Awhile back I wrote about Power Spins, one of my favorite older game series, and how it was one of the earlier examples of persistent state gaming on slots.
That wasn’t the only one they developed, however. Another series which existed from around that time was called Win it Again!, which took their popular Cascading Reels design and added the chance to win a previously awarded prize again if three cascades occurred within five spins of a previous win.
When a win occurs, the price would move into the first Win it Again space above the reels. Each spin, it moves over one spin. Once it would reach the fifth space, on the fifth spin, it would fall off.
However, if three cascades occurred on a spin while the prize was still in the five spaces above the reels, you would “Win it Again,” and it would be awarded along with any prizes in the cascades. Then that total prize would drop into that first Win it Again space, giving you five spins to win that prize.
Sometimes the game would issue Mystery Boosts, additional prizes that would appear in the Win it Again zone for five spins as a way of boosting the overall win if you got the three required cascades.
One thing that differed about this series compared to modern persistent state machines (as well as the ancient ones that came before them, like KoolKat) is that the persistent state would reset on cashout. The way this game handled it was if you cashed out, and had money on the meter, a mystery prize could be awarded… or you could get nothing.
Since it could sometimes be difficult to fully clear the meter, it’d be up to a player to decide if it was worth the risk or attempting to spin off what was left on the meter.
Aside from the Win it Again! feature, each game had a bonus round to speak of, which added some additional depth to the games and could also plump up the Win it Again meter.
The games are pretty hard to find in casinos nowadays, although they have turned up on some of the social online casinos as well as real money gambling sites, so they’re still around. I’ve definitely enjoyed my time on them and get excited when I run into one today.
Watch and Learn
Here’s a video from Spinning in Vegas which features the Jackpot Party variation:
Here’s an example of how the Win it Again mechanic can pile up wins on the I Love Lucy version, as seen on the channel Super Slot Secrets:
Here is a bonus on the Jackpot Party version from Charrua NYC:
I think we have similar tastes in slots; I frequently find links to your posts when searching for information on my favorites. Along with Power Spins (sadly, the last remaining Golden Apple machine in Vegas (to my knowledge) is now long gone from Paris), the Win It Again series is another huge favorite of mine. They popped up briefly at my local casinos years ago and then promptly disappeared. I am always excited when I come across one in Vegas, as when I found a single Jackpot Party Win It Again (my favorite of the series) machine at The Cosmopolitan. I won about $4k on that machine and came home money for once. There was also an All That Glitters Win It Again at Ellis Island for years, but it appears to be gone now. I would be interested in hearing of any recent Vegas sightings of this series.
Hey Allen! I believe Jackpot Party Win it Again was in the front section of the casino floor at Cosmopolitan in July, and I was reminded of it on a social media post by someone else who played it there this week. That’s the only one I can recall seeing in Vegas in recent years.
A lot of games like this and Power Spins are on cabinets no longer supported by the slot maker, so as machines break down they either take them out or cannibalize some machines to keep others running, which can only last for so long.