Novomatic Casinos
Novomatic is one of the world’s largest developers of casino games and software, and while they are most notably known for their high variant video slots, the company are actually behind a number of gambling -related innovations, including a premium range of games, full software solutions, and lottery systems, which can be found in many parts of Europe.
In this article, we’re going to look at some of Novomatic’s most popular games, alongside a short overview of the company, how it was founded, as well as who some of the key figures are in the day-to-day running of the business. Let's first have a look at the some of the games, starting with the popular Novomatic video slots.
Best UK Novomatic Casinos & Bonuses
Slots
Almost all of the Novomatic slots are coined high-variance by players, and it’s not unusual to go 100, 200 or even up to 1000 spins without hitting one of the bonus rounds. It's this reason that the games have actually become so popular with players. While large payouts may be few and far between, when the bonuses or big wins do come, they tend to be far greater in value than compared to most software providers. Some of Novomatic’s games offer as much as 20,000X stake returns, which are figures that simply cannot be matched by the majority of games around today. Below, we will look at some of the company’s most popular slot creations.
Book of Ra and Book of Ra Deluxe
Book of Ra and Book of Ra Deluxe are probably the slots that made Novomatic the company they are today. They’ve become insanely popular with players around the world, and have replica, clone versions created by over four other software providers in a desperate attempt to replicate the game's success.
But no replica will ever be successful as the true Book of Ra, which is truly one of the most popular video slot games of all time. The games are set around an ancient explorer, venturing through the pyramids of Egypt, and while the base game offers very little in the way of wins, the bonus round can deliver a whopping amount of money to lucky players. To trigger the bonus, you need to land three, four or five of the book symbols anywhere in view. Do this and you will receive 10 free spins, and before they begin, a random symbol will be chosen to act as the expanding symbol. During the bonus, any time you land three or more of the traditional playing card symbols (Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace) or two or more of the higher paying symbols, that symbol will fill the entire reel and guarantee a win. And, as it doesn’t matter which reels the symbols land on, they all pay.
The highest paying symbol – the Explorer – pays a whopping 10,000X total stake for landing a full screen of him, and with 10 free spins available (plus the potential of multiple retrigger is), it seems the win-potential is near enough unlimited this game.
Pharaoh’s Tomb
Another popular Egyptian-themed video slot, Pharaoh’s Tomb offers one of the more unique gameplay mechanisms we’ve seen, and if you manage to enter the feature (by landing three of the scatter symbols), you will be awarded with 12 free spins.
Each time a wild symbol lands on the reels, it will grant you with one additional free spin, as well as removing the lowest symbol from the reels for the duration of the free spins. Collect six of the wild symbols and all of the lower paying symbols will be removed, giving you an incredible chance at hitting a full screen of the cross symbol, which pays a huge 2000X for a full screen.
Other Notable Slot Titles
Other popular slots from Novomatic include: Captain Venture, Dolphins Pearl Deluxe, and Lucky Lady’s Charm.
Table Games
Novomatic may be known by most players as a developer of slot games, but as you’ll soon see, they do actually offer a number of casino table games, and while their game-range isn’t as large as some of the biggest software providers, it is surprisingly robust.
Roulette
Novomatic offer four different Roulette games, but despite the games looking great and playing well, there isn’t a huge amount of creativity in the games themselves. Firstly, you’ll find the self-titled 'Roulette', which is based on European Roulette, but with a few graphical and game-setting differences to the actual European Roulette title. Then there's Vegas Roulette and Globe Roulette – both of which are centred on European Roulette, and vary in stake and graphical design. Our personal favourite though is the plain and simple European Roulette, as it’s by far their best designed and also the smoothest, in terms of gameplay.
We noted that the Vegas and Globe Roulette experienced small amounts of lag while spinning, and while it wasn’t overly noticeable and probably wouldn’t affect most players – it does beg the question of how the game would render on the slower devices, especially mobile ones. It also raises questions on exactly how the games are being developed. We know Novomatic are very reputable and experienced developer and it’s possible these games are being phased out, as we can find them at many online casinos, but it’s still something that’s worth pointing out.
Blackjack
Rather disappointingly, Novomatic offer just one Blackjack title called quite simply 'Blackjack'. While we haven’t seen a huge amount of creativity in the Roulette games, we were still hoping for a little more when it came to Blackjack, and it’s a real shame to only offer one title as it limits the chances of the company having their games featured in more online casinos. Having said that, it’s also likely true that they really don’t care too much about their casino table games, and only develop them to ensure that Novomatic-Powered casinos offer casino games.
It is, of course, their video slot games that make them so famous, but nonetheless, they do offer Blackjack, and this game follows largely European rules. The main difference, however, is that the dealer deals himself two cards from the offset, as well. This means the dealer peeks for Blackjack.
In addition, the game follows these rules:
- The player may not surrender
- The player is only allowed to split once (and this includes pairs of aces)
- Insurance may be taken by the player
- Doubling is only permitted on a hand totalling a value of nine, 10, or 11
It’s a fairly cookie-cutter Blackjack game, and it’s unlikely we’ll see anything too exciting from Novomatic in terms of Roulette and Blackjack in the near future, but it’s worth noting the games they do offer and credit where credit is due, as they are incredibly well designed.
Live Dealer Games
Novomatic do not currently offer any form of live dealer games and we haven’t heard anything that would suggest they’re planning to do so any time soon. If this changes, we’ll update this page, although it seems unlikely venture into the live gaming area, especially seeing as they haven’t made much headway with any of the table games.
Video Poker
Most players probably had no idea that Novomatic produce a number of Video Poker games and they’d be forgiven for thinking that, as it's pretty hard to even track down the names of the games the company has released. That being said, we will briefly go over them, although if you're a UK player, don’t expect to find these games if you specifically go out looking for them. They’re very likely only featured at non-UK licensed casinos and most likely those serving the Scandinavian markets.
Nevertheless, the four Video Poker titles Novomatic offer include: Deuces Wild, Joker Wild, Jacks or Better, and All American Poker. All of the games can be played using either one hand, or multiple hands, and rather than creating a separate game for each multi-hand option, Novomatic have built the games in an 'all-in-one' format, which saves the casino screen space and ensures that players don’t have to navigate through multiple titles. Just like all of their games, Novomatic’s Video Poker titles are relatively well-made, so it's especially a shame that they don’t appear at more online casinos. This may well change in the future, but at the time of writing, they’re incredibly hard to find.
Jackpot Games
There’s just one Progressive Jackpot game produced by Novomatic, although it’s not commonly found at UK-based online casinos. The game is actually found on their Joker Wild Video Poker title – the one we looked just above – and this localised jackpot (localised meaning that it’s game specific and not shared amongst other players) is sized in proportion to your bet amount. If you’re lucky enough to be dealt a royal flash (which Novomatic strangely call a 'Direct Royal Flush'), you’ll scoop the jackpot. Dependent on your stake, this can be worth many thousands or even tens of thousands of pounds.
About Novomatic
- Year Founded: 1980
- Owner: Johann Graf
- Publicly Traded: No
History
Novomatic is one of the world’s top developers of video slot and casino games, and many players will be familiar with the high-variance, potentially huge-paying games the company have created. Austrian billionaire, Johann Graf, first founded Novomatic in 1980, and despite the fact that the company remains quite well-known, it's still not one of the most prominent names in online gaming. Novomatic boasted a total revenue of €3.2 billion in 2012, and today, has offices in 43 countries around the world, while also operating a number of land-based casinos with locations in Berlin, and Santiago, Chile.
Now, it’s important to note that Novomatic don’t solely make casino games. They have long been at the heart of various lottery games and systems within other European countries, however, not within the UK. This is why many players are surprised when they hear the true size of the company, and with 20,000 employees, it’s easy to see how it can be hard to believe that Novomatic really are as big as they are. They are that big though and company continues to develop premium ranges of video slots and casino table games to provide to online casinos around the world.
Interestingly, many of the developer’s online video slots were first developed for their land-based casinos. As they only own a small handful of casinos around the world, these games remain largely unknown to online players, especially as they were developed exclusively by Novomatic. Rumour has it, that the software developer tests players' reactions and their enjoyment-factor of the games in their land-based casinos before making the decision to port them over to an online format. This is a luxury that most software providers simply don’t have, as they tend not to actually own any land-based casinos.
Novomatic has seen consistent growth since their founding, and in 2016, they purchased the UK gambling company, Talarius, from its Australian owners, the Tatts group. Talarius operated a number of subsidiaries around the world, and in the UK, their brand Quicksilver, was, and continues to be the largest slot gambling machine operator, with over 200 high-street branches, and an estimated 10,000 gambling machines.
Novomatic’s acquisition of this company is not immediately apparent, as Novomatic have not yet introduced any of their games into the gaming archives, but this is likely down to the United Kingdom’s strict laws on video slot gaming, particularly the maximum payouts they can awards, as many machines are capped at £100 or £500 maximum payout. One source stated though that Novomatic made the purchase to ensure their business network remains relevant, alongside helping the company continue to grow.
The Future for Novomatic
Novomatic have made it very clear that they continue to attempt growth in both the online and off-line casino markets, and, in terms of their online presence, one of the ways in which we’ve seen the company achieve higher levels of interest amongst players is with the modification of their online slots.
While Novomatic’s are well-liked for their vintage and classic look and feel, the games themselves lack many features that other software providers, such as NetEnt and Microgaming, were hammering. One of the main examples of this is with the randomly-triggering features, in which Novomatic – until around a year ago – had none.
Their inclusion of these randomly-triggering features may not sound much, but it shows that the software provider is adapting to a more modernised online gambling experience, and it’s very likely that we will see them continue this trend, whether that be either modifying and releasing new versions of their old games or simply focusing on new titles. We will also likely see the company shift its focus to mobile gaming within the next year or two, as this incredibly lucrative market is one that Novomatic have, until now, remained relatively naive to, so while no predictions can be set in stone, those are the two areas that most tend to agree the company will follow.