Customer Reviews

Contemporary Casino Table Game Design: A Practical Guide to Casino Table Game Design, Development and Selection for Casino Management and Game Developers

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Have you ever been to a casino, noticed the plethora of new games, and thought to yourself that you could come up with a fun and money-making casino game yourself? If you, you're not alone. Thousands of people come up with casino games on their kitchen table after becoming inspired by their last visit to the Mirage, or wherever. Hundreds of them will take the plunge into, and try to market whatever they come up with. The usual fantasy is that casino managers will fall all over each other to get your game. The reality is that most game inventors blow up to $100,000 on their game, and never even get it inside a casino. I'm not saying Jacobson's book will help turn your game into the next Three Card Poker, but it will improve your odds significantly. As a gaming consultant myself, Jacobson and I see the same mistakes over and over. This book will help you avoid them. If it scares you off from the business completely, chances are that it will have saved you a great deal of money. There is no other book on the market like this. It isn't for everybody, but if you've ever thought of getting into the casino game business, you must read this book.

For the small market of people for whom this book is intended, it's a must-read. The book contains essential information found nowhere else. Particularly useful is Chapter 2, Principles of Table Game Design and Development--about 50 concisely written pages that could make the difference between a winning game and one of the hundreds (thousands?) that never see the light of day. I disagreed with some of the author's opinions (e.g. unlike the author, I wouldn't include Alphabetic Roulette in a list of good games), but that's inevitable in an area with so many subjective elements. Overall, though, I highly recommend this book.

If you want to get a detailed analysis of the casino table game development business from a variety of perspectives, this book is for you. Jacobson covers topics from casino mathematics to the nuances of game design by considering all the stakeholders in a new game's success (the players, the dealers & casino management).

You will read perspectives from game developers, casino industry service providers, casino management and more. The information shared in these professional perspectives is extremely valuable not only to game developers but also to casino management.

Jacobson has assimilated statistical information on how the composition of the table game pit has changed over the last 20 years. You will learn what games are grabbing market share, what games are static and what games appear to be near the end of their lifecycle.

This is a great reference book with information you can't get from any other single source. If you are interested in game design or what features of a table game make it successful on the casino floor, you must read this book!