Castle Builder II: Bridging the gap between gambling and social games

Slot machines are an interesting breed of casual games.

Right from their inception, these automated gaming machines have served both as gambling machines and "gamified" vending machines, paying out fruit-flavored candy to lucky "winners" in America's shops and bars.

At one point during their history of over a century, slot machines have divided into two major groups: "social" slots like Slotomania and DoubleDown, with virtual coins and experience points, and the "real thing", games like the ones listed here, that involve real cash bets - and real wins.

No game in the history of slots has tried to bridge the gap between the two.

Not yet, that is - because Castle Builder II, an upcoming Microgaming title, will attempt to do just that.

Extended gameplay

Most online slot machines today work in a "l'art pour l'art" fashion, with spinning the reels and hoping to win being the only things players can do with them. Castle Builder II goes beyond that - in this game, spinning the reels is but a means to an end.

The goal of the game is for players to progress through its 15 kingdoms, building 75 different castles, and encounter its 300+ built-in characters.

All this by using three distinct player avatars, each with their own features and special "powers".

The game features a comprehensive achievement and cup challenges system where trophies can be earned, giving players continuous progression as they improve their avatars skill level.

Bridging the gap

Castle Builder II contains elements never before seen in the world of real money gaming. Playing the game will shift the players' focus off the trivial matters of credits and coins, towards a more exciting and immersive task: building castles and progressing through the successive kingdoms.

Said kingdoms have to be unlocked by finishing all the castles in the previous one, while players gather experience points to further improve their avatars' performance inside the game.

The game will be equally exciting to play in a real money setting and a "for fun" form, going beyond credits, toward pure entertainment.

A massive success?

"We’ve been very excited about the launch of Castle Builder II, a game that is designed with gamification at the forefront and that successfully sends players on an adventure to build the finest of castles," David Reynolds, Games Publisher at Microgaming told the press.

"With more characters, kingdoms and castles than its very popular predecessor, we anticipate this game to be a massive success".

Castle Builder II was presented at Microgaming's ICE Totally Gaming stand this February.

The game will be rolled out through the software provider's network in the second quarter of 2017.