When word recently came from MGM Grand that the next time their Sigma Derby mechanical horse-racing game breaks down, it'll be heading out to pasture (an Orwellian euphemism for the landfill, we suspect), we know the news struck a nerve with many. It will leave one sole working version of the kitschy cult game in Las Vegas, at downtown's the D. Hence, we knew there would be much interest when we got wind of a couple of next-generation horse-racing games being previewed at last year's G2E gaming summit in Las Vegas. At the time, however, it turned out that there was very little additional information available about either of them.
Fast forwarding to now, there's even less info about the locally grown "Classic Derby" game showcased by Henderson's VSR Industries. Essentially a maker of cabinets, game tables, locks, and other casino hardware, there's no trace of the crude-looking horse-racing game on VSR's official website and we get the feeling there game was more of a publicity stunt cobbled together for the show than it was a serious or viable game.
However, with regard to the other newcomer that was generating much buzz at the Sands Expo Center last fall -- Royal Derby, from Slovenia's Alfastreet Gaming -- we do have an update.
Founded in 1992, Alfastreet was a furniture maker … until it saw the fortune to be made in catering to the gaming industry. Its mainstays are consoles for multi-player (as in, up to 254!) electronic-roulette games. Their high numbers of spins and extensive customization features have endeared them to casinos, while players like the private-betting terminals that come with the game. But Alfastreet's new 'show pony' is definitely Royal Derby, a 21st-century version of the classic Sigma game, comprising a miniaturized horse-racing oval with 10 player stations. The "definite [sic] version" went on display earlier at the International Casino Expo in London earlier this month.
Alfastreet has attempted to improve on Sigma Derby in a variety of ways, including the number of wagers that can be made, and an upping the "realism" factor. It has increased the number of diminutive equines ("randomly selected from an extensive database" and whose little legs now gallop!) from five to six from and engineered the track so that they can change lanes during the race – Sigma Derby’s plastic ponies run in fixed tracks. The course length has been randomized (the position of the starting gate will move between races) and 'weather' conditions on the track have been introduced. There’s even a simulated commentary on the race. "The whole race is filmed with a moving camera and a real-time feed is displayed above the track and on the playing terminals," adds Alfastreet’s promotional literature. Prior to each race, information on the virtual steeds is displayed on the betting terminals, serving as a kind of electronic Racing Form.
"As you know, the mechanical horse-racing machines were huge success a couple of decades ago and there are many players genuinely nostalgic about it," says Alfastreet Sales Manager Ana Zlender (and we can vouch for the veracity of what she says -- "Sigma Derby" is among the topics we've been urged to address most frequently. in QoD's 11-year history).
While, from experience, we've learned that Alfastreet is normally very tight-lipped about its game placements, the company is evidently somewhat excited about its new Derby game and there was a little flurry of publicity around the debut of the newest version in London, while its U.S. distributor, KGM, has let it be known that the first North American installation of Royal Derby took place in Indio, California, last November, thanks to Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, owned by the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, being sufficiently impressed to invest in a Royal Derby machine. An unnamed Alfastreet executive cockily predicted, "The company is confident it will be another success story, destined to be copied by the competition, as usually happens with our ideas." Time will tell; to-date, this is the only working version we've located on a casino floor anywhere and the "classic" Sigma fan base has, to-date, been nonplussed by any hi-tech tinkering with their beloved diversion, the whole charm of which lies in its slow-and-clunky-wins-the-race credo.
As an aside (and one that does nothing to increase our confidence in Alfastreet's empathy with their potential audience) Royal Derby has also spawned an aquatic spinoff, showcased at ICE. Wet Race operates on the same principle as Royal Derby but with tiny speed boats. European publication GamesMagazine.Biz wrote that it "combines a sink full of water with an electronic machine, in a perfect and incredible synergy, causing astonishment among visitors to the stand" -- or something vaguely like that -- this appears to be an occasion on which Google Translate was out of its depth and we're distinctly dubious as to how many casinos may be tempted to take this particular plunge. Had they taken their inspiration from Palms Place's former Duck Parties, on the other hand, that might have been a concept we could really get behind.
