Feature by Frank Legato

Ghoulish Gamble
IGT follows up on the success of “The Addams Family” with another ’60s TV monster theme - “The Munsters”

Timing is everything in the slot machine business. For leading slot manufacturer International Game Technology, the timing could not be better–the company’s refined "iGame Plus" video slot platform is hitting its stride just as the multiline video genre itself becomes more popular than ever.

For IGT’s game developers, the new video platform means freedom to create slot games using themes that re-create the best of popular culture, with accurate film images, sound and animation. This year, the company’s development team has used that freedom to tap into a type of theme that has become all the rage–TV comedy of the 1960s.

Situation comedies dominated network television in the mid ’60s, with an amazing variety that lasted until the cop show craze took over near the end of the decade. As it happens, the people who were the biggest fans of those shows in their youth also are the largest demographic group visiting casinos today.

The iGame Plus format has proven itself ready to accommodate this group with slots like "I Dream Of Jeannie," "The Addams Family," and the soon-to-be-released "Beverly Hillbillies."

But IGT’s hottest game right now is "The Munsters."

The new video slot is among the most popular games in every casino where it has been placed so far–and with only three approved states at press time (Nevada, Mississippi and Louisiana), the game has not yet neared its peak.

The Munsters actually was first introduced to slot managers more than a year ago, at the same time "The Addams Family" was introduced. However, because IGT put so many new games in the pipeline at once, it was only released to the public a few months ago.

So why both "The Addams Family" and "The Munsters?" One would think the TV monster theme could go only so far in a slot game.

Yet both games are wildly popular, and the reason, says IGT Product Development Director Jean Brossard, is that each show had unique characters and situations that translate neatly into slot themes. "The Munsters had all of the fun, kooky elements that lend themselves to different bonus events," says Brossard.

Cult Classic

They are the same elements that made the TV show itself into a cult classic, despite the fact that another network was broadcasting a show using the same general theme, at the same time.

In fact, The Addams Family and The Munsters debuted the same month–September of 1964–and followed remarkably similar paths. Both half-hour situation comedies were set in haunted houses with families made up of Frankenstein monsters, vampires and other ghoulish characters. Much of the comedy in both centered on family members’ interaction with a normal outside world. Both shows were canceled after the 1965/66 season. Addams had 64 original episodes; The Munsters had 70.

But in both cases, the characters, writing and acting were strong enough to garner a popular following that transcended the network demise of the shows. Addams lived on in two movies. The Munsters lived on in two movies (plus two more TV movies, on the Fox network). Both series have very active fan clubs and Internet websites today.

So naturally, IGT officials determined that an "Addams Family" slot must be accompanied by a "Munsters" slot.

As with The Addams Family, IGT game developers realized that the popularity of the Munsters theme can be traced not to recent incarnations, but to the characterizations created by the original TV actors. This is particularly true with The Munsters, which was conceived primarily as a vehicle to tap into the comic chemistry of actors Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis, who had been costars in the acclaimed early ’60s sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?

After Gwynne signed on to play Frankenstein-monster family patriarch Herman Munster, with Lewis as Grandpa, a vampire (actually, Count Dracula), a pilot episode was produced at Universal Studios (outside shots of the Munster home were actually filmed on what had been the set of the Hitchcock movie Psycho).

CBS picked up the series, and producers signed veteran Hollywood actress Yvonne De Carlo to play family mom Lily Munster, Grandpa’s daughter. The cast was completed with Butch Patrick as werewolf son Eddie Munster (no one asked how a Frankenstein monster and vampiress mated to spawn a werewolf) and Beverly Owen as "ugly" cousin Marilyn (actually the only normal-looking one of the bunch).

With the exception of Owen, who was replaced by Pat Priest in the Marilyn role after 13 episodes, the characters created by the original cast members have remained ingrained in the popular culture–and those are the characters depicted in IGT’s slot game.

The capabilities of the iGame Plus format allowed IGT to re-create the feel of the TV show with great accuracy, from the original Jack Marshall theme music to memorable bits involving the various characters.

"This is a heavily themed slot," comments Brossard. "All of the sights and sounds are customized to relate to the show."

To re-create spoofs from the show, IGT used actual film clips from the television series instead of enlisting an original cast member for voice-overs, as was done with the "Addams Family" slot. (While John Astin, the lead character in the Addams Family series, did the voice-overs for that game, Munsters lead actor Gwynne died in 1993.)

However, IGT’s development team, headed by Supervisor-Game Design Andrea Hughs-Baird, cleverly manipulated both video and audio clips from the original show to fit various game events. For instance, when the player hits a large jackpot, Herman Munster appears on the screen, jumping up and down and shouting, "I’m rich! I’m rich!" in a memorable clip from the show. Audio of many of Gwynne’s lines and wisecracks from Grandpa can be heard in response to various game events.

The Game

IGT incorporated these features into a video slot that not only has multiple bonus features, but a primary game available in a format never before seen in an IGT video slot. In addition to standard nine-line, 45-coin nickel and quarter versions, there is a 25-line version taking bets of up to 125 coins a spin (five coins max per line).

While this new version can be set for any denomination, Hughs-Baird says it is being marketed initially as a penny game, designed for coin-free play using IGT’s "E-Z Pay" ticket system.

The 25-line version of the slot offers constant action in the primary game. While the nine-line version has a very high hit frequency–60 percent, or a hit around every other spin–activating 25 paylines boosts that frequency to 90 percent. Just about every spin, a winning combination lands somewhere on the screen, and usually, multiple hits are happening, accompanied by the comical sound effects incorporated into the game.

The reel symbols in the primary game depict each of the show’s characters, plus other icons from the show: the "Raven" cuckoo clock (it said "Nevermore!" on the hour), and the two famous Munster vehicles designed by George Barris–the family "Munster Koach" car (a hopped-up hearse) and the "Dragula" sportscar.

The primary game also includes a bonus-triggering "Wild Bat" symbol. When that lands anywhere on the screen, it animates and turns into Grandpa Munster. It then appears on all three spots in that particular reel, and the player is paid the ensuing jackpots.

There are two second-screen bonus games. "Munster Match Coins" on an active payline trigger the "Munster Match Bonus." The screen transforms into a grid of 24 squares. Each square hides the image of one of the show’s characters. The player uses the touch-screen feature to pick squares until matching three of the images for a bonus payment. On the nine-line version, the bonus ranges from 30 coins to 325 coins, times the line bet. On the 25-line version, the bonus ranges from 95 coins to 650 coins, times the line bet, for a top possible bonus of 3,250 coins.

There are three spaces hiding each character but Marilyn. There is only one Marilyn square, and if you find it before matching three images of another character, the bonus amount is doubled.

The other second-screen bonus round involves Munster family pet "Spot," the fire-breathing dragon that lived under the stairs. Three or more Spot symbols scattered anywhere in the pay window trigger this event. The screen displays the Munsters’ staircase, which opens up to show Spot, who breathes fire and reveals a bonus multiplier amount. The size of the multiplier depends on how many Spot symbols triggered the event: three symbols trigger a bonus ranging from two to 10 times the total bet; four symbols, 4X to 20X; five symbols, 10X to 40X (a top possible bonus of 6,000 coins on the 25-line version of the game).

The Munster Match Bonus occurs every 95 to 100 spins, on average; the Spot Bonus, every 65 spins. One or the other second-screen bonus event occurs every 40 spins on average–the most frequent bonus event yet on an IGT video slot.

At press time, The Munsters slot was submitted for approval in all of IGT’s jurisdictions. It will be a stand-alone game everywhere but in New Jersey, where Brossard says a "MegaJackpots" multisite progressive version is planned.