ICE 2007 had a hard act to follow after the 2006 show, which was a roaring success and generated enormous business for most of the exhibitors. Could the show withstand G2E’s date switch, throwing it back in the calendar to within almost eight weeks of the London show?

The answer is an unequivocal ‘yes’. ICE 2007 was a huge success on every level, it seemed; the floor bustled and the feeling of business being done, of deals being completed snowballed from last year. ICEi is clearly here to stay, which adds to the show’s energy enormously. If ICE can maintain its momentum and not be damaged by G2E’s move in the medium- to long-term, it could become the number one show internationally for the casino industry, it’s becoming so highly regarded.

As you can see from the image above, Novomatic’s stand was unbelievably busy, by some distance the most consistently busy of the entire show floor.

It wasn’t only the gaming giant’s amazing bar that drew the crowds – they had a superb range of product on show, some of ICE’s highlights.

First off, 16 new game titles for their Coolfire II platform were on show. For some companies, a huge number of new games would be enough but we’ve come to expect more from Novomatic, and they delivered. Drawing the eye was the Multi-Gaminator XXI cabinet, housing a selection of top titles from the Coolfire I platform. Multi-game cabinets are growing in popularity as it’s an affordable way for operators to offer a larger number of games with the same number of cabinets, prior to server-based gaming becoming widely used.

Also new on the cabinet front was the delightful Duo-Vision, which combines the Streamline cabinet’s dimensions with a pair of wide panorama TFT screens (16:10 ratio). It’s a fresh look and a stylish cabinet.

But that’s not everything; arguably the most impressive new product on their stand was the Super-R Gaminator. This cabinet, utilising their famous Coolfire II platform, boasts ‘hybrid technology’, enabling it to combine three giant mechanical reels with two wide, high-resolution touchscreens.

Another interesting addition to their canon is the AGI Slant-Top cabinet, which features a 22” bottom touchscreen plus a 27” top screen. An excellent touch on this cabinet is giving the customer the choice to choose which screen they want to play on, as they can switch the main game from bottom to top screen.

Following their recent Roulette installation at Casino Duisburg, Novomatic were proudly exhibiting additions to the Novo TouchBet family, with Novo TouchBet Live-Sic Bo and Novo TouchBet Live-Baccarat, which will no doubt help their penetration into the Asian markets.

AGI Managing Director Jens Halle said of the show: “I am happy to say that ICE 2007 was an exceptionally good show for us. Our new products produced a great response and received fantastic feedback, and we were able to generate very promising business contacts. The results of the show open highly positive prospects for the year 2007 especially with regard to our international expansion. We will definitely be able to further strengthen our position in the European core markets, and intensify our activities in Asian markets and in South-America. I am certain that 2007 will be a very busy and exciting year for us.”

Hess were ensconced in the Atronic stand, and enjoying plenty of attention thanks to the hugely impressive Scorpion, a kiosk designed with the casino floor in mind. This machine enables customers to make a card purchase, card redemption, ticket redemption and even uploading cards; it does just about everything. The design is beautifully compact, and the price point, revealed Erik de Kat, is at a level which means an operator can have two or three of these on their floor to cut down on customer queuing without spending much more than they would one fewer alternative machines. A very attractive proposition from Hess.

As Erik explains, “It’s a very sturdy machine, it’s a cabinet we also use in the banking industry for currency changers, so it’s a safe area and we are working on casinos in South Africa and they really ask for strong machines, safe machines. And it’s all-in-one, everything is there.

“This machine is in a totally different price level than the old machine, because we see that on the casino floor they want as many machines as they can afford because they have to be spread all over the casino.”

The new kiosk is in black because it looks “smaller on the floor”, and as you can see from the picture, it’s a fine looking piece of equipment.

Gaming Support had a great-looking stand; it can’t be easy to design a stand that’s representative of what your company does when it does just about everything! Gaming Support’s main push at ICE seemed to be for JackpotJunction XL, a very well-rounded digital signage and marketing solution for casinos. It allows a casino operator or manager to create their own media network and drive promotions through screens on the gaming floor or wherever they may be in the establishment. Deployed using unique media zones, operators deliver targeted messages to customer segments based on their location, so it’s very targeted, very focussed marketing.

Steve Coltman, sales manager for Gaming Support, explains: “JackpotJunction XL is actually a narrowcasting solution which is targeted at the casinos and at the arcades. One of the key features on it, the main one what the casinos like is when it’s actually tied into the slot machines. For example, if you’re part of a group like Partouche, if you have a hit in Nice that will show in the north of France, so it can be an effective marketing network for a group of casinos or a solution for a single casino.”

Gaming Support are also promoting their table games, as Steve elaborates: “What we’re doing in the table games is, we’re basically looking at one of the needs a casino has today and what the casino is saying. They say that their crowd is getting older and older in Europe and because of that they need to find a way to attract younger people. And we’re finding that poker is a big pull, we’re finding that poker is a very big success right now, especially France which has picked it up like a rocket. So what we’re doing is we’re introducing games where it will allow a younger crowd to step in, try a new game which is probably not what your older players are playing and then move on to the rest of the casino, and the key feature is that these games need to be fast and they need to be exciting and that’s what we concentrate on.”

Also new for Gaming Support were BonusBox, an exciting slot accessory, and a new table game called Shut Dice, both of which we will be covering in more depth in a forthcoming issue.

Elo TouchSystems were very excited about their stand at ICE, and, it turns out, with good reason; the company was displaying their new capacitive touchscreen technology, as well as a new anti-vandal touchscreen. But that’s not all – they were also showing their brand new touch technology called Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR), which was only announced last year but was available to buy in London.

Mike Sigona explains the idea: “This is quite revolutionary because it’s so simple, it’s just a piece of glass with four tiny transducers on it and that’s it, and basically when you touch the screen it hears the sound of your touch, and figures out exactly where you touched. For example, if you bang on a table, every point has a different sound, you can hear it. So it’s basically doing it like that, but super-accurate. Since it’s glass it has the best possible optics, light transaction, minimum reflection, colour purity, so you always want to have a glass touchscreen. It works with fingernail, pen, credit card, you name it.

“You could never touch the screen with a fingernail before in casino machines, now you can.

“Also, it has the narrowest borders of any technology, with only 5mm borders, which will be essential as LCD panels get smaller and smaller.

“The construction is so simple, which should have a long-term effect on the cost position of this technology too. And it’s unaffected by water, grease, dirt, it can be watertight sealed, it’s scratch resistant, never needs calibration, it’s got it all. You can even put your whole hand on there, you can touch, you can hide cards…”

Mike was understandably enthused by the new technology, and after a demo I was completely sold; Elo have basically futureproofed their technology; it will be some time before this becomes passé.

Their capacitive touchscreens are also worth a lengthy mention; Mike again demonstrated, and explained perfectly: “It has a brand new controller which really is the brains behind the technology. So it’s very accurate, it’s very responsive, the design of the screen is our own design, because we have our patented linear border there for linearization. We only require a two-point calibration where our competition has 25 points to calibrate it, so we have much more linear by design.

“The controller supports all the protocols, so it’s basically drop-in compatible with either technology, either protocol. The controller is dual USB and serial in one controller, so basically you really have a choice now. I encourage people to try our capacitor screen.

“One thing that’s different from our competition is that we have a ground layer on the back; they eliminated the ground layer to get a little bit better optics, and about a couple of percent of light transmission. But the reality is a lot of people need that ground layer because of noisy displays, or the environment you’re in. That’s why we decided to put the ground layer on it, because when talking to customers we had, they were actually upset because our competitor got rid of it. So we have it, units are in stock and it’s available as components or integrated in our monitors as a complete solution.”

You’ll be reading more about Elo in forthcoming issues of Casino International.

SET had a good time at ICE, presenting their newest version of their LCD displays to be used with American Roulette. It boasts Real Sim technology, which pictures a ‘real simulation’ of the wheel, momentary video reading, stats on simple bets, cool and hot numbers and a video feed.

They exhibited the electronic Roulette SET Engine, and remote terminal ‘Alaska’, with plasma and 19” LCD displays for clients to see the game unfold.

Nova Desitec were unhappy about their stand position, but it did not impact on the company’s business at ICE. Celebrating their 10th anniversary, and their fourth visit to ICE, ND had their full casino and AWP line-up on show.

With country-specific titles Return of the Pharaoh (Hungary), Gangsters (Czech Republic) and Robin Hood (Section 31, for the UK), it’s no wonder Santiago Tirado, Sales Manager, was upbeat. He said: “Our customers were quite impressed what a wide range of international products we can offer. Also our new hardware platform developed in-house for the international casino markets caused very positive reactions among the visitors.”

Sales Director Thore Noll reflected: “Compared with the last year’s show this year seemed to be less busy probably because of the Las Vegas show in November. But we feel that the quality of the visitors and the readiness to invest money was quite higher this year.”

In other exciting news for ND, the company announced they are to open a new office in Serbia, specifically in Subotica.

Gaming Partners International had a large stand, as we have come to expect, and their educational approach to RFID chips seems to win over the crowds at every show they attend. The emphasis at ICE was on their classy live presentations of readers and operational applications, and notably the new Mini Table Top Authenticator. Christophe Leparoux, GPI International Sales and Marketing Manager, said of the product: “Stacks of 20 RFID chips can be authenticated and accounted for at the table in a few seconds. It provides casino management a very cost-effective solution to drastically improve the casino protection against counterfeiting. This product is currently being tested at Wynn Las Vegas.”

GPI also demonstrated an impressive array of upgraded software such as Pit Boss CID, an application where the exact situation of the fills, credits and drops of every single table is reported and recorded into the database, allowing for automatic opening and closing procedures of the tables, a system which has been successfully implemented at the recently-opened G Casino in Manchester, England.

That’s not all – the company introduced its exclusive Electronic Chips Surveillance or ECS system. 125KHz microchips embedded in the chips alert security personnel or trigger surveillance systems should staff leaving the gaming areas attempt to take stolen chips through electronic sensors at exit doors. Christophe added: “This is a dream come true. The system combines the security protection against employee theft with the operational benefits of the 125KHz RFID technology for the same price.”

Of course, GPI is not just about RFID. There was also room for the new line of plaques and jetons for 2007, which the company is world-renowned for, plus a new line of chips called ‘S2’, which boasts three types of UV pigment incorporated into the plastic of the chip, see through edge inserts and high security holograms. All in all, GPI’s product line is looking very, very strong for 2007.

Global Payment Technologies is a company with a justifiably optimistic outlook. ICE saw their new Falcon bill validator and their tried-and-tested SA-4 grab the attention of potential and existing customers. Falcon uses Digital Signage Processor technology for fast and reliable note recognition, which, working alongside GPT’s patented RGBI optical technology, means it can validate notes from any country.

SA-4 is Falcon’s sturdy, reliable older brother, TITO-capable and inexpensive, effective and well-respected in both the casino and vending worlds.

GPT, as well as unveiling Falcon, are looking toward the summer when their new optical sensor range will be available; look out for news on that range in forthcoming issues of Casino International.

Gold Club exhibited five smart automatic Roulettes,. One on display comes in different configurations according to customer need: five-, six-, eight- and 10-player models of the classic automated machine. Another on show is known as Pepo Roulette, a seven-seater. The remaining three Roulettes were one-player, five- and eight-player machines, all using touchscreen technology and with a modern overall design.

Gold Club also showed 16 upright slots, with an interesting range of bonus features.

Alfastreet were showing their new C Line automated Roulette. The company is getting a reputation for innovation, which will be boosted by this new model. Without seeming to compromise too much on space, the C Line seats 12 players in the same space as most automated Roulette multiplayers seat eight players. Do the maths and that makes this a very, very attractive machine indeed. But that’s not the only thing that impresses about C Line. It’s not actually a 12-player machine, it’s actually configurable up to 24 player stations. Alfastreet is pushing the 12-player element because that setup actually occupies the same amount of space as its classic R8 automated machine. But C Line is made up of semi-circular and flat building elements, so as the table grows it becomes a lozenge shape. Very nice – and when you add in their new dice game, a variation on Sic Bo, it becomes even more attractive.

Their classic R8 machine was prominent, of course, but the other stand-out was their M Line terminals. M Line is modules with two player stations, each with a touchscreen display. Play Roulette or Alfastreet Dice with a live wheel and camera set-up, plus an LCD screen; add almost as many modules as you like. The best thing about M Line is their subtle looks, with classic clean lines and a design that’s clearly got player comfort in mind.

Money Controls were showing off their impressive Ardac Elite bill acceptor, which, since its announcement at last year’s ICE show, has been in trials at casinos worldwide. The company says that the acceptance rate from these trials with street-grade bills is as high as 97 per cent, which is certainly a figure to give Money Controls some optimism. Also on show was their Universal Hopper, which could be described as a gaming classic in terms of its design.

Money Controls Chief Executive Mike Innes said of the show: “ICE is the highlight of the year for the gaming market and is a bellwether for the industry. From what I’ve seen over the three days, I’d say that manufacturers and operators are more optimistic about the future and have put the recent uncertainty in certain markets behind them. That was certainly the impression gained on the Money Controls stand, where the level of interest shown, in both our new and long-established products, was the highest I’ve known for several years.”

Bally Technologies, in a stroke of brilliance, decided to push their Playboy slots with nothing less than real-life Playboy Bunnies on the stand, and there’s no denying that the tactic worked; the amount of attention they generated and autographs they signed was a sight to behold, even if it was not surprising. Their stand, Bunnies aside, was extremely impressive. Bally always seem to carry with them a certain amount of energy, that, while the company is a well-run gaming behemoth, their staff have a genuine enthusiasm for product and a deep knowledge, which makes them ideal for working trade show floors.

Bally’s front-runner at this year’s ICE was undoubtedly the ALPHA Elite series. This is an ingenious and admirable piece if engineering; it’s a common-base cabinet which allows the operator to switch between traditional reel-spinning slots and video slots. This remarkable variety of cabinet configurations includes the dramatic ALPHA Elite V32 video cabinet with a 32” vertical touch-screen showcasing Roulette and Keno Cash; the ALPHA Elite V20/20 with twin 20” stacked LCD touch-screens; the vivid ALPHA Elite V20 with a single 20” display; the ALPHA Elite S9C, featuring a 6.3” touch-screen below the reels and the all-new ALPHA Elite S9E stepper slot with 20” LCD mounted in the top box.

Backing up Bally’s reputation as a comprehensive supplier of slots and management tools, the cabinet styles all feature a selection of excellent, eye-catching games.

Also on show in terms of cabinets was Bally’s highly-regarded CineVision 26” widescreen surround-sound cabinet.

The latest incarnation of their classic Game Maker, called Game Maker HD, was being shown on the ALPHA Elite V20/20 cabinet, a multi-game brand that players will know from the past.

It was an impressive product showing from Bally. We will be looking more closely at these products and at the company’s Nice offices in a future issue of Casino International.

Another company with a very distinctive stand and branding was Ainsworth, who are pushing themselves very strongly as the company tries to extend its reach beyond its native Australia.

At ICE, Ainsworth was heavily promoting its new stand-alone progressives, a line which had not previously been available in Europe.

Also of note is their new multi-game product. As Daniel van Marissing, Sales Manager Europe explains: “This is brand new, and comes in five games and in four games according to the requirements of the market and the customer. It’s got three face games, which are already well-known product, and with two additional new games, which brings completely new product to the gaming floor, and so it’s also especially suitable for smaller venues. Instead of having say five machines, so they can all have five games on one great machine.”

It certainly makes economic sense, and multi-game machines, as mentioned earlier, are becoming increasingly popular almost as a bridging step before casinos plunge into server-based gaming.

2007 should be a big year for Ainsworth, as the company certainly has the product to back up its growth into newer territories.

That’s it for part one of our ICE review – join us again next issue when we look at Atronic, IGT, Dallmeier, MEI, FutureLogic, WMS and many, many more companies that helped make ICE 2007 the best so far. This show set a benchmark for all other to follow in 2007.

If ICE is a guide, then it’s going to be a great year for everyone involved in the casino industry.

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