One of the most popular slot machines ever made is coming to your home. A Casinocade cabinet based on Wheel of Fortune comes from Arcade1Up, the manufacturer of home arcade games such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. The new Wheel of Fortunate Casinocade Deluxe is available at BestBuy retail stores in the United States and BestBuy.com for $599.99. It features 24 casino games, including Blackjack, Mahjong, Deuces Wild, and more.
Arcade1Up seeks to deliver an authentic casino experience at home. To deliver on this, they collaborated with Las Vegas slot machine designers. This allows them to bring the sounds and sounds Vegas is known for to the home environment. The company is known for doing the same with popular arcade video games. Their line-up of replica arcade cabinets at affordable prices has helped put them on the map.
Taking a Closer Look
The Wheel of Fortune Casinocade is Arcade1Up's first venture into casino gaming. “Unlike your standard casino experience, you can't lose any money at all on this,” Arcade1Up says in a video overview. “The jackpot will be through our online leaderboard.”
“We've worked really closely with the Wheel of Fortune [and Sony Pictures Television]; we wanted to be authentic. We have the original style guide, original artwork, and all of the lights and sounds. When you start this up, you're immediately going to feel the swell of the crowd going ‘Wheel! Of! Fortune!' It's a really authentic experience to everything that makes Wheel of Fortune great.
“The cabinet comes mostly pre-assembled and only requires owners to assemble the pace. It features dual LCD screens (8″ top screen & 10.1″ bottom touch screen) and dual speakers, immersing players in the authentic casino experience.”
More About The Wheel of Fortune Slot Machine
The Wheel of Fortune slot machine first debuted in casinos in 1997. It was developed by International Game Technology (IGT), a multinational gambling company best known for its slot machines. A year later, IGT introduced a new version of the slot machine, complete with a bonus Wheel at the top. More recent special editions were released in the 2000s, allowing seating for up to nine players and featuring a giant Wheel as its centerpiece. Today, Wheel of Fortune is a casino staple.
“You can't walk across a casino floor without hearing it,” Boris Hallerbach, IGT's director of product management, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2021. “It's like the games are calling out to the players.” It wasn't an easy sell to Sony Pictures Television, however. “Getting an entertainment and television company to consider their content on slot machines was a little difficult. Sensitivity to how we represented the slot game and the experience was important, and we wanted to have some separation from the television show and the slot machine.”
According to IGT, there's an average of 65 hours between when $100,000-plus jackpots are awarded from the game. It has produced over 1,100 millionaires and paid over $3.3 billion since its debut. As of 2021, the largest jackpot awarded was $14.4 million in Biloxi, Mississippi. Over 250 variations of the Wheel of Fortune slot game have been produced.
A Leader in The Home Arcade Cabinet Industry
Founded in 2018, Arcade1Up began as a subsidiary of Tastemarkers, Inc. Its CEO, Scott Bachrach, aimed to grow the world of retro gaming. He knew home consumers wouldn't want to invest thousands of dollars in purchasing arcade cabinets. The solution is to craft a fully licensed 75% to-scale replica of popular arcade games, allowing the company to sell products at a more affordable price. These cabinets have an LCD screen, controller panel, and emulation hardware to run popular arcade games. Their best sellers include Centipede, NBA JAM, and NFL Blitz.
The company saw an increase in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people turned to video games to help pass the time during lockdowns. They sold their one-millionth unit in May 2020. In 2022, Arcade1Up introduced its “Pro Series” of cabinets. While they have a higher price point, they are a full-sized replica of the cabinets seen in arcades and bars worldwide.
The company touts a line-up with arcade classics such as Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Golden Tee 3D, Tron, and Pac-Man. A “Pro Series” version of the arcade light-gun Big Buck Hunter series is also on the way.
This article was produced by Media Decision and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.