Online skill games from proliferation to decline: excellent survivors

A few years ago, the web saw the emergence and sudden success of a particular type of online game: skill games. These were skill games initially offered in tournament form in the wake of the popularity gained by sports poker, which was also pumped up by the mainstream media. Thus, new gaming operators that offered this type of entertainment exclusively appeared on the market. Even some of the world's most famous traditional online casino operators, such as 888 and William Hill, had implemented their own platforms with a specific section called 'arcade' or 'games.' Skill games have 'rocked' for a few years now: starting with card games and ending with all sorts of tournaments, even classic arcade games such as Arkanoid-like or Luxor. However, the phenomenon has been waning in recent years: many operators specializing' in online skill games have closed down, and online casino portals have reduced this type of game in their range of offerings. Indeed, a few classic games, which we could call 'excellent survivors,' have been saved from this death. Card games such as Rummy in its variants or games of pure skill such as Backgammon still have their loyal following.

BGRoom after 10 years of experience closes its doors

Perhaps the most famous backgammon room online was certainly BGRoom. Unfortunately, it has also ceased operating after 10 years of experience. For 'historical purposes,' we list below the salient offerings it had on offer and which ensured its growing popularity at the time.

The offerings of the time

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888 Games: Arcade, Slots, Instant Games and More

As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, in addition to operators specializing in these games of chance and skill, online gaming giants soon opened sections of their own portals with a specific game offer for these tastes. This is the case of the 888 Casino, which opened a section called "Arcade" a few years ago, a section that still exists under the name "888 Games" but only in specific geographical markets, those where these games are most in demand. The portal segment in question, however, housed not only games of skill. The core business of an online casino is still table games and online slot machines. This is why alongside the skill games tournaments, there were mainly instant games such as scratch cards and video slot machines that were graphically closer to video games or arcades.

To give an example of how slot machines were paired with games of skill, here are the instructions for a slot taken from a video game: the slot machine called "Call of Duty 4." 

The instructions for the 'Call of Duty 4' video slot

Call of Duty 4 quick instructions
• Select your bet by clicking on the arrows in the ‘Bet’ field.
• Select how many lines you want to play with by clicking on the arrows in the ‘Lines’ field.
• Click ‘Spin’ to begin.
• Click ‘Max Lines’ to select all lines and play. How to play Call of Duty 4 video slot
• This video slot has 25 pay lines.
• Soldier symbol substitutes for all except for Scatter Logo.
• 5 Soldier Substitute symbols multiply your bet by 5,000.
• Winning combinations pay from left to right except for Scatter Logo, which pays for any.
• The prize is doubled when Soldier Substitute is in the winning combination.
• During the base game, a symbol may explode and become a Soldier symbol.
• Payline wins are multiplied by the amount bet per line.
• 3 or more Scatter Logo symbols trigger The Call of Duty 4 feature.
• Win free games with up to 5X multiplier during The Call of Duty 4 feature.
• Win up to 4 free games for every soldier hit with a bonus prize for headshots.
• Receive bonus points for destroying cars and barrels.

call of duty 4 slot

Other instructions were often added to these specific instructions for each video slot machine. Placed at the bottom were general instructions, valid for all slot machines regardless of the title. Such as those below.
General Instructions:
1. To select the number of lines you bet on, click on the arrows next to the "Lines" display window or click on the colorful line buttons on the sides of the reels. The lines you choose will be your active pay lines when you bet.
2. To change the bet per line, click on the arrow buttons next to the "Bet" display window.
3. Your total bet amount will equal the number of lines selected, multiplied by the bet per line value.
4. All symbols pay left to right on consecutive reels of an active pay line (in some games, scatter and bonus symbols are paid anywhere on the reels). All wins are multiplied by the credits bet per line. This not happens for scatter wins which are sometimes multiplied by the total bet (depending on the game).
5. Scatter and Bonus wins are paid in addition to pay line wins.
6. Note that only the highest win will be paid on each active pay line.
7. To bet the maximum lines allowed (amount differs between machines), click "MAX LINES." In some games, you can click on "MAX BET" to maximize lines and line bet (depending on the game).
8. To view the Video Slot Machine's winning combinations and special features, click on the "Paytable" button on the machine's buttons panel.
9. You may see your total win amount by viewing the "Paid" display window.
10. You can use the Autoplay option to have the computer spin for you. Just click on the Autoplay button at the bottom right, select the number of spins and click on the Spin button. You can stop Autoplay at any time. Autoplay pauses for bonus rounds and free spins.