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Non-Tech : NORE - High Tech Bingo Equipment - Online Bingo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: george eberting who wrote (2959)	6/11/1998 4:29:00 PM
From: Silicon Trader	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7701

<<<<<<<THE REPORT FROM ATLANTA ABOUT THE GAME >>>>>>>>. First of all let me start out by saying that MBA has my credentials mixed up a little. I do have extensive experience in the design, integration, installation, maintenance, and support of network computer and terminal systems. My experience in the gaming industry is limited to working on computer systems at those locations, unless you count bartending and excessive recreational time. I was in Atlanta on business recently and made arrangements with George to visit with World Touch. My main interest was to see the game from a technical and player side, and to visit with the people at World Touch and get a feel for them. I did not ask any questions about signed contracts, VZ, mergers, etc. I did not want to get near anything that could be considered inside information. World Touch I was very impressed with the people at World Touch. They were a very professional and exciting company to deal with. The principals have as much experience in the gaming industry as George has in the bingo industry. This experience includes the video game industry, the casino gaming equipment industry, casino management, and 4+ years of actually running lightning bingo in various locations in North and South America. I can't think of a better team to implement this game. They have the technicians, programmers and graphic artists needed to implement the system. I was very impressed with their technical expertise. They had a nice location in Norcross that had plenty of room for expansion. The integration area had enough room to hold all the equipment they have now, plus room to setup multiple sites at a time. World Touch already has equipment in multiple locations across the country. If I remember correctly California, Washington, Idaho, Florida and a couple other states. They have the support systems in place to maintain these sites and have the capacity to support additional sites as they come online. I saw some of their other equipment that they have running in the casinos and was impressed with the graphics, playability, control, and security they have built into these systems. They have the ability to integrate these functions into the winner take all and any new games they may develop. I think this is an excellent company to be partnered with. The Game The graphics are excellent. It's definitely not as cheesy as a lot of video terminals out there. They have had the game running continuously for the last two weeks now without a hitch. They are in the process of fine tuning the graphics to make it a little more enjoyable. I am impressed with their attention to detail and their development plan. It did not appear to me that they were putting out a half developed product to get a jump on the market like so many companies do. I will try to describe how the game is played (please bear with me). Each player sits in front of a terminal and can select from one to four cards. They insert money and receive credits or "coins" For each card they play they put up three coins plus an ante. Prior to the start of the game the house takes the ante and the three coins move to the top of the card. As the blower starts the balls are fed into the chute. Each ball is picked up by the camera and displayed on the monitors around the room. At this point the ball will appear on each players screen. If that ball matches one of the numbers on a players card the ball will come out red, if not it will come out white. At this point the player is required to touch or "daub" the appropriate number. One of the coins then moves down from the top to cover that number. When a player has covered all three numbers on one of their cards the player presses a button to call bingo. The game stops and all the coins remaining above all the rest of the players cards are collected and given to the winner. The size of the pot will depend on the number of players, number of cards played, and number of spots covered (total #of cards played) X 3 - (number of spots covered on all cards). If the game goes quickly the pots could be as high as 300-500 coins. The following are my opinions as a slot player. I really liked the look and feel of the game. The graphics were good, the excitement was there, and it was easy enough for novices. The size of the pots and the fact that they are won approximately every minute I think will create a lot of excitement. One thing I found particularly exciting was the ability to pick a group of "hot numbers" You can select numbers that are your lucky numbers or that you feel will come up a lot and the machine will use them on your cards. With the press of a button you can change your cards and wheel various combinations of those numbers. I feel this will really appeal to serious bingo, keno and lottery players because it goes right in with their systems. Right now people across the country are lining up to play this game in a paper format. I believe that the video version will be a lot more exciting and allow for variations such as progressives or tournaments. The Equipment The autocaller is a beautiful piece of equipment. Class all the way. I just sat for a while and watched the balls roll down the chute. This unit will make a nice centerpiece for the installations. (I think the autocaller and the 90 number bingo game has serious possibilities for regular bingo halls. This is based on my observations of the look and feel of this system.) As each ball goes into the chute a videocamera takes a picture of it and sends it on to the control system. It is relayed to the video monitors and to a control panel. The system can be set to automatically display the number on the big board or to require a person to press a button on the control panel to manually post the number (human intervention). At this point the number is passed on to the player terminals. The player terminals are nice units. Off the shelf cabinets, monitors, and printers, and a proprietary system board. With about 5 components setup and maintenance and support of the units is very simple. The components will fit into a variety of standard cabinets, standup sit down, table top etc. There is a custom cabinet being developed now just for the game, that will allow all the players to see each other. The terminals are setup in a network configuration with one terminal as the master server. If the master goes down another terminal will automatically take over. From the master you can perform various functions such as change coin values, change games, setup tournament play on select machines, disable machines, and run usage and accounting reports. The system is cable of changing games and some of the games World Touch has currently developed, such as 4 and 6 number lotto and keno, are capable of working with the autocaller. I hope this isn't viewed as hype, I tried to keep it factual other than my impressions on World Touch. I feel they are excellent partners and have a wonderful grasp on both the game and the industry. I hadn't even seen the price of NRAG for a few days and to tell the truth I really didn't care. I am very comfortable with where things are heading. I am long term and will continue to be. My excitement level definitely was high during the visit. As I was shown the system the realization of the possibilities must have shown on my face because all I got from them was knowing grins. Remember though you need to have the same comfort level with the company. Do your research, talk to the people, see the system. There could still be problems with customer acceptance, competition, etc. I have no clue what the future will bring but I had one of the most relaxing flights back in a long time I've never seen Field of Dreams but for some reason that line "Build it and they will come" seems to be running through my head My millennium party will be a major bash. (OK maybe now I'm hyping a bit) Brian Garhofer bgarhof@inet-serv.com Live and in person !!!! another great report from someone who knows. GO NRAG MBA $$$