The most prominent resident of Prototype Drive operates a sprawling, million-plus sq. ft. manufacturing complex. It’s a campus-style collection of buildings that dominates the barren industrial landscape.
It is the headquarters of International Game Technology, where more than two-thirds of the slot machines in the country are born.
Just inside the front entrance to the offices of IGT is a “Red, White & Blue” slot machine bearing a plaque identifying it as the one-millionth gaming machine built by the company. It was built on Jan. 7, 2000—less than 20 years after the company was incorporated as IGT.
But this particularly momentous slot machine is only one of some 116,000 units to have rolled off the assembly lines in this facility during the past fiscal year. The names on those 116,000 machines, in turn, represent only a fraction of the number of game titles and themes to reach conceptual stages in IGT’s product development department during the same period.
A visit to observe the overall production process at IGT is a mind-boggling experience. First of all, there’s the sheer size of the plant. The manufacturer’s entire facility of a decade ago (the original IGT plant on South Rock Boulevard in Reno) would fit neatly into one of the several parts warehouses at the current operation, a self-contained city where slot shells leave a warehouse at one end and are transformed largely by hand, part by part, into finished machines as they travel along miles of steel rollers on computerized assembly lines.
There are eight assembly lines in all, which can crank out more than 300 slot machines in a single shift. Some of the parts used, such as bill acceptors, come from a network of outside vendors. The main parts, though, are produced in-house, in one of the plants-within-the-plant. For example, there is a 100,800 sq. ft., custom silkscreen shop that employs one shift of about 15 printers, and produces around 15,000 finished pieces of slot glass on a typical day. Cabinets for all the machines come from an on-site cabinet shop that encompasses another 85,000 sq. ft.
All of the 1,900 employees at the Reno plant (IGT has 3,300 employees worldwide) are professional artisans who take a significant amount of pride in their work. However, perhaps the most important cog in the IGT machine is a relatively small group of employees charged with developing the prototypes for the machines that will roll out the other end of the plant.
When you consider the volume of finished slots rolling off the IGT assembly lines every day, it’s easy to forget that these machines represent games that have passed through a grueling process designed to weed out the few successes from literally thousands of initial slot concepts. Behind each new game lies research and development by a team of idea people, software engineers, artists and craftsmen who have transformed an idea into a reality—and who have, most likely, submitted several versions to product development executives before a prototype is deemed to be the best it can be.
Moreover, the new slots may yet end up on the scrap heap. After a game is approved by regulators, it must still pass IGT’s own “Wham Test” before it is released to all of the company’s markets. This involves placing the new games in banks alongside IGT’s top-earning slots in select casinos. If the new games don’t at least come close to getting the play of the top games in the country, they are scrapped.
Even if they do measure up initially, they have to sustain that earning power, or IGT’s customers—the slot managers—will ultimately pull them, and either replace them or convert them to different games.
With all this in mind, it’s easy to see why the first phases of the manufacturing process are the most important—and why IGT spent over $45 million on research and development last year alone.
If there is one person who lives in the eye of the IGT hurricane—one person charged with seeing that those R & D millions are spent efficiently—it is Joe Kaminkow. Kaminkow is the company’s vice president of engineering and design. He reports to Executive VP Bob Bittman, who sets the overall direction in product development. But it is Kaminkow who is responsible for transforming that direction into real slot machines that earn enough of a return to justify the money that went into their development.
Product development was already a tough place to work back in the ‘80s, when IGT was still establishing its dominance of the slot market. The management style back then was stiff and proper—suits, scowling executives, and a do-your-job-or-else fear among the troops. Although Kaminkow might be even more demanding of his staff than the former execs, the atmosphere in IGT’s idea factory is anything but stiff. In fact, it’s actually fun.
Part of the improved work environment is the result of the built-in amenities of the new IGT headquarters—facilities designed to minimize the stress levels of all who work there. For instance, there is a large, company-owned day care center across from the offices, where working parents can drop off and pick up small children. There is a food court. There’s a quality cafeteria. There’s even an on-site health club, open all day so employees can work out during lunch, on breaks, or before and after work.
But within this worker-friendly corporate environment, Kaminkow has created a relaxed atmosphere that is very conducive to creativity. His staff may work Saturdays and late into some weeknights, but they also get periodic surprises from the boss like a collective trip to the movies, or a picnic complete with a dunk tank. The dunkee? You guessed it—Kaminkow. In the lunch room, you’ll find a Slurpee machine, a popcorn machine, and even a French fry machine. All free.
“It used to feel like we worked for a slot machine company,” comments Dennis Meade, who heads the art and graphics department at IGT. “Joe Kaminkow has made it fun. It’s a totally creative atmosphere.”
The relaxed atmosphere starts in the office of the V.P. himself, a man more likely to show up for work in blue jeans and sneakers than a suit and tie. Surrounding his desk is an enviable collection of fun stuff: A glass-enclosed Baltimore Colts helmet signed by Johnny Unitas (guess where Joe is from), and an official box of “Cheesy Poofs,” the preferred snack of Cartman on South Park, signed by the creators of the cable series-turned-slot theme (a theme that is, sadly, on hold due to right-wing hysteria). You’ll find pictures of everything from his kids’ sports teams to Kaminkow with various celebrities.
Right outside of the office is one of many seas of corporate-style cubicles, those Dilbertesque rats-in-a-maze reminders that this is a modern office building. Yet these cubes are literally buzzing with activity—groups of people having mini-meetings, comparing artwork, or discussing last night’s episode of Ally McBeal. This enviable location is where the ideas are developed and refined.
In one corner is a room affectionately referred to as the “delivery room,” where slot themes are born. It is a conference room, home to a weekly meeting between Kaminkow and the heads of all creative departments—graphics, art, software engineering, photography and audio, as well as members of Kaminkow’s own product development staff, which, he says, almost always includes Jean Brossard, Ali Safari, Randy Hedrick, Vic Kniestead, Neil Falconer and Bill Wells.
“Without their support, I am a man on an island,” says Kaminkow.
The room leaves no mystery to the task of its occupants. It’s lined with slot glass from individual games. On one wall is the front glass from each of the current 20 top-earning games in the nation—19 of them IGT games. Directly across from that is a wall of slot glass from IGT games that flopped—games that were developed, tested, released… and died. The contrast keeps the staff humble.
The rest of the room is covered with slot glass samples from newly developed games. The creative staff meets in this room every week to exchange ideas, gauge progress on new products, and, perhaps most importantly, to brainstorm new slot ideas.
According to Kaminkow, the weekly meetings are only one of many sources for new slot theme ideas. Ideas are welcome from anyone in the company, at any time. For his part, Kaminkow says he never misses the chance to write down slot ideas when they pop into his own head.
“I get ideas for slots during my ride home, while I’m taking a shower, or even in the middle of the night,” he says. “If you come to my house, you will see pads of paper and pens everywhere.”
Good ideas make it into the “official” place of serious consideration—Kaminkow’s office. On the wall directly across from his desk, constantly in his line of sight, is what he calls his “battle grid.” It is a wall of ideas, a huge grid of perhaps a hundred white cards, each bearing a word or two that conveys an idea for a new slot game. Some are single words, like “turtle.” (Actually, that word is not actually there; we are sworn to secrecy on the words that really are on the battle grid.) Others are names of old television shows, popular icons of American culture, popular board games, or anything else that might be transformed into a winning slot theme.
