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- Las Vegas has a name for big time, big money gamblers. They are called whales and they are the lifeblood of every casino on the Strip. When a whale lands in your casino and starts betting tens of.
- So, a high roller (or a whale) is a person who spends a lot of money at a casino on a regular basis. They bet big and they win big. But as the golden rule of gambling states, the house always wins, so they also lose big. You cannot spend a lot of money in a single gaming session and expect to be considered a high roller.
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Big Whale Casino Games
The “whales” of the social-gaming world are a mystery to most of us. As the biggest spenders, they make up a tiny group (think about 2 percent of audiences) that drives most of the revenue for publishers of these games. But the word “whale” isn’t a flattering term, and neither are the numbers associated with it. These are people, not just customers.
It’s easy to think of whales anonymously because we’re not quite sure who they are or how they think — they’re often elusive due to the stigma that surrounds them. We know they play social games, but are they social? Are their habits casual or obsessive? What kind of people are they?
‘Whale’ has many meanings
Whales existed in online and mobile video games long before they started appearing in the West. Longtime game analyst Michael Pachter told GamesBeat that Asia has used free-to-play with microtransactions for 15 years, but it still feels like a relatively new phenomenon here as we wonder whether the business model holds a place in our future.
Today, the idea of a “whale” carries a different weight for each company. 5th Planet Games, a developer of social games for both casual and hardcore audiences, starts classifying its players as whales when they spend $100 or more a month. That’s a big jump from whales on Facebook, for instance, where social gamers could drop $25 per month to meet the same qualification.
5th Planet chief executive Robert Winkler revealed at the Game Developers Conference Online in 2012 that with its game Clash of the Dragons, 40 percent of revenue came from 2 percent of players who spent $1,000 or more. Ninety percent came from those who spent $100 or more, and the top whale had spent $6,700.
Other companies, like social casino developer Blitzoo, defines various categories of whales based on a combination of factors: total money spent, playtime, experience points earned in-game, and so on. Play sessions tend to be three or four times longer than what an average player’s would be.
But these are all still numbers, not faces or personalities. Winkler told us that a strong sense of community is important for encouraging whales to not only engage but also monetize, and that’s a clue to who they are as people.
“We’ve found that most players are more willing to spend money to help out their fellow gamers than to try to defeat them,” he said. “As an example, players who take part in our ‘guilds,’ or groups of players who come together to accomplish communal missions, are 8.5 times more likely to monetize than players who do not belong to a guild, and the ARPU [average revenue per user] of players in our guilds is 53 times higher than other players.”
For that reason, building community is a huge priority for 5th Planet. It’s a way to attract more whales and monetize more successfully.
“This could be by participating in your forums, by running contests and giveaways, by forming special guilds or councils, or simply by talking directly with your players and showing that you’re listening,” said Winkler. “When players feel like they’re part of community, they become more invested in the outcome of game. And when they’re more emotionally invested in the game, they’ll invest with their wallets as well.”
5th Planet declined to inform us whether their whales receive any special benefits, and as for whether these players subsidize the game for others, it only said, “As with any free-to-play game, there are a group of paying players, including whales, whose in-game [spending] allows game houses to bring new, fresh, and updated content to all players.” We were unable to acquire responses from the other companies we spoke with for this article.
Are whales different from ‘normal’ gamers?
Talking to whales isn’t easy; their habits and relationships with social-game publishers are touchy subjects. But as I found with one player, who goes by the handle “Bludex,” all you have to do is disarm their defenses a little. Aside from the amount he spends every month ($100 on average and sometimes as much as $400), he shares many of the same interests and concerns of regular gamers.
Like many whales, Bludex prefers to stick with one or two games — in his case, 5th Planet’s Clash of the Dragons (a free social massively multiplayer online role-playing card game) and Legacy of Heroes (a free collectible card game). He doesn’t stray much into other platforms.
“To me, a game is only as good as its following and associated community,” he said. “Without quick queue times for competitive events and a bustling forum, games tend to lose interest with me.”
He’s not exactly glued to his computer screen, though. Bludex says he plays for roughly 20 minutes in the morning and one to three hours in the evening. Just because he spends a lot of money doesn’t mean this routine conflicts with everyday living.
“When I’m at work, I barely have any time to think about games,” he said. “However, most of my social time with friends involves lots of gaming. Board games, card games, going to a casino, playing Magic [the Gathering], etc. So gaming is very important to my social life.”
That’s social life outside of games, not necessarily in them. Bludex supervises a network operations center for a large company and enjoys active pursuits like hiking and eating out at restaurants. That’s part of why he doesn’t prefer single-player experiences.
“I’m a social being at heart,” he said. “When there’s nobody to share my experience with — whether it be some friendly trash-talking or a virtual high-five of an accomplishment — the games just become less interesting.”
He doesn’t leave those friendships solely online, either. “I have friendships going on 10 years or more with people I game with online that I’ve almost all met in real life at some point or another,” he said. “I would definitely say gaming has been the main driver in my social life both online and offline.”
Like most dedicated gamers, Bludex actively follows news announcements related to the titles he plays, but frequent content additions are what keeps him coming back. With each break he took from Clash of the Dragons, for instance, he returned to check out a new update. And when he played World of Warcraft, he would quit for as long as a year — until Blizzard released a new expansion.
The more we talked, the more Bludex opened up about his passions and thoughts on current issues in the industry, but one question remained: How does it feel to be called a “whale”?
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Free to Play Aristocrat Slots Online
You now have three ways to play the entertaining Whales of Cash slots from Aristocrat. The original is still an enjoyable game. Graphics are dated, though this does not take away from the humor or playability of the slot in the slightest. There is a new and very polished version. Whales of Cash Deluxe adds a choice for your bonus games. You can also access these games as part of the multi-game ‘Wonder 4 Tower’ cabinets.
These slot machine games all feature a cheery looking whale that wears a top hat. This is an important symbol, as it will multiply any wins that it is involved in. There is also an equally cheerful starfish, an octopus and a crab on the reels.
Free spins are where the big money potential is at. Here the multipliers get bigger, giving you the opportunity to get up to 40x your wins on the Deluxe version and 16x on the regular one.
As well as a detailed guide to the Whales of Cash slots, you’ll find out where you can enjoy a range of classic Aristocrat games on this page.
Basics: How the Whale of Cash Slots Work
Reel Power dispenses with the idea of win-lines. Instead, any 3 reels from the left showing matching symbols is always counted as a win. Whales of Cash uses this system. While it is possible to disable reels (making them one symbol only from the right), this takes away a lot of the big win potential. You’ll bet in increments of 30c to cover all 243 winning combinations.
Whales of Cash Deluxe uses the same setup for the base game. What is different is that you can expand the reels to 5×4 from 5×3 in one variation of the free spins bonus. That gives you 1024 winning combinations from left to right.
The whale symbols are key. They only appear on reels 2 and 4, and you’ll only ever see one on each reel at a time. These are wild symbols which have win multipliers. They substitute for everything except the money bag bonus symbols. In the base game they each have a 2x multiplier. If you win with both, you’ll receive 4x what is listed on the pay table.
High paying symbols are the starfish, which is worth 3600 coins for 5 of a kind when you have all 5 reels enabled. The clam is worth 2200, with the crab and octopus symbols both worth 1500. Playing card ‘royals’ are used for the filler symbols.
Money Bag Bonuses: Bigger Multipliers
Bonus features is where the regular and Deluxe Whale of Cash slots are different. The classic version gives you up to 25 free games. You need 3, 4 or 5 money bag symbols from left to right to get 10, 15 or 25 spins plus a scatter win of up to 50x your triggering bet.
What is different during these spins is that the whales get a 4x multiplier instead of 2x. If you trigger a win with both whales, then you are looking at 16x what is on the pay table. This could be a huge win with 5 of a kind of one of the higher paying symbols.
There is a choice to make in the Whales of Cash Deluxe slot. If you triggered with one or more of the golden money bag symbols (which switch for some of the regular green ones), then you can play on expanded reels. You choose more spins with the regular 5×3 setup, or fewer spins with the bigger 5×4. Keep in mind that with Reel Power in use, there are 1024 winning combinations from left to right in the bigger set. With multipliers of up to 5x on reel 2 and 8x on reel 4, it is possible to have your wins multiplied by 40x in this setup.
You can retrigger for more spins on both versions of the game.
Playing Aristocrat Slots in the United States
There are a growing number of classic Aristocrat slot titles available at brick and mortar casinos across the US. This particular game is not available for US players online, even in regulated states such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There are games similar in nature, but nothing that’s a complete replica of the Whales of Cash slot machine.
You shouldn’t have any issues finding a Whales of Cash slot machine in your local casino. It’s available across the US, from Michigan to Biloxi, Mississippi. If they don’t offer the stand-alone game, look for a bank of Wonder 4 slot machines.
Friendly Underwater Characters: Whales of Cash Slot Design
There is little doubt that the Deluxe version of Whales of Cash has had a huge upgrade for the graphics. The bubble aminations, flips from the whale and overall polished look and feel stand up well on any casino floor.
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The older game has plenty of charm. Most of the sea creatures are cheerful, with the top hat wearing whale drawn large on the top of the cabinet – surrounded by the prizes for different winning symbols.
Aristocrat make the most of the expanded reels for the Deluxe bonus game. Along with the undersea sound effects, you’ll hear the classic electronic tunes that most Aristocrat slots use.
Big Whale Challenge
Will This Entertaining Slot Turn You into a Casino Whale?
No, but Whales of Cash Deluxe has given a new lease of life to a popular casino classic. The original is still very enjoyable. With the ability to get up to 4x multipliers on your wins in the base game and 16x during the free spins, you’ll find plenty of big win potential.
What the newer version did was add a strategy choice. You can opt for bigger reels in the free spins (though fewer spins). This gives you big multipliers and a shot at getting up to 40x on your wins. This is more than enough to get your whale ‘host’ doing back flips!