Ainsworth Game Technology: Fruits of the Labor

A new commitment to R&D has resulted in high-performing new games for Ainsworth

Five years ago, Ainsworth Game Technology announced a new commitment to game development in an effort to broaden the scope of its game library and expand the fan base for its games to new players.

The company wanted to replicate the success it has had in the high-denomination video segment with multi-denomination games that covered all the bases as far as modern game mechanics.

Since then, the company has added development studios and development talent, and has released games in all denominations, new styles and new verticals, notably historical horse racing, Class II and VLTs.

Ainsworth game developers have adopted the Unity platform for game development. The powerful platform has increased game quality while greatly shortening the time from game concept to market. Consequently, Ainsworth’s game production has increased—with more hits, thanks to a formula that involves retaining the features and titles that players love but adding unique takes on all of the popular slot game mechanics, from collection pots to hold-and-spin.

An added benefit of the Unity platform is that it can quickly port games from Class III to HHR, Class II and online, which has allowed Ainsworth to increase its footprint in all verticals.

The commitment to R&D has paid off this year, according to Matt Smith, vice president of marketing and product strategy at Ainsworth. “We’re starting to see a level of performance that we haven’t seen in a long time,” Smith says. “At the Global Gaming Expo, we’ll be presenting to the market how far development has come over the past 12 months. That’s proven through the performance success of our most recent releases, Dragon Legacy, Fa Cai and Train Heist.”

Smith says the recent success is the result of a revamp of the development team. Keith Kruczynski became vice president of studios at Ainsworth in 2022 after a long and successful career as a game designer at Bally Technologies and Scientific Games.

This year, the development function was further strengthened with the appointment of Daniel Eulenfeld as senior vice president of studios for North America. Eulenfeld formerly was senior VP of game development at Everi Holdings.

The game development function has been augmented and improved. “We brought in new development talent over the last two years, and that’s spearheaded our push into the low-denom space,” says Smith. “We’re very aware of what’s going on in the market, so as we design our low-denom games, we’re making sure to include the features and volatility needed to succeed.

 “We’re staying true to what the market is asking for by making higher-volatility games, but still putting the Ainsworth stamp on the games.”

Form and Substance

At this year’s G2E, that “Ainsworth stamp” will start with new hardware—the latest entry in the Raptor cabinet family, the Raptor A865. It is a large-format follow-up to the Raptor A849 (launched in 2023) and its 49-inch portrait monitor, injecting a cinematic quality with a 65-inch J-curve monitor.

In a spotlight in last month’s P3 supplement, Ainsworth called the A865 “the largest and most immersive cabinet the company has ever created.”

The jumbo 65-inch curved monitor creates an expansive display that draws players in, and the cabinet also features Ainsworth’s innovative SS/DS hybrid technology, providing a versatile platform designed to support an engaging gaming experience. It features an 18-inch Duo Button Deck with dual smash buttons, surround-sound audio and LED frame lighting.

The Raptor A865 Portrait will launch with the full Raptor A849 game library, giving players access to all the games from the original Raptor cabinet, enhanced by the larger presentation.

“The base cabinet is the same as the A849; you just have the bigger monitor,” Smith explains. “We’re seeing that large-format games are performing better in the market, so taking the same game you’d find on a normal 49-inch curve screen and placing it on the bigger 65-inch real estate improves performance significantly.”

Highlighting those games at G2E will be Ainsworth’s hit Dragon Legacy game family on the Raptor A865. Launched on the A849 earlier this year, the game’s two base games, Dragon Legacy Wood and Dragon Legacy Metal, have consistently performed well over house average. The game family landed in the No. 1 spot on the June Eilers-Fantini Game Performance Report in the New Core Video category.

The games feature five independent collection pots, each leading to a unique bonus feature. Special symbols shoot up to feed the five collection pots, any one of which can trigger its designated bonus.

The pots include “Premium Symbols”—which transform regular symbols into higher-paying symbols—“Free Games,” “Jackpot Pick,” “Wheel Spin” and the first-of-its-kind “Red Envelope Reveal.”

Red Envelope Reveal carves out a “pay zone,” and when the target symbol lands in the zone, the player is awarded the corresponding credit award multiplied by a mystery multiplier that is revealed to the player at the beginning of the bonus through a unique scratch-off feature.

Dragon Legacy will be accompanied by G2E launches of new games that will be available on both the 49-inch and 65-inch versions of the Raptor. At the front is ancient Egypt-themed Shrine of the Guardian, which features three metamorphic pots that enhance a unique “Prize Catch” bonus feature.

Launch games are Bastet and Anubis, the names reflecting the main characters that host the reel-spinning and bonus features. The characters both come from Egyptian mythology. Bastet is a lioness goddess; Anubis is the god of tombs, with the head of a jackal. (They’re a lot friendlier here than the traditional mythical entities.)

When the Prize Catch feature is triggered, the screen displays a five-by-eight grid, and the player is granted free spins to land cash-on-reels symbols. The game character appears on a win-zone grid that floats around the screen as cash-on-reels symbols cascade down to the screen, awarding prizes that are in the zone when the spin stops.

Landing gems on a spin expands the Prize Catch win zone, “catching” more prizes. Gems and diamonds accumulate to award bonus prizes.

The pot enhancements that can trigger the Prize Catch feature include “Growth,” which adds diamond symbols to progress more quickly toward the large bonus; “Flood,” which unleashes a huge overlay of cash-on-reels symbols that cascade down the grid for multiple cash awards; and “Repeat,” which repeats the blue gem symbols.

Landing four scarab symbols in the feature triggers a secondary feature within the main bonus. The screen switches to the “Treasure Room,” housing a pyramid-shaped stack of 10 boxes. A hold-and-spin sequence follows, in which landing cash awards in all 10 boxes returns the Grand progressive jackpot, resetting at $10,000 or $20,000, depending on denomination.

Spanning the Forms

In addition to the new cabinet, Ainsworth’s G2E display will highlight new releases on all other formats within the A-STAR Raptor family. Debuting on the dual-screen Raptor A832 is Thunder Cash, which features a simple cash-on-reels format in the primary five-reel game. Landing Thunder Cash symbols on reels 1 and/or 5 awards all cash-on-reels symbols or lower-level jackpot icons on the screen. Landing more than one Thunder Cash symbol on either reel applies multipliers to the cash prizes.

A random “Thunder Respin” feature locks the Thunder Cash symbols on the first or fifth reel and awards three re-spins with all cash or jackpot symbols returning instant awards.

Another random feature is “High Roller Free Spins.” The player is awarded 10 free spins, with all cash-on-reels values multiplied.

In addition to the G2E show releases will be a few games to be released in early 2027, and several games that were released this summer to early accolades.

Among the recently released titles is Kaiju Cash, on the A832 cabinet. The top screen displays two collection pots, each marked by a smiling Kaiju, a giant dragon-like creature borrowed from Japanese monster films. At the back of the screen is a volcano that randomly erupts to trigger a bonus feature.

The main bonus feature, triggered by one of the pots or by a line combination, is a “Prize Catch” bonus, in which a floating win zone lands any cash-on-reels prize falling within the zone. The win zone expands when the player collects enough diamonds, from an original three-by-three grid to a maximum five-by-seven zone.

If the “Mega Cash” pot feature is active, a huge block of cash-on-reels symbols randomly cascades down to the win zone, scoring multiple prizes and speeding up the growth of the Prize Catch win zone. The “Ultimate Respin” pot triggers a feature within the main feature that awards a random number of free spins, with a rising multiplier applied to each cash award. The multiplier increases from 2X to a maximum 8X.

When the volcano erupts, it triggers a match-three bonus for a guaranteed prize of one of the five jackpots, including a top progressive resetting at $10,000 or $20,000, depending on denomination.

Among the games debuting at G2E for release early next year are Make it Big Tiki Totems and Cash Lab. The former features a hold-and-spin bonus on a three-level grid, with bronze, silver and gold Tiki symbols landing prizes that are larger with each color. Cash Lab is a three-pot game featuring a mad scientist character and enhancements to a hold-and-spin feature.

Another upcoming game is a new version of Bubble Up, the hit game featuring fish in tubes above the reels that rise until they trigger a free games feature. In this case, sharks replace the fish in a funny bonus round featuring animated shark characters.

Finally, the company is bringing games that have been smash hits in markets like Australia—where Ainsworth had its best year ever—to North American markets. Heading up the list are game families Fortune Bull and Digging for Dollars.

Fortune Bull features a “Hold & Stack” bonus in which cash-on-reels symbols lock in place until completing a full-reel stack, with the full amount awarded. There also is a free-spin feature in which wild symbols randomly expand to fill the entire reel.

Digging for Dollars includes a free-spin feature in which a random gold nugget triggers a secondary feature within the main feature. When triggered, after the main bonus is complete, a second screen appears, in which mining rail cars travel across the screen dropping nuggets that accumulate in one spot.

“One of the really important developments in our game lineup is that we are offering different denomination groups,” says Smith, noting that three groups are offered for new games, an “A” group with penny through $2 denoms, a “B” group with nickel-to-$10 denoms, and a “C” group going from 10 cents to $20. “What that does, especially in high-limit rooms, is to ‘denom-up’ the low-denomination games,” Smith says. “We can now offer our product to go on your main floor as a penny game or higher-limit areas as mid- and high-denomination games. Operators have the flexibility to place the games wherever they like on the floor.”

Smith is part of a new executive team at Ainsworth, having joined the company in April after eight years in product management at IGT and time before that on the operations side with MGM Resorts. Just after Smith joined, Ainsworth announced that Ryan Comstock had been named permanent CEO, having held the title of acting CEO since 2025. Eulenfeld joined the studio team in June.

“It has been a privilege to work alongside the talented team at Ainsworth for more than a decade,” said Comstock, who was COO of the company before assuming the top job, in a press statement. “I am grateful for the confidence the board has placed in me and look forward to building on the company’s established foundation as we focus on delivering innovative products and supporting our customers through a diverse range of product offerings.”