BLUBERI
Novus b49, Novus b27
Integrated, Consumer-Like Design Leap-Frogs the EGM market
The Why
“We needed the right partners to help us crystalize our vision. The team at DDSTUDIO shared the same culture and embraced the mandate to generate innovation that was aligned to our business and thinking. In short, they had “no fear,”
– Bluberi CEO Michael Starzynski
Bluberi’s mission was to produce a family of machines that offer an iconic, visually stimulating, future flexible EGM. In less than nine months, the Bluberi -DDSTUDIO’s co-collaboration unveiled the first Novus Cabinet, at G2E 2017. A consumer level, edge-to-edge wrapped gaming surface that yielded significant design and utility IP.
The Who
New leadership at Bluberi Gaming & Technology recognized the need for change in the casino gaming industry. They wanted to create a suite of hardware products that leap-frog the status quo, empower casino operators and resonate with players.
The How
Create the “New Bluberi” EGM entertainment experience that meets schedule, BOM cost, technological and usability requirements. Top Objectives:
* Focus on the user experience: comfort, game immersion, attract & in-play lighting
* Incorporate casino operators: empower business, add flexibility, configurability
* Build a family of products: initially include a core cabinet and a premium model
* Tech-forward: Tie-in telemetry enabled gaming (TEG, Casino, big data)
Location: Drummondville, Canada, Las Vegas, Nevada
Client Type: Start-up Next Generation
Industry: Casino Gaming
The Feeling
Empathy: The Bluberi and DDSTUDIO teams spent a lot of time in the field, observing player behavior and interviewing casino operators to truly understand the challenges their challenges. Empathy inspired insights became fundamental to the design approach.
The “New Bluberi” visual brand language was revealed by prioritizing shared inputs into a single theme board. The chosen EGM form-factor configuration was the result of a playful exercise with modular maquettes. A market positioning exercise guided direction for the optimum blend of physical elements to differentiate.
Build, Feedback Loops, Iterate: Multiple design concepts were considered to arrive at the chosen EGM direction. A team Virtual Reality session was an invaluable tool to align on banking, configuration, lighting effects and more as concepts were evaluated in the casino environment.
Creativity: Research patterns told us that lighting on the EGM should be more than an add on… it is key to attracting players to the machine. The idea of an edge-to-edge screen with integrated lighting was the result of team iterations to evaluate lighting effects, detail and develop a viable prototype.
The Experience
The Player is the center of the gaming experience. With a delighted player, the casino operator gets the most play (coin-in).
Bluberi is reinventing itself with the launch of the Novus Series at G2E 2018. New products, new games, and a new strategy to reposition the company in casinos and on-line.
