Casino games are often characterized by longevity. If you play a game like blackjack or baccarat today, you’ll be broadly playing the same game as people were in casinos a 100 years ago. That longevity gives rise to traditions, as well as a little superstition, but it’s a firm part of what makes the industry tick.
Yet, there is also room for innovation and change. Much of that change has been driven by the iGaming sector, boosted by new technologies and competition among platforms. Arguably, the most significant change we have seen in recent years has come from live casino game shows.
Game Shows Can Be Found at DraftKings Live Casino
These game shows are now an essential part of the infrastructure of online casinos. You can see examples here: https://casino.draftkings.com/category/live-dealer. But what exactly are they? And why are they suddenly front and center on online casino platforms?
To appreciate what a game show is, we need to take a step back and explain what a live dealer game is. Back in the 2010s, online casinos started to roll out live dealer games, which involve games like blackjack, roulette, poker, etc., based in a studio. The games are streamed to your device, with console technology enabling the placement and settlement of bets in real-time. Everything is real – the croupier, dice, cards, and so on – the only difference is that the dealer is in a studio somewhere and you are wherever your laptop or smartphone is.
Now, that rollout of live dealer games arguably represented the pinnacle of a long-standing goal of online casino operators – being able to offer the authentic casino experience. That was the aim since the 1990s and the first internet casinos. But then there is a new goal – to offer something different. Particularly, something that ‘real’ casinos can’t offer.
Live Casino Game Shows Offer Something Different
That’s what we have with live casino game shows. The games take place in studios, and they sometimes incorporate casino-like elements, such as dice or spinning wheels. However, there are numerous differences, both in terms of gameplay and how the games are conducted.
For a start, the croupiers are more like game show hosts than casino dealers. The atmosphere can be fun, carnival-like. It’s designed to be a social experience, not simply one where you face the dealer across the table, like blackjack. Indeed, the chat function is one of the central parts of these games.
There has also been a reimagining of what casino games should play like in terms of gameplay. A good example is Monopoly Live, which is found at DraftKings. The main game of Monopoly Live is pretty straightforward – place bets on a wheel-of-fortune-like spinning wheel. However, things become altogether different when the bonus game is triggered.
The Monopoly Live Bonus Game takes place on a massive 3D virtual Monopoly board, awarding players for dice rolls as Mr. Monopoly makes his way around the different properties. The game can pay out 1,000s of times the initial stake, too.
Monopoly Live is just one example among many. We could cite games like Crazy Time, Adventures Beyond Wonderland and Wolf It Up as having similar innovative features. Other games, like Bubble Craps and Lightning Roulette, have taken classic casino games and reimagined them with a game show format.
It is certainly not the case that game shows have supplanted traditional casino games. The classics are considered classics for a reason, and their popularity remains formidable. However, the game shows have arguably made online casinos a little more interesting, offering new types of experiences for players who want to try something different from the norm.
