Going to Love Island
Frank takes love into his own hands with Love Island: Unlocked
It says here that FanDuel now offers a slot game called “Love Island: Unlocked.”
My life is now complete.
The game, developed by White Hat Gaming exclusively for FanDuel, is themed around the dating reality TV series Love Island USA, which in turn is based on the British dating reality series Love Island. Basically, a bunch of single people have to “couple up” in “The Villa,” a resort on some exotic island. They have to call each other “Islanders,” and they’re only allowed cellphones that connect them to other Islanders.
And they form couples, and they can “swap” to “re-couple” with someone else, and anyone left single is “dumped” off the island, and annoying couples can be voted off the island by the others or by the public, and there’s a public vote to decide which two Islanders make the darned-cutest couple for a $100,000 prize.
That’s the show, and suffice it to say that along the way, there’s sniping and conniving and favorite characters stabbing each other in the back over who is the Jim-dandy-most-attractive couple on the island.
I had never heard of the show, of course. I’m not normally on the lookout for the next big reality show. In fact, I don’t believe I have ever watched a single episode of a single reality show in my entire single life, or my married life, for that matter. As viewers gush over adorable Islanders, I’m probably watching a ballgame.
Sports, history documentaries and old movies. That’s all I watch on TV, and those are the only slot machine themes that appeal to me. (“General Grant Dual Progressive.” One of my favorites.)
Anyway, the online slot game, “Love Island: Unlocked,” lets you select a character at the beginning. You get to “step into the shoes” of your “favorite Islander,” according to a press release. “Randomly triggered modifiers inspired by iconic moments from the series keep every spin unpredictable,” the release says, “including ‘Bombshell in The Villa,’ which adds bonus symbols to the reels for maximum win potential.”
Wow. So many iconic moments in Love Island. How the heck do you decide what to pick? I can’t wait to try out “Bombshell in The Villa.” Maybe they couple you.
For all of you who may happen to love watching romance reality shows, I apologize for my sarcasm and smarminess. (Is that a word?) However, thank you very much, I’ll stick to my Double Diamond. I don’t even play slots online. I have nothing against online gaming, mind you. Hey, I work for the company that publishes iGaming Business. I’m happy that sector of the industry is doing well. I’ve just never personally wanted to gamble on my phone or laptop.
I prefer going to casinos, checking into the hotel, going to crowded craps tables, and seeing, you know, other people. It’s like my pappy always said: “At the very least, you should have to put on clothes to gamble.”
No, really. My dad said that all the time.
Moving on, artificial intelligence is one of the hot topics these days in the casino business. Go to any trade show and you’ll find at least one roundtable discussion by experts exploring how AI can help in casino marketing, operations and countless other functions. That’s why a recent article in the New York Times caught my attention. It revealed that a new book about the dangers of “soulless” artificial intelligence was written with the help of AI.
Imagine that. Using AI to warn about the dangers of using AI. That’s like using a gun to rob a gun store. Or developing a robot that can click the “I’m Not A Robot” button. Or looking up the word “thesaurus” in a thesaurus. (I did that just now. My computer blew up.)
AI seems to be on everyone’s mind right now. There are people who fear their jobs will be eliminated by AI, and evidently, that includes writers. Heck, while I was writing this very column, an annoying little floating dot they added to Microsoft Word popped up, inviting me to use AI to “structure and refine this document.”
No thank you. Writers who use AI are cheating, in my opinion. Then again, maybe AI wrote the previous sentence. Maybe this whole column. Maybe I’m a bot. Can you tell?
I’m guessing my job is safe, at least until someone develops an AI program that can make wisecracks about casinos. If you find one, let me know. Maybe it will be funnier than I am.
Or maybe there already is one, and I just used it. Cue Rod Serling: “Food for thought… in the Twilight Zone.”
Now, if you’ll excuse me, Love Island is on.
