Asylum Labs is a small online casino gaming developer that is best known for their work in the social gaming market. The company has created a small number of highly innovative products in that sphere, and more recently has begun to see some of their games show up at real money gambling sites.
One of the most notable aspects of Asylum Labs is the studio’s efforts to combine the best of online gambling products and video games, which has given their offerings a very different feel than those of many of their competitors. That approach has also included an emphasis on social networking elements, allowing groups of friends to enjoy playing together in ways we rarely see in casino play. It’s an approach that has generated a niche for this group, making them a noteworthy provider despite the fact that they have only created a handful of titles so far.
Asylum Labs was founded in 2013, and is based out of California. The company was started by four veterans of the video game and gambling industries, who came together with the goal of creating a large online gaming community in which users could connect and share their exploits with millions of other players.
Along with the creation of their games, Asylum has also worked to create the ArcLight Universal Platform, a scalable delivery system for mobile gaming content. While the provider makes it clear that they are game developers first, their platform is capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of concurrent users, and can support games from other developers as well. Perhaps most impressively, while this product has currently only been used for social casino operations – being integrated into Facebook, for instance – this package still uses the best practices for random number generators and other math operations, the kind you would expect to see in a real money product.
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Perhaps the most famous product in the Asylum Labs library is Wild Party Bingo, a free to play social game that can be found in most major app stores as well as on Facebook. This is a real time, multiplayer version of bingo in which players can compete either by themselves or on teams of up to 5 players in order to fill out their cards and work towards shared goals, all against the backdrops of some of the best party spots in the world.
Where this game really stands out is in the social elements that have been crafted into the gameplay. Chat functionality allows users to communicate with their teammates and rivals, and players can quickly interact with other users or set the party music of their choice to enhance the mood. In addition, players can take advantage of a number of different power ups than make it easier to get bingos, including a Booster Party that can spread the wealth among your whole team. It’s an exciting and innovative approach that has been noticed by the industry, as Wild Party Bingo has been nominated for several awards over the years.
This commitment to social gaming can also be seen in their free to play slots product, Lucky Ace Slots. This is a package that comes in two versions. First, there is the classic single player variant in which players can work their way through four included slots titles, including games with themes like Tiki Island, Jackpot Slots, and Arabian Nights. The machines are designed for maximum fun and gamification, with players being constantly updated on their progress and having the opportunity to unlock new features as they play more.
While that’s a nice little app, the real meat of Luck Ace Slots is in the multiplayer version of the program. This allows up to 200 people to share a room, in which they can chat with each other, watch each other play, and follow along with a leaderboard that allows users to see who the top winners are over the last few minutes. Users can even play behind their friends, with the winnings of multiple people riding on one individual’s spins, which brings a whole new level of excitement and comradery to online slots play.
In addition to these unique creations, Asylum Labs has also developed other slot machines that are a bit more conventional. These titles have the same sharp, colorful presentations and engaging gameplay features as the products we described above, but are strictly single player machines that work like those you would find in any online casino.
First, there is Beauty and the Beast, a game based on one of the most famous stories in the world. Players are asked to navigate a five-reel slot machine with 30 paylines as they look to make matches from left to right across the reels. It's an online slot with special bonus features that can be activated at random during any spin, as well as an interesting free spins round in which players can enjoy large multipliers and move up levels to help the beast turn into the dashing prince – and earn even bigger rewards on every spin.
Even more intriguing is their Congo Bongo online slot, a game that features an animated band of animal musicians who are putting on a show in the jungle. This game uses 50 paylines and once again offers up a feature-rich experience, with three different bonus games that can be triggered during play. This machine is particularly notable, as it is the first game from Asylum that has been released for real money play. Thanks to a partnership with William Hill, gamblers in European nations (including the UK) can try Congo Bongo for real cash play.
We can’t blame gamblers if they haven’t heard of Asylum Labs before. With only a few titles out on the market, and some of those only seen in the social gaming sphere, this isn’t the kind of company that is set up to compete withthe extensive range of Amatic slots or SkillOnNet slots for example. Instead, this is a boutique firm that is more interested in disrupting the marketplace with unique ideas rather than creating an entire casino from scratch.
That makes what they have accomplished in the last few years all the more impressive. Their social games – in particular, Wild Party Bingo – have garnered a large following, thanks mainly to the fact that they offer something truly different from what is normally found in the gaming industry. That kind of innovation is always in demand, especially when it is paired with the beautiful design work and gameplay depth that they put into each of their games. If you get the chance to try out any titles from this Californian casino games developer, we highly recommend giving them a try, even if it’s just for fun in a play for free mode.
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