Slots Logic reviews and rates the world's top online slots.
Visit Casino Advisor for the best online casino reviews, news and much more.
|
It was the flashing lights that drew him in – but two decades later Paul Malt, director of games design at Mazooma Interactive Games, is still glad he chose a career in amusements
How did you first get involved with the amusements industry?
I stumbled into the amusements industry at the age of 21 after completing a five-year technical apprenticeship with a telecommunications company back in 1990. A local company called Project Coin (which was unknown to me at the time) were advertising with a vacancy for a mechanical designer, the perfect opportunity for the career I wanted to pursue.
Attracted by the flashing lights of fruit machines on display in the reception area while waiting to be interviewed, I knew the job was for me. My time with Project Coin gave me sound industry grounding, and working closely with some of the amusements industry’s great innovators like Tony Bolton and Ramon de Beneducci encouraged me to further my career in this sector.
What attracted you to this sector?
I’ve always been drawn towards the hypnotic lights of pocket-emptying slot machines, so the attraction for me was combining work with pleasure.
How has it changed since then?
Although the traditional gaming machine visually hasn’t changed a great deal, the gaming market has seen a massive shift driven by technology, the economy and legislation.
Back in the early 1990s the UK had six major fruit-machine manufacturers supporting very buoyant UK and export markets. Now in 2011 we are down to just two.
Gambling on slot machines in the local bookies was unheard of some years ago, but now you can play slots or roulette in every LBO around the country.
Gaming was restricted to public places, mainly arcades, pubs and clubs, playing low stakes for relatively small prizes. New technologies now allow us to gamble at home online, on our mobile phones, even via TV with prize levels previously only seen in Las Vegas casinos.
What are the biggest positive factors for the sector right now – the drivers of growth and development?
The growth in the online market is well-publicised and we are looking to expand our game offerings in terms of both the number of games and new operators. The mobile opportunity is also very exciting as we look to bring gaming content into an already vast potential customer base.
As for land-based opportunity, the South American market is growing and when, as anticipated, Brazil opens up, this will accelerate the growth significantly.
And what are the negative ones – the obstacles to growth?
Future country-by-country regulation can provide both a stimulus and an obstacle to growth – this has affected the online sector in particular. There is a need for both the regulators and key stakeholders to work together, to ensure a workable framework is in place, providing a fair and competitive operating environment across all the differing jurisdictions.
Looking at your whole career, what do you reckon was your smartest move, large or small?
This was accepting my first appointment in the industry with Project Coin. If I’d taken a different path would I enjoy going to work every day? There are many people I know in other industries that don’t.
And your dumbest one?
Not getting into Internet gaming five years earlier.
Where do you hope you’ll be, professionally, in ten years’ time?
Following in my father’s footsteps...retired at 50 while possibly offering a part-time gaming consultancy service.
And finally...if you’d never embarked on this career, what other line(s) of work would you have liked to pursue?
An events organiser. I’m just in the process of finalising Mazooma’s stand for this year’s ICE event...£500 to hire a sofa for three days that only costs £400 to buy from Ikea...I’m clearly in the wrong business!
Curriculum vitae
Born: 1968
Career:
1985-1990 Plessey Telecommunications – technical apprentice
1990-1997 Project Coin Machines – various roles including mechanical designer, games tester, production management and games design
1997-1998 BWB – games designer and product support manager, responsible for conceptual games design and on-site technical support to customers and distributors
1998-2000 QPS – in conjunction with Mazooma Games and Gauselmann, established QPS with a focus on developing games to be sold in kit form or as a quality rebuild solution for the arcade sector
2000-2008 Bell-Fruit Games – games design manager, responsible for designing games for the UK AWP, club and SWP markets and various export markets including Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Hungary, Norway and the Ukraine. Also the lead designer for the first of the Deal or No Deal fruit machines.
2008-present Mazooma Interactive Games – games director, managing a design team responsible for changing the focus of the business from a mechanical fruit-machine development company into a digital gaming content provider for online, mobile, LBO and various export markets
