Konami Leads with "Beat the Field"

If you vaguely remember the Konami name, think of early '80's video games like Frogger and Super Cobra. Well, the company has morphed, and the casino gambling side of the business is doing great.

Konami Gaming, Inc., the US arm of Konami Corp., is leading the way in fun slots with games like Beat the Field.

The horse race-themed community jackpot slots are extremely popular right now in casinos for several reasons. To begin with, you can play the game for 1-cent. Well, that's not really true, because a typical game like Full Moon Blossom or Fairy Blossom require that you play a minimum of 40 credits, but you get the idea.

It's a penny slot with an extra bet to be part of the next upcoming race or bonus round. One of the four progressive levels is awarded in each bonus round and all eligible players receive consolation credits.

Progressive community jackpot banks are not new, as anyone who has played WMS Gaming's Reel 'em In will tell you, but there are some cool things about Beat the Field. For one thing, there are several different games on each community bank. If you don't like Fairy Blossom, you can play something else, like Ancient Dragon or Treasure Voyage.

I watched a slot bank from the blackjack pit the other day and there wasn't an empty seat for several hours. When one of the eight chairs opened up it was immediately taken by another player. With eight slots going, the race feature bonus round happens quite often, and even the $1000 minimum top prize seemed to rarely get over $1010 before it hit again.

I liked the Treasure Voyage slot the best because of the 12-spin Free Game bonus, and the Special nudge feature on WILD symbols during free games. Each credit buys 2 lines

Keep in mind that the game comes in several varieties. So make sure you read the particulars before hitting any buttons. The slots are multi-denomination capable, may be 50 or 100-lines, and you can (watch out) bet up to 2,500 credits. Yikes!