Mikohn Gaming Introduces Yahtzee Slot Machine

NEW FROM MIKOHN:Mikohn Gaming is turning to the popular home game Yahtzee to gain entry to the slot market.

Mikohn is a company that is better known for its table systems. Its table games include Caribbean Stud Poker, and it also is marketing a Table Link system that tracks time of play, bet size and even the cards that are played at table games.

Now Mikohn is after a share of the slot market with Yahtzee, available both in video and reel-spinning versions.

Designed by Mikohn and manufactured by Sigma Games, the games incorporate a bonus round based on the home dice game. When the player hits the "Play Yahtzee" symbols that launch the bonus round, five dice appear on the screen in video versions, or on a dotmation screen separate from the reels in the reel-spinning game. The player gets up to three rolls of the dice to hit a winning combination. If the player does not hit three of a kind or better, he gets the smallest bonus for a "chance" hand.

I tried Yahtzee not only at the recent World Gaming Congress & Expo, but also at New York-New York, where the reel-spinning game was being tested. I got to the bonus round three times, and each time would up with three of a kind, the second-lowest bonus.

After the initial roll, the player gets to choose which dice to hold and which to reroll, either by touching the screen on the video game or pushing buttons on the console on the reel-spinner. It's the player's choice whether to hold two pair - not a winner without improvement - and go for a full house, or to hold only one pair and hope for at least three of a kind.

That latitude afforded the player in some ways makes the Yahtzee slot machine a more satisfying gaming experience than the Yahtzee table game, which also is new from Mikohn.

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