Merkur’s Rapid Thunder: “The game has a bonus and the bonus IS the game”

Merkur’s Director of Industry Relations David Orrick was present during the fourth edition of Juegos Miami—held on May 29-31—, together with the rest of Merkur’s team, to present the firm’s range of successful games that have now been super upgraded by the addition of Merkur’s latest product, Rapid Thunder.

What is your general assessment of Merkur's presence at Juegos Miami 2019? Which were the products that took center stage at your stand?

We can say that, from our standpoint, the feeling and the reality of Juegos Miami’s fourth edition is extremely positive. We are speaking here on the first day of the show, of the conference, and everything that goes with Juegos Miami where our focus with Merkur gaming is here in the showroom. We look to meet friends, business partners, and colleagues and the response so far has been excellent. One reason for that is the fact that at Juegos Miami we have something really exciting, and unique to show. That something is a concept that has never been done before: an in-game jackpot bonus. It is not a linked jackpot, it is not a progressive jackpot; it is a jackpot bonus that has been integrated inside some of our top performing games and so, as I like to say with my background in motorsport and racing, we have taken some good games and turbo-charged them into really great games.

Could you delve into Rapid Thunder’s features?

With Rapid Thunder, it’s all about the jackpot bonus. We can say that ‘the game has a bonus and the bonus IS the game.’ I could describe this in a long text or we can make it simple and say that with Rapid Thunder players have the possibility in the American version for example, to win a top prize of 10 thousand dollars. We’ve also made a version for Mexico that is going to test with top-line operators in two weeks’ time and we are more than a 100% confident that we have a winning game on our hands. We base that on, first of all, the reaction of our own staff—all gaming professionals of course—who have been exposed to the game since we arrived here in Miami. They’ve had demonstrations and they’ve had a little bit of background when we showed an earlier version of the game at the NIGA trade show in San Diego a few weeks ago. At that point, it was still a work in progress and that progress has now been almost completed. I say “almost” because with any game development there are always little tweaks that can be added. But this game is all about the bonus. In the bonus game, it is necessary to collect certain symbols including the Rapid Thunder icon. Every time in the bonus a Rapid Thunder symbol is revealed it extends the free game play by one extra free game and the objective is to match minor or mini jackpot symbols and win that award during the free game phase or making complete vertical lines of special symbols, ‘halos’, to create Rapid Thunder blocks. Two completed blocks wins the mini jackpot, three wins the minor jackpot, four wins the major jackpot and five wins the top prize which would be five thousand dollars if the player is playing less than max bet or doubles up to ten thousand dollars when max bet is being played. That’s the very short version of Rapid Thunder. To experience it, you have to play it. As we have said here: ‘Hear the Thunder, Feel the Thunder, Play the Thunder’.

One little tweak that we have added. We know that there are many players out there that like to use autoplay through the session with any particular game they are playing. When that player reaches the bonus phase of Rapid Thunder, the autoplay is automatically disconnected and the players must play manually. Why is this? Because we want the player to have a positive reaction to the game and the way to do this is to play manually and to see the symbols on the screen build up, to see the free games be continued and to hopefully achieve the end result of winning the top prize. I come back to finish from where I started which is that the game has a bonus and the bonus IS the game. It’s called Rapid Thunder, you’ll see it at trade shows and on casino floors around the world very soon.