US redemption specialist, Bay Tek Entertainment enjoyed one of the busier booths at the IAAPA expo with a wide selection of its popular titles.
Creating a buzz was its most recent videmption release, Willy Crash.
“It’s is a game full of comic moments,” said marketing manager Sammy Harrison. “So much so that often people will stand and watch others fire Willy out of the cannon on the big screen. It’s a real crowd pleaser.”
The game features the titular hero who is mercilessly fired out of a cannon at various targets amid a cityscape. If the player hits the target, they are rewarded with tickets and the sight of Willy performing a dance such as “The Carlton”.
Willy Crash also has a free app that goes with the main game. It allows players to take the game home with them and features the same gameplay, but offers different outfits that help protect the human cannonball as he’s launched towards buildings.
The game also has several hidden Bay Tek Easter eggs that reference older game titles and the names of some of the staff of the Wisconsin, US based company. “Shaun for president” (one of the game’s developers) appears on the side of a bus and “Kyle’s Burger joint” (referencing Kyle Berger, continuous improvement and quality manager) are some of the many nods to staff.
In development for roughly 12 months, the game design was chosen for its smaller footprint to appeal to as wide an operator base as possible, particularly to accommodate the international market. It was also deliberately kept as simple as possible while featuring a bold colour scheme and a large 55ins HD screen display on which players can enjoy the human cannonball theme.
“We usually produce a lot of mechanical games, but the idea all along was to make this a video redemption piece. The plunger is classic Bay Tek, but it is a truly a digital game which lends itself to an app very well,” explained Harrison.
“The redemption market is currently exceptionally strong,” she added, “so having a game which features a companion app makes it relevant and contemporary so it offers more, making it stand out not only in a game room but among the competition.”
Piano Keys, a single player version of the previously launched grand Piano Keys saw a debut at the show. It offers the same gameplay but with ten new songs including: Amazing Grace, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Working on the Railroad, London Bridge, and Old McDonald.
The game’s marquee can be adjusted in three different ways dependant on the ceiling height of a particular location, adding to the flexibility of the piece.
The licensed Trolls version of Tower of Tickets was on show too. The four-player rotary redemption game boasts a marquee that has been developed to be powered via a ceiling power drop, as well as from a standard floor outlet below. RFID targets are new too. Instead of glued ticket stacks, injection-moulded discs with bright decals add to the game aesthetics.
Connect Four Hoops was also among the many games on Bay Teks’s booth. The innovative take on basketball games asks one or two players to shoot baskets and watch as their regulation-sized basketballs fall into place on the LED-projected grid. The first player to align four balls horizontally, vertically, or diagonally on the augmented reality playfield wins.
Image one: Some of the Bay Tek team show off Trolls, with marketing manager Sammy Harrison, far right.
Image two: Willy Crash himself (aka Shaun Swanson Esq, art director at Bay Tek) sits aside the cannon.
