Skill Based Gaming

Skill based slot machines have been in the news for the past couple of months, and with G2E coming up I'm guessing they will continue to be a hot topic. I haven't had a chance to blog about skill based slots yet, so I thought now would be a good time.

First let me say that skill based gaming already exists in my mind. Blackjack and Video Poker are both perfect examples of this. If you play perfectly you can see a house edge of as low as around 1% (or even lower for some VP games) - but if you play badly the house edge can balloon up to 10 or even 15% for horrible play.

Skill based slot machines will likely work along these lines. If you are a perfect player they would pay back a higher percentage (let's say 95%). If you're bad at the game your payback would suffer (down to say 90%).

On the other hand a bad player could still win, even a jackpot, while a good player could still get unlucky and lose.

In thinking about what kind of video games could be skill based, a few came to mind. A game like golf where your skill would be a big factor, but the wind or other weather conditions would correct the ball flight to reflect the desired house edge seems like something that would be good for a skill based game.

I also thought about Angry Birds as a perfect skill based slot machine. Your skill would definitely play a factor, but the randomness of the blocks falling would help to smooth out the house edge.