Manufacturer: Bally Technologies
Platform: Alpha Elite S9E
Format: Five-reel, 40-line video slot
Denomination: .01
Max Bet: 200
Top Award: Progressive; $250,000 reset
Hit Frequency: 46.88%
Theoretical Hold: 11.87%-13.44%

Bally's latest wide-area progressive offering features a wide-screen reel-spinning format-it is the "CineReels" platform-and a new top-box bonus feature called "MegaReels." A set of three giant reels embedded in the top box is activated buy reel triggers for a bonus round.

The primary game is a 40-line, 200-credit stepper with four proprietary progressive levels and a top wide-area progressive resetting at $250,000. (It is one of the games currently in the multi-denominational "QuarterMillion$" progressive link.) The top progressive is won by lining up nine stacked "Instant Fortune" symbols on the three middle reels.

Those symbols also trigger the in-house progressives. Three or four symbols on the middle reels return static awards of five credits and 10 credits, respectively, times the total bet. Five symbols trigger a progressive resetting at $10; six symbols, $20; seven symbols, $100; and eight symbols, $1,000.

Three bonus symbol on the middle reels trigger the Mega Reel Top Box Bonus Feature. The giant top reels spin automatically until a winning combination triggers one of four bonus amounts-five credits, 10 credits, 50 credits or 500 credits, each times the total bet. The player is guaranteed a win on the big bonus reels, which are triggered every 64 spins, on average.

By Frank Legato

Frank Legato is editor of Casino Connection and also editor of Global Gaming Business magazine. He has been writing on gaming topics since 1984, when he launched and served as editor of Casino Gaming magazine. Legato, a nationally recognized expert on slot machines, has served as editor and reporter for a variety of gaming publications, including Public Gaming, IGWB, Casino Journal, Casino Player, Strictly Slots and Atlantic City Insider. He has an B.A. in journalism and an M.A. in communications from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. He is the author of the recently published book on gaming, How To Win Millions Playing Slot Machines... Or Lose Trying.