Zeus God Of Thunder (WMS) 1 1
31st. = Jurassic Giants (Pragmatic Play) 1 1

TOSSER (The Overwhelmingly Shittiest Slot Ever Released) AWARD 2017:

We have 3 joint winners, with 2 votes each.

Emoji Planet (Netent)
Pink Elephants (Thunderkick)
Twin Spin Deluxe (Netent)

The rest of the crap, all with one vote:

SAM ON THE BEACH Elk Studios
PLANET OF THE APES Netent
WHITE RABBIT Big Time Gaming
FINN AND THE SWIRLY SPIN Netent
STICKY BANDITS Quickspin
DIVINE FORTUNE Netent
SIX ACROBATS Microgaming
A**&D** Microgaming
FORBIDDEN THRONE Microgaming
PETS Pariplay
WELL OF WONDERS Thunderkick
EMOTICOINS Microgaming
OINK COUNTRY LOVE Microgaming
GET CLUCKY IGT
HALLOWEEN Microgaming
HUGO 2 Play'n Go
GIOVANNI'S GEMS Betsoft
JURASSIC WORLD Microgaming


Some interesting facts!

*Bonanza won not only on most points, but also most first choices and most overall choices in members' top 5.
*BTG had the runner-up too and overall had 176 points for just 3 slots in the poll, nearly 59 points per slot which is almost double the points of the third-placed slot Moon Princess at 31.
*After BTG, Play'n Go had the most votes of any developer.
*pro-rata to games released, Microgaming had the worst average score per slot at just over 1 for each of their games released - 58 LESS per game than BTG!
*Microgaming had an incredible 7 entries in the TOSSER list of 21 games, an execrable 1/3 of voters picked a MG slot as their worst of the year. This developer has lost its way, big time! (Pun intended)
*Netent had 5 TOSSERS and like the above proves that quantity of releases is no substitute for quality.
*Playtech had just 2 mentions despite numerous slots being released. Perhaps if they weren't associated with so many rogue casinos, they'd have more product awareness amongst players.
*Nextgen released many slots and never had a TOSSER or a choice from anybody - very anonymous!

This poll merely cements my opinion that the 'big' developers like Netent, MG, IGT and Playtech have become fat, bloated and lazy, just lounging about emitting the odd fart here and there.

 

[Jd666]

Yep, the slots we love to hate won it

 

[Steviedoo]

i'm not a fan of btg...but the cm posters love them....and love to hate them too!
thank you for the list...
not surprised at microgaming...their glory days are gone gone gone....

 

[Tirilej]

I forgot to vote, but I agree that the best game won

 

[goatwack]

Good. And though I don't agree with some of BTG's design choices and lack of transparency, it's about time Notent & Microgaining had their arses kicked

Hopefully now they'll fear the competition and up their game, and stop churning out hopeless clones and craptastic movie tie-ins

 

[dunover]

Right, two things here PROVE that developers need to focus on the game mechanic and math model rather then the graphics. Bonanza has dreadful music, irritating graphics but won due to the game construct. Same with Moon Princess, shit-awful teen-porn style graphics but a good mechanic. Planet Of The Apes, great graphics and imagination using 2 different films but (as my review video demonstrated) all 4 feature mechanics cobbled together from other slots and little originality.

*We DON'T like juvenile graphics but still (ja, du sverige!) the developers keep churning the crap out.
*We like things other than card values on games that aren't multiway (Warlords Crystals Of Power a prime example of 20 lines with 'full' graphics).
*We like multiplying Wilds.
*We like a decent random in-play feature (i.e. Shitstorm, Wild Desire) that has potential.
*We are prepared to have wins limited to (generally) under 100x bet in the base game like DoA and Bonanza if the base game keeps us ticking over with regular wins to allow us to turn more spins over for our money to increase our chances of hitting the elusive but potentially lucrative feature games.

Jungle Spirit almost got it right but after much play on it I have come to realize it has an appalling base game, the bullshit butterflies are awful and it seems the game has far too much RTP allocated to the features.

Developers have a hard balance here to achieve and I know it isn't easy. All we get is endless copies of 'proven formulae' such as St*rb*rst and Book Of Ra Deluxe and Buffalo etc. and little originality. BTG have fired a huge one up the arses of the 'big boys' by getting the balance right, and I hope the coming year sees a concerted and eager response rather the conveyor belt of crud presently moving it's way through the offices of major developers.

 

[miso]

Thanks for all the effort you put into this, Dunover

Honestly, MG and NetEnt slots became just...boring. No better word to describe it, BTG and Play N Go (to a lesser extent) will get you either excited or furious...either way they get some emotion out of players.

Edit: ...aaaand off to play Emoji battle at VS

 

[Dinahnana]

Thanks for all your work collating the results Dunover! I agree with all except Moon Princess, hate that slot. It rinses me every time and I don't like the theme. BTG has proven so far that they are a developer with potential to become the industry leader if they continue down the path of innovation. I do think quite a lot of features of White Rabbit needed more tweaking and design before release. The base game sucks most of the time, natural features are few and when you buy a feature your lucky not to get totally rinsed. I say this even after having one great bonus but the second best was 300x all of the others have been about 100x or way way less. So in my opinion White Rabbit is a dud. Having said that I look forward to see what BTG have in store for us in 2018! Haven't felt that way about a slot provider for years.

 

[KasinoKing]

I would also like to add my thanks for the many hours of work you put in to compiling this very interesting information.
Top job!

KK

 

[mcgameboy]

Excellent work, Mr. D. I myself forgot to vote But I would have voted DHV ahead of Bonanza with Jungle Spirit 3rd, Flame Busters 4th and Pink Elephants 5th.
So BTG and Thunderkick getting my thumbs up.

Twin Spin Deluxe absolutely deserves the TOSSER award. I'm surprised they didn't "win" in a landslide.

 

[Chipkin9]

Right, two things here PROVE that developers need to focus on the game mechanic and math model rather then the graphics. Bonanza has dreadful music, irritating graphics but won due to the game construct. Same with Moon Princess, shit-awful teen-porn style graphics but a good mechanic. Planet Of The Apes, great graphics and imagination using 2 different films but (as my review video demonstrated) all 4 feature mechanics cobbled together from other slots and little originality.

*We DON'T like juvenile graphics but still (ja, du sverige!) the developers keep churning the crap out.
*We like things other than card values on games that aren't multiway (Warlords Crystals Of Power a prime example of 20 lines with 'full' graphics).
*We like multiplying Wilds.
*We like a decent random in-play feature (i.e. Shitstorm, Wild Desire) that has potential.
*We are prepared to have wins limited to (generally) under 100x bet in the base game like DoA and Bonanza if the base game keeps us ticking over with regular wins to allow us to turn more spins over for our money to increase our chances of hitting the elusive but potentially lucrative feature games.

Jungle Spirit almost got it right but after much play on it I have come to realize it has an appalling base game, the bullshit butterflies are awful and it seems the game has far too much RTP allocated to the features.

Developers have a hard balance here to achieve and I know it isn't easy. All we get is endless copies of 'proven formulae' such as St*rb*rst and Book Of Ra Deluxe and Buffalo etc. and little originality. BTG have fired a huge one up the arses of the 'big boys' by getting the balance right, and I hope the coming year sees a concerted and eager response rather the conveyor belt of crud presently moving it's way through the offices of major developers.

With regards to BTG and competing at the top, you make mention of originality. Of course they have perfected the balance of volatility v potential, something NotEnt (especially) should concentrate on.

However I have this nagging feeling that their multiway slots can't be the only thing they have in their locker. Surely they can't be a one trick pony forever. I already feel it's be worn out pretty quickly, but that's just my own personal opinion.

Maybe they too can improve in this area particularly and try their hand at a 243 way slot or 30 liner and try their originality on those, instead of regurgitating the same slot over and over again with different features and volatility.

I mean the only difference between Bonanaza & White Rabbit is the base game multiway frequency (which affects volatility). On White Rabbit you will get above 3,000 multiways rarely, but on Bonanza it's pretty common to go above 10,000 ways. Of course I am ignoring the featues, but you get the picture

 

[Nate]

Thanks for the effort Dunover - Appreciated!

The general consensus amongst the big providers is that they must create a slot that has loads of blank spins and loads of hits in the 5x to 10x range but never any decent potential. Its in NetEnts BLOOD to do this. They have the resources to put something out that can rival anyone, but ALL their slots have the same feel to it, pretty similar to RTG.

It has become a life of luxury at the office for the big boys resting on their laurels and trying to snap up cartoon and movie rights for their slots. They take existing ideas and cram it full of graphics and let the slumber continue.

Then some small unknowns like BTG enter the market with some good design and decent math and it has everyone scrambling to release a 6 reeler. When software companies start becoming too big, just like casinos, their attention to detail is completely overtaken by how many sites they can get their game portfolio onto. NetBent lost their passion for slots and are looking at NAMES and Graphics and how to jump into the US market.

BTG albeit a tiny company in comparison is already starting the obsession with Streamers and Promotion of their slots. I can understand that as a business, its imperative that products are marketed or else you would not make it in this game. The problem comes in when you lack any type of communication skills and make every piece you utter across any portal a marketing exercise. This is where I lose respect - BTG has already planted this impression in my mind as this is ALL they do.

There are some monster slots out there but in the end its all about profitability for game studios - Games that garner attention and keep the audience are actually the route for providers to learn from. They need to see WHAT is popular and build on that.

Nate

 

[Bonanza Lover]

Great overview and I was glad to see that Bonanza won, but I was surprised that Not enough Kittens didn't make it into the worst slots section.
Quick question, what time frame was taken for the slots award?

 

[dunover]

Dec 1 2016 to 30 Nov 2017. Poll was open 3 weeks.

 

[trancemonkey]

Love them or hate them, BTG have definitely disrupted the online casino industry in the last 12 months...
It's only a matter of time before someone copies them.

I hope they can now prove they can do other concepts too - they seem very hit and miss outside of the ones in this list (the megaways slots)

 

[The Dude]

Wow - thanks Dunover - I am just getting to this now since this is an integral part of the 2017 Awards. Thanks a lot - and to everyone else here who has participated.