Table of Contents
- About AGS
- Award Winners
- Features & Game Types
- Highest Return to Player Slots
- Our Top 5 Picks
- Our View
About AGS
| about ags | info |
|---|---|
| Provider | AGS |
| Established | 1990 |
| Number of Games | 1000+ |
| Products | Online Slots, Cabinet Slots, Casinos Tables and eBingo. |
| Headquarters | Las Vegas |
| Website | https://playags.com/ |
AGS, or American Gaming Systems to give them their full title, started life in the early 90s, making slot cabinets for the tribal casino market.
Now they have an expansive portfolio, including the production of Online Slots, Cabinet Slots, Casinos Tables and eBingo.
They were best known in the early days for providing Class II games which combined slot gameplay and Bingo before expanding into online slots and iGaming.
AGS boasts more than 10,000 cabinets in the USA and beyond; their online company is called AGS Interactive, and has 600 games under their belt. Most have been developed in-house, but some have been developed by third-party software suppliers, including 1×2 Gaming and Ainsworth.
AGS has offices across the USA and Europe, most notably its iGaming division being based in the Isle of Man – home of Microgaming.
This is a reputable firm that has spent three decades honing its skills in land-based casinos.
Their crossover into the online world has brought with it that classic slot gameplay with a touch of online design joie-de-vivre.
Award Winners
You don’t spend 30+ years in this industry without knowing what you’re doing and making sure you’ve got all the paperwork in order.
AGS is fully licensed by Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the UK Gambling Commission, Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), Romanian National Gambling Office (ONJN), New Jersey (DGE), Alcohol, Lotto Quebec, the Gaming Commission of Ontario, Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB), and the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority
They are approved for the following markets:
- Gibraltar
- Lotto Quebec
- Denmark
- Romania
- Malta
- Michigan, USA
- New Jersey, USA
- Ontario, USA
- Pennsylvania, USA
- Sweden
- UK
As you’d expect, with such a long history, AGS has picked up quite a few awards over the years. Most recently, it was awarded third place in the uber prestigious 2022 Global Gaming Awards Las Vegas for Land-Based Supplier of the Year.
Features & Game Types
Like many operators who began life as land-based slot builders, they’ve taken the best bits from the trad games and converted them to being sublime online.
One great unique feature of many ASG slots is the win-both-ways feature.
Feature of AGS games tend to be:
- Nicely designed
- Pay Both Ways/Bi-Directional Wins
- Free Spin Bonuses
- Nice mix of wilds
- Supplementary mini-bonus games
- Expanding reels.
Highest Return to Player Slots
The average Return to Player percentage (RTP) for online slots is between 96% and 97%. In land-based casinos, it is a lot lower. What’s pretty evident from the reviews we’ve conducted is that slot providers who have a land-based background tend to come in a little under this average. At AGS, the RTP is typically between 95% to 96%. And that could mean higher payouts that pay less frequently than higher RTP games. Here are some of their highest RTP games:
- Longhorn Jackpots – 96.05%
- Fire Wolf II – RTP 96%
- Fun Nan Fu Nu – RTP 95.89%
Our Top 5 Picks
- Fu Nan Fu Nu – This Asian-themed slot pays both ways. There are 3125 ways to win on this slot, which is a standard five-reel, three-row format. Translated as “luck boy, lucky girl”, this slot has some great Oriental symbols where firecrackers are wilds. A wild firecracker landing in any position can randomly award you the Jackpot Pick feature. This is a pick-and-win feature game for prizes, including Mini, Minor, Major or Grand Jackpot – three of a kind win you the prize. Gold coins act as the scatter symbols, land three of these and enjoy free spins. This game has an RTP of 95.89% with high volatility. It’s a great game with a lot to offer.
- Pharaoh Sun – This Egyptian-themed slot has high payouts but is big on the volatility front. So, expect long gaps before you win. It has 3125 ways to win, and you can win both ways. The RTP for this one is 95.89% and is stacked with classic Egyptian symbols like beetles, Gods and Ankhs. High-value symbols include a black cat, a Sphinx and the Pharaoh himself. Five Pharaohs will see a prize return of 1000 coins. The wild in this game is a colourful Scarab Beetle which can randomly award a chance to win a Mini, Minor, Major or Grand Jackpot with a pick-and-win feature. The blue Eye of Horus is your trigger symbol; three of them will reward you with free spins. The soundtrack is pure Egyptian with an overlay of classic slot “tinkle sounds” for the wins.
- Longhorn Jackpots – Welcome to the southern USA for this Texas rancher-themed Jackpot game. As you’d expect from the name, it has a really “beefy” vibe when it comes to the symbols, but there are also eagles and snakes to keep the cattle company. For a slot that started on the casino floor, this one comes with a healthy RTP of 96.05% – ranking it high on the RTP AGS slot table. A gold Texas ranger badge acts as the wild, whereas a shiny silver badge represents the scatter symbol. A gold badge can randomly trigger a Jackpot Bonus Pick feature where you have the chance to win a Grand, Major, Minor or Mini prize. Three scatter symbols award free spins with a chance to retrigger more. There’s only one thing to say about this game: “Yehaaw – ride ’em cowboy”.
- Wolf Queen – This icy Queen has a classic land-based slot feel that will warm your cockles when you win. It’s a standard five-reel, three-row slot with high volatility and an RTP of 95.89%. A golden wolf mask is the wild for this game, but there’s more to it than that. It can also randomly trigger the feature Jackpot game where you have the chance to win a Grand, Major, Minor or Mini prize with this pick-and-win feature. Three or more grey-masked wolves land you your free spins, where you have a choice to play for ten on the standard three rows, ten spins on four rows or five free spins on five rows. Playing the higher number of rows increases your chance of landing more multipliers or retriggering more free spins.
- Rakin Bacon – This had to be on our list simply because we love the name. With 243 pay lines on five-reels, this game has an RTP of 95.9%. Plus, it has a golden piggy bank with a top hat, and who doesn’t want a game with that sort of graphic in it? You unlock free spins by getting three or more golden pots on the board. Then you have a choice of picking ten free spins on the standard three rows, ten spins on four rows or five free spins on five rows.Coin symbols act as wilds, and you can randomly choose the Jackpot Pick feature, where you have the chance to win a Grand, Major, Minor or Mini game.
Our View
This is a company with a format, and that’s no bad thing because you know what you’re getting. Once you’ve played a few AGS games, you can spot them a mile away.
Graphically they’re very good, but it’s the gameplay that gives them away with wilds randomly triggering Jackpot Pick Prizes for Grand, Major, Minor and Mini. Free spins are also awarded for three scatters with a choice to choose the number of rows and free spins on offer. This is classic land-based slot territory.
There’s a great selection of themes to choose from, and most soundtracks have retained the classic sound of slots from land-based casinos, unlike many newer studios preferring the soundtracks of a Hollywood blockbuster.
This is a quality slot company with a good list of games, and we’d definitely recommend them to everybody. But don’t expect exceptional animated graphics, immersive sounds and revolutionary gameplay some of the newer studios, such as Yggdrasil, offer.
Do expect higher volatility, quality gameplay and, if you’re lucky enough, decent payouts.
I’d play these slots every day of the week. They’re ‘right up my street’ as they say in the UK.