New Synergy Blue Gaming Products Pay Homage to Classic Atari 2600 Design

Posted on: September 7, 2020, 03:05h. 

Last updated on: September 7, 2020, 10:29h.

Steve Bittenbender Read More
Expertise: Legislation, Sports Betting, Horse Racing.

Las Vegas-based casino game developer Synergy Blue announced this past week that it is unveiling a series of gaming cabinets that pay homage to one of the first video gaming consoles ever created.

Atari 2600 Synergy Blue
Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell (left) and Synergy Blue CEO Georg Washington, seen here at last year’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, have worked together to create a new gaming cabinet series that pays homage to the Atari 2600 household gaming console from the 1970s and early 80s. (Image: Synergy Blue)

The 2600 cabinet series is inspired by the Atari 2600, the console system that found its way into many homes back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The cabinets are also designed to bring the feel of an arcade game to the casino floor.

The Atari 2600 introduced an entire generation to the fun and excitement of video games,” said Georg Washington, CEO of Synergy Blue, in a release. “When we began working on cabinet ideas, we kept coming back to the nostalgia that gamers around the world have for the original 2600, but we wanted to update it with today’s players in mind.”

The consoles integrate with Synergy Blue’s catalog of skill-influenced games and can utilize a variety of controllers, including steering wheels, trackballs, and joysticks.

Not only were the cabinets, which include floor-based and bar-top versions, inspired by the Atari 2600, but company designers also worked with Atari founder Nolan Bushnell in developing them.

“Bringing the 2600’s arcade-style design to casino floors and sharing the excitement of video games with players not only reminds them of the fun of the past, but elevates the fun of today,” Bushnell said.

While Washington has said the company develops games for players of all ages, designing a cabinet system that evokes memories of a long-loved gaming system from 40 years ago is most likely to be a draw for the Generation X crowd and younger adults, audiences that typically eschew traditional slot machines. The company also has been urging casinos to offer space for skill-influenced games in an effort to help attract a younger crowd to the gaming floors.

Not First Collaboration

This is not the first time Synergy Blue and Bushnell have collaborated.

Last year at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Washington and Bushnell announced the gaming designer would serve as a consultant to the company. It’s a position that got Bushnell back into what he said he loves to do.

“I had a career in which I kept being pushed into the CEO role, and what happens when you’re CEO is, as the company gets big, you’re spending all your time with accountants and attorneys,” Bushnell said last year. “And they’re not nearly as much fun as the engineers and the artists.”

The company’s skill-influenced products merge arcade-style themes with chance-based games. Casinos set the return-to-player rates for the games, so no matter how well players perform at the skill-based portion of the game, the payout rate would not exceed 100 percent.

About Synergy Blue

The company was established seven years ago, and Synergy Blue moved its headquarters from Palm Desert, Calif., to Las Vegas last year.

Three months after that move, the company announced its skill-influenced games would get a trial run at The Linq Hotel and Casino. That’s a Caesars Entertainment property on the Vegas Strip that’s geared for a younger crowd than most other resorts on the Strip.

In addition to Nevada, Synergy Blue’s games are also available at casinos in California, Oklahoma, Florida, the Caribbean, Canada, and Europe. The Games are also onboard casinos on various cruise lines.