Slingo is a game with an extensive history almost as amazing and unique as the game itself. Even though most will think it is a recent invention, it is not. The game was invented in the early 90s by a Retired gentleman named Sal Falciglia. He has turned out to be a producer of fantastic game content.
Concept and Making it Work
The Concept of Slingo was first spoken about on a plane trip back to the United States from France. It was originally conceptualised as being a game for Television. At that time there were a number of popular TV Game shows. Wheel of Fortune ruled the ratings for game shows back then.
The idea of pairing Bingo & Slots took a lot of work. It also involved a Mexican Peso 5 Reel slot machine plus an idea hastily scribbled down at 2am in the morning to realise the vision. That is an oversimplification as it was a Falciglia family enterprise that involved a Grandfather and Grandsons in working out the strategy of the Slingo game.
Computerizing Slingo & AOL
They say luck plays a part and this is definitely where the Falciglia family got lucky. They hired a Computer Programmer who enabled it for the the web and suggested the take the game to AOL. Remember them? AOL had a games area which Slingo dominated pretty soon after launching on it.
The rest as they say is history. If luck plays a role then certainly the hard work that went into making it a creative & entertaining game. International Gaming Technology got contacted next and quickly signed up the Slingo game. This was based on the fact that the son of the Chairman of IGT at the time played the game and referred it to him. Thats where all the planning and strategy of making the game entertaining comes in useful.
In 1999 Slingo launched as a Slot machine for the first time. It is also the first stage in what we see as the suitability of the game to partner with other gaming brands. The first of these was a link up with the Wheel of Fortune game. Scratchcards launched next in partnership with Scientific Games.
What follows are a sale to a company and finally to a UK Gaming company by the name of Gaming Realms who specialise in the creation and marketing of games online. The team behind Gaming Realms are vastly experienced in the United Kingdom having previously launched brands like Foxy Bingo & Cheeky Bingo.
Gaming Realms Takes Slingo Mobile
Given the popularity of the hybrid game, the mere fact that you get multiple rounds to up your prize quotient and get extra chances to hit a bigger prize leaves us wondering why companies like IGT and Scientific Games did not snap up the rights to the game prior to Gaming Realms.
It might possibly have to do with scale and the fact that these giant gaming companies prefer to buy up a successful business, even if they have to pay a premium. They did though miss a trick with this one and Gaming Realms have picked up an absolute gem of a game here.
From licensing to buying the rights to Slingo in a short period of time demonstrates the popularity of the base game. Gaming Realms have taken it much further though.The partnering with successful concepts and brands – even non gaming ones continues. Britains Got Talent Slingo & Monopoly Slingo are an example of this.
Slingo players are in for a treat as via Gaming Realms we will get to share in an exciting entertaining evolution of the game. Currently there are over 30 variations of the game with more to follow.
And Finally
The inventor of the game still plays the game every time he goes into his basement. Thats the kind of enjoyment that most people experience when they play it online and what makes the game of slingo such a remarkable story.
