Take a look inside the offices of Everi, a slot machine manufacturer in Chicago. Check out the development centre which over 30 new games are created every year.
A Day In the Life of a Pokie Maker
You love playing pokies, but have you ever wondered what it’s like making them? The Chicago Tribune provides players with a look into the everyday operations of a slot machine maker. Journalists visited with Everi, a company with 50 employees that provides gaming machines to casinos across the country.
The Everi development centre is based in the West Loop Gate neighbourhood of Chicago, which is the perfect location for a slot machine manufacturer. Within four hours of the development centre are 26 casinos, some of which provide texting. Casinos like the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee and Four Winds Casino in Michigan allow Everi to determine how well the company’s games are being received by players.
The Chicago Tribune took a look around the offices to get an idea of what goes on every day in the lives of the team members at Everi. Bradley Rich, vice president of game development, stated that he wanted to create an environment in which people enjoy coming to work and don’t want to go home at the end of the day.
The development centre features a large lounge where staff can let off steam by playing shuffle board or shooting some hoops. The team at Everi consists of experts in a wide range of fields. It isn’t just game developers and graphic designers.
There are composers, artists and mathematicians on board to help create amazing games that players across the country will enjoy. "We're drawing; we're animating; we're filming stuff on a green screen; we're composing music in-house; we're doing voice-overs," said Bradley Rose, senior vice president of game development. "And we put it all together and package it up into a slot machine."
This is just one of three Everi Super Studios across the country. Each one develops about 30 games per year, and the catalogue features a mix of branded games as well as the team’s own original content. It really is interesting to see what goes on behind the closed doors of a slot machine manufacturer.
Everi looks like a great place to work, so it is no wonder the company develops such fun games that really embody what modern slots players are after in casinos today.