Question about P0629 - Double Double Bonus Poker w/wheel bonus

[StatFreak]

This game is supposed to have an unusual feature: When you hit a full house with max coin bet it is supposed to spin a wheel (like WOF) for a prize. In addition, once you're paid, it is supposed to set up a special 4-of-a-kind hand for the next few plays that will pay 10,000 coins if hit.

When I play max coin the FH payout does indeed read "spin", but when I hit the full house the game just ends with no payout, no wheel, and no 4-O-K bonus. Was this wheel an external device? I had figured that since it was a regular multi-game (not dedicated) that it would display internally on the screen.

Does anyone have any experience with this game?

[midas]

That game uses an external wheel and controller board mounted in the top box like WOF.  IGT has a new multi hand poker called Wheel Poker which is like the Bally gamje except you spin on 4 of a kind. 
The Bally top box is an impossible item to find.

[Simon Barsinister]

Actually it was an Anchor Games product (Wheel Poker) based on the Bally V5500 platform.  Anchor put their proprietary top box on the V5500 base game and integrated the wheel spin bonus.  And the fact that they were all proprietary lease games is the reason that the top box is difficult if not impossible to find as Midas suggests, because Anchor (and IGT when they bought Anchor) would always remove (and destroy) their portion of the game (if not the whole game) when decommissioning.

[StatFreak]

Thanks Simon and Midas.  I knew that game was too good to be true when I read the SMI.
Maybe a project down the road..
K+

[knagl]

If you want to see it in action, believe it or not there are still a few of them on the casino floor at Fitzgerald's in downtown Las Vegas.  There's a bank of four or six of them near the valet entrance (near the hotel front desk).

If they ever get rid of them, perhaps there would be some way to get your hands on one?  I can't imagine they're still leasing them.

[knagl]

Well... they're down to one Wheel Poker game at Fitzgerald's.  ...and I didn't get a great picture of it as there was someone playing it, but here's what she looks like (click on the image for a larger version) :

[StatFreak]

Thanks for posting Kevin! I hope I get a chance to try it before it's gone.

[knagl]

Here are two pictures I took from my last trip.  For what it's worth, I don't remember playing the game that night nor taking the pictures, thanks to the bartender at Fitzgeralds.  (I did not drive back to the hotel that night.)

(Click for the full-size images.)

[StatFreak]

Thanks knagl.    That would be cool to have on a home machine. $25,000 top prize -- Wow! (I'm sure the odds suck) Do you remember the denomination of the machine?

I see that the NickelMania machines were behind you. 

[Brianzz]

IGT just released their version of Wheel Poker.. same concept I guess.. you get to spin the wheel for certain winning combos. In multi-hand too

[knagl]

Thanks knagl.    That would be cool to have on a home machine. $25,000 top prize -- Wow! (I'm sure the odds suck) Do you remember the denomination of the machine?

Look up a couple of posts at the picture with the lady playing.     ($0.05 -- 10-coin max bet)  I'm sure the odds of winning a $25,000 prize on a $0.50 bet is worse than the Powerball.

I see that the NickelMania machines were behind you. 

Very observant, as always. 

IGT just released their version of Wheel Poker.. same concept I guess.. you get to spin the wheel for certain winning combos. In multi-hand too

Yep.  As mentioned earlier in the thread, thhe "wheel poker" thing was designed by Anchor Gaming and slapped on top of a Bally GameMaker.  IGT bought out Anchor (and presumably got the rights to Wheel Poker) and fairly recently went on to make the new Wheel Poker games.  I've only ever seen them in 3-play/5-play configurations, meaning you have to bet a minimum of 18 coins (three hands x6 coins) to be eligible for the bonus, and the wheel bonus is only for quads.