The iGaming – the broad term that governs online casino gaming – sector is now around 30 years young. Back in the mid-1990s when the world was getting to grips with the nascent web, the Swedish company Microgaming programmed the first online casino software, leading to an explosion of casino games and platforms shaping the sector throughout the decade.
Since then, the evolution of the iGaming sector has seen several important milestones. In the early 2000s, we saw the first launch of branded games, allowing us to play officially licensed games based on brands like Marvel and Tomb Raider. Later in the decade, iGaming developers were among the first to recognize that the future of gaming, including traditional video gaming, would be dominated by mobile. And in recent years, we have seen the rise of live online casino – bringing the real taste of Vegas to your screen.
Organic Casino Gaming Trends can Suddenly Take Root
Yet, trends will often simply appear somewhat organically, changing the complexion of the online casino scene. A good example is the Megaways mechanic, which was created by Big Time Gaming in the mid-2010s. The concept caught fire, became super popular with players, and was picked up by other game developers (under license by Big Time Gaming), arriving at a point where leading online casinos will now have dozens of Megaways games.
However, these trends may also appear strange to non-casino players. A case in point is fishing-themed slots, notably bass fishing, a theme that has permeated every major online casino on the planet. Why? It’s difficult to say, but we have some clues. The first is that Pragmatic Play – a leading iGaming provider – struck gold with its Big Bass Bonanza range. Several slots in that range, including Big Bass Bonanza Megaways and Big Bass Splash, have placed in the world’s top ten slots in terms of plays over the last half-decade, and some remain there today.
iGaming providers like to “borrow” ideas from each other, so the success of Big Bass Bonanza caused other providers to release games that follow similar mechanics. Pragmatic itself arguably drew inspiration from Blueprint Gaming, which had huge success with its Fishin’ Frenzy (referred to as Crazy Fishin in some territories) series, which shares a lot of similarities with Big Bass Bonanza. Regardless of who came first, the trend caught on, leading to major platforms carrying dozens of “fish slots” today.
The games, of course, must carry something more than a nice design featuring a few fishing rods and some bass in order to become a smash hit. And these fish slots do offer explosive wins in a volatile fashion. They have become very popular with casino streamers on Twitch and YouTube due to their volatile nature, which has helped maintain their popularity.
Rich Wilde Struck Gold at Online Casinos
A similar phenomenon can be viewed with what has become referred to as “book” slots. Like fishing slots, they are now ubiquitous at online casinos. Yet, their popularity is less about the theme and more about a central expanding symbol feature that became ludicrously popular. The success can be traced back to one game – Book of Dead by Play N’ Go. The game, which features an Indiana Jones-esque adventurer, Rich Wilde, exploring Egyptian tombs, has claims of being the most popular online slot in history.
Other developers took the “book” concept from Play N’ Go, releasing their own games with versions of the expanding symbol mechanic. For example, Microgaming released Book of Oz (based on the L. Frank Baum books), and Inspired Gaming released Book of the Irish. There’s even a game that gives a nod to the popularity of book games, Book of Books by Peter and Sons Studio.
All of this should be interesting to how trends catch on in wider areas of gaming entertainment. Ostensibly, you might think that blockbuster slots based on intellectual property like Jurassic Park or the Rocky movies would rule the roost at online casinos. And while some of these games are popular, they pale in comparison to the organic trends seen with book and bass slots. They have conquered the iGaming world, perhaps surprisingly, simply by striking a chord with players, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a major online casino without dozens of these games.
