Absolootly Mad™: Mega Moolah Q&A

At the beginning of the year Microgaming immersed guests in the range and diversity of its latest and upcoming games at ICE 2020. One of its reveals included another new progressive slot, Absolootly Mad™: Mega Moolah, featuring the world-renowned Mega Moolah jackpot, and developed exclusively by Triple Edge Studios, the talented studio behind the successful Book of Oz slot. Following the game’s network-wide release, LCB.org sat down with Microgaming and Triple Edge Studios to find out more about the magical online slot and what we can expect from the game.

Q: Featuring the world-renowned Mega Moolah jackpot, Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah joins Microgaming’s industry-leading progressive jackpot network and offers a truly magical gameplay experience. Can you talk us through the inspiration and creative direction behind the game?

Brendan Walton, Design Lead at Triple Edge Studios A: Microgaming’s original Mega Moolah progressive slot created back in 2006 is legendary, continuing to hold its appeal today. So in Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah, we wanted to create something that both complements the original and stands out in its own unique and wonderful way. It was fantastic to play with and explore such an iconic, universally loved theme so full of marvelous possibility. The result is a fun and whimsical experience rich in vibrant, bespoke artwork, taking players on a magical journey. Tea party themed symbols such as cakes featuring recognisable characters and quirky teacups help create this world, but also tease what could be around the corner. A jackpot collect teapot above the reels and the colourful jackpot wheel feature itself complete the striking aesthetic.

Alongside rich and vibrant artwork, the game’s sounds were crucial to creating the fun and adventurous experience we had in mind. Working with orchestral tones, our team has created a whimsical sonic journey that offers players a hint of mystery, all the while boosting anticipation for the coveted jackpot bonus.

Q: The latest game is infused with engaging features including Rolling Reels™ with a multiplier trail and free spins, in addition to the Mega Moolah jackpot bonus. Can players trigger the Progressive Wheel during the free spins? Also, can this feature be triggered at any bet?

Brendan Walton, Design Lead at Triple Edge Studios A: While the progressive wheel functions exactly as in the original Mega Moolah slot, we improved the trigger conditions with a wild collection feature to increase the excitement. On every spin during both base game and free spins, wild coin symbols are collected in the golden teapot, which ramps up the chances of triggering the progressive wheel. The bonus wheel can indeed be triggered from any bet in both the base game and free spins – but the bigger the bet, the higher the chances of triggering and hitting one of the jackpots.

Q: Apart from the jackpot bonus, what is the maximum coin win for both the base game and free spins feature?

Brendan Walton, Design Lead at Triple Edge Studios A: When betting 200 coins, the maximum coin wins for the base game and free spins feature in Absolootly Mad (€50 max bet version) are 156,200 and 468,600, respectively. When betting 100 coins, the maximum coin wins for the base game and free spins feature in Absolootly Mad (€25 max bet version) are 78,100 and 234,300, respectively.

Q: The slot is considered medium volatility; please explain what this means to players?

Brendan Walton, Design Lead at Triple Edge Studios A: Medium volatility slots provide a balance between low and high variance. Generally speaking, this means that while wins may occur less frequently than in low volatility slots, the potential rewards are greater in Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah. Adding to that the game’s engaging mechanics and the allure of the Mega jackpot, we’ve created a gaming experience to appeal to both new and experienced players.

Q: The official launch date was 5 May 2020. Was this an exclusive launch or is Absolootly Mad Mega Moolah available to all Microgaming customers

Jean-Luc Ferriere, Chief Commercial Officer at Microgaming A: The game is now available to all Microgaming customers via our content aggregation platform, alongside a wealth of engaging and innovative content, including an industry-leading portfolio of legendary slots, branded blockbusters, record-breaking progressive jackpot games, exclusive studio content and top-performing partner games.

Q: Due to the HTML5 technology, what can players expect in terms of performance across desktop and mobile devices?

Jean-Luc Ferriere, Chief Commercial Officer at Microgaming A: Players can expect a visually rich, high-quality and engaging gameplay experience as standard across all new games from Microgaming. It’s also worth noting that the original Mega Moolah progressive slot, which remains a firm player favourite since launching in 2006, was remastered earlier this year to support a host of performance and feature upgrades, including portrait mode, free games support, quick spin, responsive scaling and optimised loading.

Q: Developed by Triple Edge Studios, an independent studio that supplies exclusive online gaming content to Microgaming, what collaboration is involved in the overall creation of games including design and features?

Jean-Luc Ferriere, Chief Commercial Officer at Microgaming A: Our relationship is mutually beneficial and collaborative. Our commercial and games experts play an active role at all stages of development, but we’re by no means prescriptive. The talented team at Triple Edge Studios have the creative freedom to focus on what they do best – developing feature-rich, entertaining slots that players love. Our focus at Microgaming is bringing those games to market.

Jean-Luc Ferriere, Chief Commercial Officer at Microgaming A: Since our first progressive slot spun onto the network 22 years ago, we’ve witnessed many an exciting moment, from the addition of the Mega Moolah jackpot in 2006 to claiming a world record in 2015— not to mention making more than 80 millionaires! Bringing Mega Moolah to mobile was also a key moment for us, amplified by the fact that the largest ever jackpot was hit on a mobile device.

Surpassing the €1 billion mark in total payouts early last year was arguably the biggest milestone for the network. What we’re most excited about for the future is fully realising our current efforts to refresh and revitalise the network, with a modern technology platform supporting popular classics and feature-rich new games that bring players even more enjoyable gaming experiences and chances to win.

Q: Can we expect to see further games released to incorporate the world-renowned Mega Moolah jackpot in 2020?

Jean-Luc Ferriere, Chief Commercial Officer at Microgaming A: Progressives are certainly a key part of our content strategy for 2020, so we’re working alongside our network of independent studios to strengthen our portfolio with even more engaging titles. We’ve already seen great success with the release of Atlantean Treasures™: Mega Moolah (Neon Valley Studios) in February, which took Mega Moolah under the sea for the first time – and more are in the making.

What’s more, Mega Moolah isn’t our sole focus. We rolled out our newly revamped WowPot progressive jackpot in February with the launch of Wheel of Wishes (Alchemy Gaming), and more WowPot games are on the horizon. 2020 promises to be an exciting year for Microgaming’s progressive jackpot network!