Leading online casino game developer Microgaming has launched a brand-new pokies game, EmotiCoins, which was pitched entirely by staff members who are not typically involved with the games process.
EmotiCoins is now available at all leading Microgaming casino sites, including our favourites Royal Vegas Casino and Slots Million.
The EmotiCoins slot game brings the beloved emoji characters found in smartphone and tablet technology to the reels of the pokies. The idea was pitched by two staff members, Anna McChesney and Rob Mercer, as part of Microgaming’s Idea Factory staff initiative which encourages creative thinking from employees.
The idea for the game was submitted in 2016 after Anna and Rob highlighted just how popular emoticons have become in everyday life. As an example, they cited the fact that the use of emoji’s in Facebook posts can increase the number of likes by 57 per cent. The duo figured if emoticons were that popular, surely they could be converted into a successful online slot game.
Anna, who is the PR Manager at Microgaming, said, “As a marketer, to me the use of emoticons in social media and communication is fascinating; they have essentially become a universal language! 92% of the world’s online population use emoticons, so developing a themed game would automatically target the demographic of our operators’ players.”
The EmotiCoins slot idea was announced as one of five winning ideas at Microgaming’s Christmas party in 2016, and a development team got to work to bring the prototype to life.
EmotiCoins has now rolled out across Microgaming casino sites, offering a five-reel, 30 payline slot game with an upbeat soundtrack and vibrant graphics that include all your favourite emojis, like the winking face and kissing face. The game offers two wild bonuses, the Wild Blast which awards five extra wilds and a guaranteed win, and Wild Stickers which are wild symbols that are held in place during free spins. The games scatter, the LOL symbol, has the power to trigger 10 free spins.
Microgaming’s Idea Factory initiative is an innovative in-house program that collects, filters and refines ideas put forward by staff to improve the company’s culture, processes and technology. The initiative won the Spark Award in 2017, an honour that celebrates organisations that experiment with different ways of working. The Spark Award is part of the Spark the Change global movement which aims to empower people and build happier work places.
Lydia Barbara, Head of Innovation Strategy at Microgaming said, “We are super excited to be taking live the first game concept driven from the Idea Factory by staff members who would ordinarily not be involved in game conception.”