Ocean Magic

I don’t believe only 1 bubble in column one without help elsewhere on the board is positive, column two one without help questionable.

I’d say it’s pretty borderline, which this seems to represent. I think another thing worth keeping in mind is that Wizard’s reel set is designed to return 90%, and I would be shocked and astounded if the Ocean Magic Games I vulture have that high a base return. That could turn something from a borderline positive into a borderline negative.

I think Reel 1 going to the top is extremely borderline. I haven’t tracked every single play, but Reel 1 Row 2 or Row 3, I think, has had positive results for me as a starting point.

I observed a slot tech either installing or calibrating the software on an IGT multigame machine at a locals casino in LV that is known for having loose slots. The Ocean Magic RTP that he went with was 86.x% if I remember correctly. (I actually recorded a video but I can't quite read the numbers off it without any enhancement.)

All of the games (including Golden Egypt) had the same RTP except for one game I had not heard of called something Riches or something like that which was around 95% RTP.

Anyway independently of this evidence I've always assumed 15% RTP as a slightly conservative figure for penny slots.

Quote: Mission146

I think another thing worth keeping in mind is that Wizard’s reel set is designed to return 90%, and I would be shocked and astounded if the Ocean Magic Games I vulture have that high a base return.

I've heard this comment before. The reason I set it to 90% is the Nevada Gaming Revenue Report for the 12-month period ending 1/31/19 says the win percent on 1-cent slots is 9.98%. Thus, a return of 90.02%.

One might argue that this 9.98% figure mixed in penny video poker, which is a valid point, but I think the vast majority, like 99% of penny games are reeled slots.

Quote: Wizard

I've heard this comment before. The reason I set it to 90% is the Nevada Gaming Revenue Report for the 12-month period ending 1/31/19 says the win percent on 1-cent slots is 9.98%. Thus, a return of 90.02%.

One might argue that this 9.98% figure mixed in penny video poker, which is a valid point, but I think the vast majority, like 99% of penny games are reeled slots.

In Las Vegas it is safe to assume that any new video penny slots on the strip will be 85%-88%. Usually the locals casinos are about 2% better.

Quote: Wizard

I hired someone (not sure I'm allowed to say who) to record the symbol frequency on 206 spins. For situation where there was a bubble, the symbol under the bubble was recorded. Here are the raw results.

Symbol	Reel 1	Reel 2	Reel 3	Reel 4	Reel 5
Logo	47	18	95	43	46
Shark	144	121	53	69	65
Jelly fish	83	69	87	58	81
Tiger fish	49	92	128	69	98
Sea turtle	124	81	39	78	78
Sea Horse	80	125	45	104	102
Yellow star	91	77	173	95	85
Red star	99	121	102	146	133
Green star	91	100	95	149	123
Scatter	16	20	7	13	13
Total	824	824	824	824	824

I reduced them to a shorter reel, as follows:

Symbol	Reel 1	Reel 2	Reel 3	Reel 4	Reel 5
Logo	5	2	9	4	5
Shark	15	12	5	7	7
Jelly fish	8	7	9	6	8
Tiger fish	5	9	13	7	10
Sea turtle	13	9	5	8	8
Sea Horse	8	13	5	10	10
Yellow star	9	8	17	10	9
Red star	10	12	10	16	14
Green star	9	10	10	15	12
Scatter	2	2	1	1	1
Total	84	84	84	84	84

This set of reels has many more logo (Ocean Magic) symbols than before. To bring the overall game to a 90% return, I lowered the new bubble frequency per reel to 2.1%. This means that on average there will be 0.42 bubbles on the screen. Again, these are for spins that are NOT in Bubble Burst mode.

All that said, here is my new return table for the next spin according to where a bubble will be for that spin.

Return	Reel 1	Reel 2	Reel 3	Reel 4	Reel 5
1	111%	105%	252%	57%	30%
2	176%	199%	540%	92%	34%
3	174%	197%	534%	92%	34%
4	107%	101%	245%	55%	30%

The return when there are no bubbles on the screen is 25.70%.

Based on this, a simple basic strategy would be to play with any bubble in reels 1 to 3.

Comments?

What is your consideration for the payback percentage tied up in the bonus round for the game?

Quote: DRich

In Las Vegas it is safe to assume that any new video penny slots on the strip will be 85%-88%. Usually the locals casinos are about 2% better.

I greatly respect your opinion, but can you elaborate on why you believe this?

Quote: MaxPen

What is your consideration for the payback percentage tied up in the bonus round for the game?

I assume the return from that is 16.5%. This seems in line with other IGT games.

Quote: Wizard

I greatly respect your opinion, but can you elaborate on why you believe this?

Experience as both a game designer and as someone that has configured slot floors for casinos. As with most small companies, I have usually been involved with all aspects of Gaming. I have delivered and configured slot machines that our companies have designed to casinos all over the country through the years.

One of the two major gaming companies on the strip was always asking us to make available tighter percentages because our lowest was an 86% game. We then started creating paytables as low as 83% for them.

The newer titles have such a high turnover rate now that the casinos just seem to be gouging the customers because in a year that game will probably not be on the floor anymore. I would be absolutely shocked if you found a game like Ocean Magic at a big casino on the strip at better than 88%.

Another consideration is that many of the new machines are leased with a revenue split and not purchased. The typical split is the casino keeps 80% and gives 20% of the revenue to the manufacturer. With the casino giving 20% of their win away they tighten the machines so their win amount is higher. This scenario also leads to the high turnover in game titles as the casino hasn't purchased it and can usually swap it out with another title from that manufacturer at little to no charge.

Wiz, would you consider posting a second EV table consistent with 85% RTP?