Public Gaming Magazine July/August 2020

32 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2020 designers added LuxShimmer to money-themed games—making them even more appealing in a crowded retail display.” Currently two lotteries are in the process of producing a LuxShimmer family of games featuring unique U.S. President graphics. 5. MICROMOTION “Some of the most intriguing games at retail are simple, yet they make a bigger impact with an upgrade that elevates them to ‘premier’ games,” shares Hodges. MicroMotion is a proprietary printing technology developed to create the perception of motion through use of UV lines and a super-reflective foil substrate. The ink has been used to highlight certain images on a game so they seem to move. It’s been successfully used to launch new licensed branded games, and livening up images on established brands. More than 40 MicroMotion games have been produced since 2016, all but three at the $5 price point or higher. The Dream Team, one of Scientific Games' best game innovation groups, recently designed stunning families of multiplier games— specifically “mini” families at lower price points— featuring dierent color washes over the MicroMotion foil patterns. The eect makes the games stand out at retail, appealing to players looking for an extra special entertainment experience. 6. HD Games™ One product upgrade that’s made its way to most every U.S. lottery’s portfolio is HD Games . The games feature modern, high- definition play symbols and make any playstyle easy and fun. The result of 10 years of research, the Scientific Games product line oers a brighter play area, appealing visual play data, premium paper and extra gloss. HD Games are available in red, green, blue, purple and black. The printing technology renders detailed, picturesque play symbols that have proven successful with licensed branded games and life-like pet images on everyone’s favorite Lucky Dog and Lucky Cat games. The most popular HD Games applications are key number match and VariPlay (i.e. the pet images), which perform 14% better than other games. “We’ve also customized HD Games crossword products, and created some beautiful HD Games with Sparkle Select and foil,” says Hodges. “Talk about standing out at retail!” HD Games sales performance has been interesting for the company’s data analysts to track. “After the first eight weeks is when HD Games performance really kicks in,” explains Hodges. “As players realize the advantage of games with high-definition symbols they return to them again and again, extending the sales curve and driving the weekly sales average significantly above other games at the same price point.” 7. FOIL During the holidays, lotteries traditionally turn to foil stock as a strategic product enhancement, but others oer foil games year-round to convey luxury in higher price point games. And sometimes the game's name, like Ultimate Millions, just lends itself perfectly to foil. “Instant games on foil have been in the product mix for quite a while, but over the last year we’ve seen a trend of using foil on Blowout games loaded with $50, $100 and $500 prizes,” observes Hodges. “Blowout games on foil really deliver a great entertainment experience.” Hodges says foil is an intuitive choice for licensed branded games, oering game designers an opportunity to create products that deliver a bigger entertainment experience. From a performance perspective, over the last six years $1 foil games indexed an average of 17% higher than other $1 games, and $2 and $3 foil games performed an average of 10% higher. 8. GIGANTIX® Although over-sized Gigantix games are a niche product, more than 50 games have been produced in 18 jurisdictions. One of the most successful applications of these 8” x 8” (or larger) games is when a lottery introduces a new price category, garnering immediate attention at retail. “Fans and Friends player segments are always up to try any new game, including Gigantix, because they can’t help but notice the products in store,” says Hodges. “But Gigantix is also eective in attracting less frequent players who choose a big, unique Gigantix game just because they don’t play often.”