Designing successful skill games is not as simple as it may seem, writes Simon Liddle.
OFFERING the opportunity to progress through several levels of difficulty or to achieve a task and be rewarded with a prize or tickets provides a great deal of appeal for players of all ages. Designing a skill game that is neither too easy nor too difficult is a key objective and can help deliver a real return on investment for operators.
There are a host of skill-based amusement games available on the market, some more successful than others. There are common design themes, however, with the majority of games drawing on only a handful of different skill requirements. What makes a successful skill game is not as simple as it seems, however.
“Skill games should be, first and foremost, engaging and exciting,” said Steven Tan of UNIS. “They need to allow the player to feel that they have control over the game, they need to look easy to use and to straight forward to operate.” The “overwhelming factor” in what makes a skill game successful, said Steve Bryant of LAI Games, is that it is immediately obvious what the player has to do and gives the impression that the objective is within reach. “It’s that hook; that believability that the prize is achievable,” he said.
Over the years, LAI has found tremendous success with the genre-defining game, Stacker.
“It kind of set the trend,” Bryant continued. “There were two earlier games that set the way for LAI, Time Buster and Lighthouse, which had limited success. Stacker really gave the players a game they thought they could win and the operators a way of actually managing the skill expectation - they could offer a good game and earn decent money out of it.” Today, the company has a range of skill-based games, among which one of the most successful has been Balloon Buster, a carnival-themed prize merchandiser.
“In a true skill game,” said Tom Kane of Betson, “it always comes down to hand-eye coordination. How to challenge and test the talent is what is more fluid.”
Read the full article in the December issue of InterGame
