More skill-based games coming to Nevada casinos
The state will welcome a new skill-based game manufacturing company from Australia.
The Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday approved the licensing of Wymac Development, parent company of Wymac Gaming Solutions.
Wymac is partnering with Las Vegas-based Station Casinos and slot machine giant IGT to distribute skill-based games that will enable players to wager on their abilities to advance through progressively difficult levels of competition — similar to what’s offered in sophisticated video games.
IGT in 2017 announced that it had entered a multiyear distribution agreement with a joint venture between Crown Resorts and a subsidiary of Wymac known as Chill Gaming — a blending of the words “chance” and “skill.”
IGT will distribute Chill’s “Bloomtopia” and “Fortunes of the Brave” games.
The games
“Bloomtopia” is a five-reel slot game that enables players to earn monetary and nonmonetary rewards and gives them the opportunity to grow and nurture a virtual garden throughout game play by awarding virtual resources such as water, sunlight and seeds.
“Fortunes of the Brave” is a skill-based game in which players have the opportunity to create an in-game character that they can customize throughout game play by earning and applying virtual currencies to purchase new game content.
Using radio-frequency identification technology, players will be able to preserve their level of play when they stop and can return to the same level when they resume.
The state Gaming Control Board recommended approval for Wymac in March, and company executives had hoped to win final approval from the commission March 19.
But Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered the closure of nonessential businesses, including casinos, a day earlier and the commission didn’t address the licensing in a short telephone meeting that day. Travel difficulties from Australia pushed approval to Thursday.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.
