Eclipse Gaming Systems – On the Rise

Every year since Tim Minard became CEO of Georgia-based Class II supplier Eclipse Gaming Systems, the company has added to its R&D efforts and improved its product library. Minard has always said he wants Eclipse to be the best at serving tribal customers in the Class II market, but the fact is, Eclipse has become a force in game supply, whether in Class II or any other vertical.

It is likely that the supplier will enter the Class III market at some point, but in the meantime, Eclipse has built its Class II product to provide some of the highest-performing games in the sector. It has added development talent from the Class III market and entered a notable partnership with Interblock to create the first electronic table games in Class II.

“We came into this year trying to enhance the games we had in the field,” says Minard. “We did it through concepts, we did it through talent acquisition—hiring people we felt could make an impact.”

Hiring Mike Trask as chief product officer was one significant talent acquisition this year. Before joining Eclipse in January, Trask spent nine years at Ainsworth Game Technology, where he was vice president of product strategy and marketing and most recently headed that company’s Austin game development studio.

“Mike’s brought a bunch of knowledge about the industry and processes that some of the major corporations have implemented—not only new games, but gaming operations, and even marketing experience to augment the team,” Minard says. “He really has overhauled how we produce our games, the concept of our studios, and what to expect from each studio. That’s been exciting to watch.”

New titles this year focus on the style of game play, Minard says. “We wanted to execute on three things: New titles that were competitive, even the Class III world. We wanted to bring in a second vertical, ETGs, successfully, which we did. And then, we wanted to continue to execute on expanding the footprint, which we did.”

Trask has specialized in the first goal, competitive titles, and the hardware that houses the games. “Looking at Eclipse going into 2026, there are three big pieces of news,” Trask says.

“First, over the summer, we introduced the first new cabinet Eclipse has done in about five years. It’s called the Callisto. We showed a prototype version at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow, and we’ll show it again at G2E in a much larger way, with content we’ve produced since then.”

The Callisto features a 49-inch 4K floating glass display, full interactive edge lighting, a 13-inch LCD button deck and dual bash buttons.

Most important, according to Trask, is the advanced computer system powering game design. “The board within this allows us to take games to truly the next level for Eclipse,” he says. “It puts us into that 3D animation, full entertainment experience.”

Trask credits Aaron Colpaert, senior product manager, and Russ Witt, chief business development officer, for developing the platform. “I just came in, and now I’ve got this really cool canvas to work on,” Trask says.

“Callisto is Eclipse’s very first fully custom-developed cabinet,” says Colpaert. “Our business model has always been more of content creation and off-the-shelf boxes. This is now the vehicle in which we’ve invested to actually drive that canvas that Mike mentioned.”

Trask says the second significant news for Eclipse this year is the deal with Interblock, which has already resulted in several installations of MiniStar Roulette, the Class II ETG developed jointly by the two companies. “Over 60-90 days of installs, the game is working phenomenally,” Trask says. “We think there’s a huge growth potential in that product.”

The ETG product includes traditional roulette and the specialty Golden Ball Roulette, an Interblock roulette variation in which a side bet qualifies players for a random Golden Ball Spin for bonus pays. Recent installations include Montana’s 500 Nations Fort Belknap Casino and Gray Wolf Peak Casino.

“We’ll have a number of additional installs expected by the end of the year,” says Trask. “We’re seeing the type of performance you’d expect when you’re introducing a roulette ETG product into markets that have never had that option before. You’re seeing the numbers just go through the roof.”

The other big news for Eclipse is the strengthening of R&D and new game development processes. “We brought in an incredible array of talent on the game development side,” Trask says. “I don’t think this company has ever had the level of experience on the game development side it has today.”

Callisto Crowd

Among the highlights of the Global Gaming Expo for Eclipse will be the full rollout of games featured on the new Callisto cabinet. That will include the inaugural game on the cabinet released last spring, but with the features refined since then.

The game series is Adventures on the High Seas, with base games Blackwater’s Bounty and Rose’s Revenge—featuring central male and female pirate characters—hosting a rich collection of primary-game features and bonuses, capped by a pirate ship battle played out in an array of color and booming sounds.

The central battle represents one of the revisions to the game Trask has implemented since its Indian Gaming launch. The player is assigned to represent one of the battling pirates in the game, and players shoot at their enemy ship to rack up credits while trying to sink the opponent for an added bonus.

In the original version of the game, the battle was depicted movie-style—a long-range view of the two ships blasting each other. The new version is more video game-style, with the player in the shooter’s position as the spin button sends cannon blasts at the opposing ship.

Trask says the ship battle, the pot collection feature and a jackpot picking bonus combine for constant action. “Something happens every five spins,” he says.

At G2E, Eclipse will launch new Callisto game families Pop and Link Blast.

Chicken Pop and Bandit Pop feature the title characters—different-colored cool chickens or raccoons (the “Bandits”)—who act as the pot fillers. In Chicken Pop, the chickens grow larger as feed bucket symbols fly up, until the chickens are scraping the ceiling of the monitor. When one or more bursts, it triggers an enhanced hold-and-spin bonus.

When the feature is triggered, the respective chicken awards a number of spins for the hold-and-spin feature. If multiple pots trigger at once, more spins are added. One of the chickens is marked “Extra Games,” adding spins when landing to extend the feature. “Double Eggs” doubles the reel array for the feature. “Bonus Pop” triggers another feature called “Pop Cap.” Every time it lands during the feature, all cash-on-reels collected are awarded instantly.

There also is an interactive picking bonus that occurs frequently.

Link Blast is another new hold-and-spin series, with base games Link Blast Mighty Tiki and Link Blast Ra’s Legacy. Both feature next-level animation in the three pot fillers, the Tiki characters or colorful mystical Egyptian gods. In both games, the pot characters are marked “Gem Multipliers,” “Extra Spins” and “Gem Blast.”

They grow as gem symbols land on the reels until one or more of them triggers a hold-and-spin event with a four-spin reset instead of the normal three. (Six gems in a primary-game spin also trigger the feature.) The gems can trigger one of the other enhancements during the feature.

“Gem Multipliers” applies multipliers to any cash-on-reels awards on the board when it lands in the feature. “Extra Spins” gives a lifeline when four spins occur without a gem, throwing a gem on the reels to trigger another four spins. “Gem Blast” throws gems on the screen to trigger all three enhancements for the entire feature.

Another game designed for the Callisto is Banana Bash, a funny game featuring an animated monkey that Trask says will be a highlight of the company’s G2E display. At the center of the game are the three filler pots of bananas, which grow larger every time a banana symbol lands on the reels. The pots are marked “Flambé,” “Split” and “Pie.” When one or more of the pots burst—or when six or more cash-on-reels symbols land—it triggers a hold-and-spin event.

During the feature, “Flambé” frames random locked cash-on-reels symbols and increases their value with every spin for the remainder of the feature. “Split” splits a cash-on-reels symbol into two symbols of equal value, and you can also split the split. “Pie” triggers a feature within the feature. A pie with six slices appears on the screen, and a mini hold-and-spin round takes place. If you fill the pie slices with cash, it reveals a multiplier that is applied to the total.

“Banana Bash is the kind of game that really draws a line for us, where we’re able to showcase what the company’s investment in talent and resources and hardware is capable of delivering,” Trask says.

“The visuals, the sound on these games really speak volumes about what this cabinet’s able to do. We tentatively plan to have these available within a couple weeks of G2E in either way, and they will be a large part of what’s available at this show as direct sales.”

More Hit Videos

The Callisto group of games is not the only source of potential hits for Eclipse. One outstanding example to be unveiled at G2E is Rail Pays, which molds a train theme into a collection of bonuses that work together for constant action.

Rail Pays (the first base game is Diamond Damsel) displays five trains, each of which is a pot that triggers a different enhancement to a unique cascading free-spin event. But other bonuses happen within the primary game. Two train symbols on the reels trigger either a wheel bonus—a wheel spins to one of five credit awards or an extra spin—or the Rail Pays cascading free spins.

The five enhancements are displayed on the button deck, and each can be triggered within the free-spin event.

“With Rail Pays, we’re trying to give players a non-repeatable bonus event,” says Trask. “When you have so many different features that you can combine, there can be 26 different combinations of features, all driven off the same trigger. You’re able to experience that bonus in new ways every time you hit it.

“There is something new and exciting happening for the player every time, both in the potential for big prizes and in the experience as a whole.”

Another G2E standout, featured on the Impact 49 and Impact 43 cabinets, is Spin Big Gears of Wealth, the third game in the Spin Big series. It is centered around a two-level spinning wheel that fills the monitor behind a three-by-three reel set. When triggered, the inner wheel spins to a credit award or an “Upgrade” symbol that triggers the outer wheel, which includes large credit awards and each of the game’s four progressive jackpots.

This latest version of the game, which features an ornate wheel in an Art Deco-inspired presentation, includes a “Buy-a-Spin Big Wheel Bonus.” It allows the player to buy a spin on the lucrative outer wheel for $25 on the lowest denomination of the game.

“What makes this game compelling is that ability to buy a bonus,” Trask says. “You’re offering players the chance to take a big, volatile spin of the wheel that can really pay off or can really be a rough ride.”

The wheel bonus is augmented by a free-spin bonus and a pick-em feature that leads to one of the jackpots.

In all, the improvements in R&D talent and revised game development processes will result in a G2E display like none of the former game collections from Eclipse.

“We’ve done a ton of stuff in the past six months, and it has been so much about cleaning up the experience for the player on the floor,” Trask says. “We’ve vastly improved the way we’re doing attracts, we’ve played around with some logos, we’ve added some Easter eggs to games—which is something that probably hasn’t been done phenomenally over the years, but there’s nothing a player loves more than touching that screen.

“We’ve adjusted the way we are incrementing and paying jackpots, making some strategic decisions to hopefully make these big prizes feel more achievable to players, as well as to reward players who are betting more with better odds.”

For Minard, it’s all about being the best innovator in the Class II space. “We still want to grow in Class II—Class II now being ETGs as well,” he says. “We look at ourselves now more as being a solution center for Class II. We’re trying to bring out roulette and craps, we’re working with the labs and key partners like Interblock.”

Eclipse also is spreading its games to markets like the Montana VLT distributed gaming business, where the company has never been before.

Being all about Class II, of course, means being all about the tribes. “What else can we do to help the tribes get more revenue and do better with their properties?” Minard says. “Even in the new markets, it’s all about helping the tribes.”

In the meantime, Eclipse continues to mature as a slot supplier. “Everything we’re doing is growing us up to the next level, without any drama. It’s not that we don’t want to get really big; it’s just that we don’t have to. Growth happens because of the ingredients you have in a business.”

Those ingredients are certainly adding up to, well, big things.