String Poker - Early Demo

Hey everyone. We are currently working on our fourth video poker game and wanted to share our progress. The game is called String Poker and it provides a separate three card poker hand which acts as the multiplier for the five card main hand. After wins in the main hand, a copy of a card is chosen to upgrade the string hand to increase your multiplier. The multiplier in the string hand stays for each subsequent hands as long as the player keeps winning.

We are still working on improving a number of things with the game, but please feel free to leave your feedback or any questions you may have.

You can play the base demo here:
http://www.realizegamingllc.com/dev/stringPokerPreview/

You can play the development version of the demo which will allow you to try different hands in the main and string hand here:
http://www.realizegamingllc.com/dev/stringPoker/

A few things:
-We are concentrating on getting the autopicker logic correct when sending the card to the string hand, so you may have some questions about the card chosen. Please let us know if you question anything being sent to the string hand after a win.

-The RTP is a work in progress and will be adjusted once the game logic is sound.

-We will also surely have to adjust the multipliers to help the RTP. We love the x100 multiplier for the mini royal, but we are not sure it will be able to stay.

-We have also discussed allowing the player to choose the card to send to the string hand which would make the programming much easier, but it could also complicate the game and/or slow it down too much.

As always, please let us know what you think.

Quote: RealizeGaming

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-We are concentrating on getting the autopicker logic correct when sending the card to the string hand, so you may have some questions about the card chosen. Please let us know if you question anything being sent to the string hand after a win.

-We have also discussed allowing the player to choose the card to send to the string hand which would make the programming much easier, but it could also complicate the game and/or slow it down too much.

As always, please let us know what you think.

Man, do I have some questions, and I only played about ten minutes. (Fun game, by the way! Of course, all of your games are fun until you fix the house edge. ;)

1.) I had Jd, Qh and an inconsequential 3s in the three-card hand, after a win, it replaced the 3s with a Jc when it could have used a Qd. You have a pair either way, but the Queen would also put me one away from a SF as well as giving me one card to a mini-Royal.

2.) I had a straight built up to 11x, but then it replaced it with a straight flush in the three-card hand, the SF is worse AND harder to maintain.

I shall play another half hour to see if I notice any more.

The game looks nice. I did a game just like that about 20 years ago and had no luck selling it. Hopefully you do better with it than I did.

1.) I had Ac-Jc-2c and it replaced the Jc with 5c when it could have used a Kc to potentially give me a chance at the three-card Royal for the hand after the next one.

2.) Okay, I had a pair built up to 5x, Qs, Qd, 9d, but then it replaced a Qd with a 10d to give me a three card flush (!?) for 3 when it had another Qd to use to put me up to 6x and still building off of a pair...and for what...a SF draw and 3x less multiplier for the next hand?

3.) I had Js, Qh and Kh, with a 5x built up, but then it replaced the Kh with a Ks!!! I get that improves it to a 6x multiplier, but it also kills my mini-Royal draw for a 100x multiplier!

I played for about 30 min or so and I thought it was pretty damn fun. I am not usually a fan of VP variants like Ultimate X, but I did enjoy this.

Thanks Mission.

1. You are correct, the autopicker should have chosen the queen of diamond to add to the string hand. This would allow you to have the pair, but also positions you for a better opportunity for the straight flush.

2. Another great point we need to look at. If you build the straight up to a higher value than the next step on the string multiplier chart, the autopicker needs to see this and allow you to keep the higher multiplier.

DRich I'd love to learn more about your game. Do you have a demo or anything for it?

Quote: Mission146

1.) I had Ac-Jc-2c and it replaced the Jc with 5c when it could have used a Kc to potentially give me a chance at the three-card Royal for the hand after the next one.

2.) Okay, I had a pair built up to 5x, Qs, Qd, 9d, but then it replaced a Qd with a 10d to give me a three card flush (!?) for 3 when it had another Qd to use to put me up to 6x and still building off of a pair...and for what...a SF draw and 3x less multiplier for the next hand?

3.) I had Js, Qh and Kh, with a 5x built up, but then it replaced the Kh with a Ks!!! I get that improves it to a 6x multiplier, but it also kills my mini-Royal draw for a 100x multiplier!

1. Another good example from the autopicker where upgrading to a card to set you up for a higher possible multiplier should be used.

2. Great feedback! My guess is the autopicker is not taking into consideration of the "build up" and still views the string hand as a pair instead of a pair that has been built up and surpassed the next multiplier. This will have to be one of our first fixes.

3. Another great example which will require us to look closer at the autopicker logic.

Originally, the game was designed to allow the player to make all the moves to the string hand. I actually like allowing the player to create the string hand, but I was afraid it would really slow down and/or complicate the game. Do you think it would work allowing the player to control the placement of cards to the string hand?

All due credit for trying something new. My compliments to whoever is doing the math on this.

I know it would turn it into a whole different game, but I would consider a version where the player can draw to the three-card hand and remove the card drifting feature.

Quote: RealizeGaming

Originally, the game was designed to allow the player to make all the moves to the string hand. I actually like allowing the player to create the string hand, but I was afraid it would really slow down and/or complicate the game. Do you think it would work allowing the player to control the placement of cards to the string hand?

I think it works and I think it also gives a player more opportunity to make mistakes, so you can offer a good return on the overall game knowing players are less likely to realize it. Aside from that element, this also has Multi-Strike elements.

It pays way more than 100%, of course, I think one thing you could do to help with that is to charge five credits for every hand and ten for any hand that follows a losing base hand. You might just need to do 10 credits all the time like UX.

Quote: RealizeGaming

DRich I'd love to learn more about your game. Do you have a demo or anything for it?

I know I have it on one of the servers in my garage but nothing is hooked up. Those old servers run Windows NT which doesn't support USB so it would be difficult to get it off without setting up the whole network again. Sorry.

Quote: Mission146

I think it works and I think it also gives a player more opportunity to make mistakes, so you can offer a good return on the overall game knowing players are less likely to realize it.

It is a difficult balance. My Ace Invaders game was put in the casinos with 98%-99% theo return. Sadly, everybody played it so poorly, around 90%, that the game died a pretty quick death because people were not getting any seat time. I was pleased to see last week someone was still playing one at Green Valley Ranch when I went in for dinner.

https://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/tables/ace-invaders/

On my primary hand, I discarded 3 cards including the Kd, and there was a Kd in the 3 cards I drew.

Please explain how many decks the cards are drawn from. Do the presence of cards in the bonus hand (3 cards) affect the probabilities of getting cards in the primary hand?

Thanks Wizard.

Drawing to the three card hand is an option that we can think about. The only problem with it becomes trying to play two separate hands at one time. It is an interesting thought.

Mission146,

I like your thoughts on how the overall RTP would be impacted by allowing players to choose the cards to send to the string hand. I could definitely see myself making errors of how to build the string hand since it took me a while to get used to the straight paying more than the flush. I think little errors like that would be very common when playing.

Yes, I also think it is way over 100% right now and we will adjust that once we get the autopicker where it needs to be. I've also been thinking about the amount need to play the game and it may end up being similar to what we did with MultiDraw where we were able to highlight the feature of the MD card by charging a 5 + 10 bet to cover the feature. It allowed the MD feature to happen very often and I think most people were okay with that.

I've also just thought about doing a flat bet of maybe 15 credits or something like that. If you get into the bonus it would be considered just that, a bonus which wouldn't require any additional wager. The only time the player would have to bet again is when they lose the main hand.

Does anyone know the average number of consecutive winning and losing hands when playing video poker? I can see players losing a number of hands in a row, but it also has the potential to win a good number, too.

DRich,

I've always been intrigued by Ace Invaders and have had an idea similar to it laying around on my desk for many years. I love the concept I have, but I don't feel like I can differentiate it enough from Ace Invaders so as of now it will continue to sit there.

That seems like a big difference between what is offered as a return and what players played the game at. I'm trying to think back to the game to think about some of the most obvious errors when playing Ace Invaders, but I can't think of any right off the top of my head. Regardless, Ace Invaders was a fun game and I'm surprised more casinos didn't/don't offer it.

Quote: gordonm888

On my primary hand, I discarded 3 cards including the Kd, and there was a Kd in the 3 cards I drew.

Please explain how many decks the cards are drawn from. Do the presence of cards in the bonus hand (3 cards) affect the probabilities of getting cards in the primary hand?

gordonm888,

The string hand and the main hand use two separate decks of cards. The string hand is dealt to provide three random cards and the main hand is dealt from a separate deck to provide the main five card hand. If the player wins in the main hand, a "copy" of the card will be sent to the string hand to either upgrade the string hand value or an exact copy of a card may be sent to the string hand to increase the multiplier by 1. Once the string hand is upgraded and the next hand takes place, all cards in the original deck are available to appear in the main hand. This process continues until the player loses in the main hand. Once that happens, both the string hand and main hand are dealt new cards from separate decks and the whole process starts all over again.

Another easy way to think about the game is each hand is a separate deck of cards and you are playing regular video poker in the main hand and the string hand is a three card poker hand that is used as a multiplier hand that can be upgraded for winning consecutive hands. Let me know if that helps or not and I will try to clear it up further if needed.

Quote: RealizeGaming

gordonm888,

The string hand and the main hand use two separate decks of cards. The string hand is dealt to provide three random cards and the main hand is dealt from a separate deck to provide the main five card hand. If the player wins in the main hand, a "copy" of the card will be sent to the string hand to either upgrade the string hand value or an exact copy of a card may be sent to the string hand to increase the multiplier by 1. Once the string hand is upgraded and the next hand takes place, all cards in the original deck are available to appear in the main hand. This process continues until the player loses in the main hand. Once that happens, both the string hand and main hand are dealt new cards from separate decks and the whole process starts all over again.

Another easy way to think about the game is each hand is a separate deck of cards and you are playing regular video poker in the main hand and the string hand is a three card poker hand that is used as a multiplier hand that can be upgraded for winning consecutive hands. Let me know if that helps or not and I will try to clear it up further if needed.

Thank you for that very clear explanation. However, I did experience one hand in the demo game in which I discarded a Kd (and 2 other cards) from the primary hand and immediately drew a Kd amongst the 3 cards drawn to the primary hand. I believe this occurred on a "string hand" - on a primary hand that was being played with a higher multiplier subsequent to a winning hand.

Thanks gordonm888 for letting me know. It shouldn't happen where a card you discard comes back into the hand on the draw in the primary. I will keep an eye out for this to see if I can get it to happen when I play so we can fix it.

We have updated the game to fix some of the little issues mentioned on the forums. The autopicker is much improved and getting very close to where we want it. Once the autopicker is complete and we are comfortable with it, we will start tweaking the pay scales multipliers to get the math at an acceptable return. Give the update a try and feel free to use the controls at the bottom left of the demo to control the cards dealt in each hand.

Demo Link: http://www.realizegamingllc.com/dev/stringPoker/

We have a few more updates to the game that we wanted to share.

-slight upgrade to the layout and labels
-changed the multiplier for a built up mini royal to a x25
-adjusted the multiplier for the x100 mini royal to be awarded only when it is dealt to the player and any subsequent hands won after that deal
-removed the upgrading of the string hand with copies of cards to produce a +1 multiplier (click on the button on the bottom right of the game to toggle on/off)
-continued improvements with the autopicker to makes sure the best card is chosen to help upgrade the string hand
*final math will be our next step

Please leave any feedback and I will be sure to provide you with a response.

Play the game here: http://www.realizegamingllc.com/dev/stringPoker/