What comes to mind when talking about gambling is usually winning or losing but there’s a lot more to it than that. Gambling needs to be at least somewhat enticing and rewarding without having to win. There’s a reason why slots usually have very distinct styles and sounds. This reason is that it makes the slot more attractive and therefore they will be played longer. That’s not the only reason. There are many reasons why slots and online casinos are made the way they are. Music has just about always been a standout feature in casinos, so much so that there is a subgenre of Jazz called Casino Jazz.
These days all sorts of genres of music are played in casinos, specifically online casinos. Slots often have particular themes. The music used in these games will usually fit with the theme. For example, a slot game with a western theme like Wild West Gold will have a western theme to them while slots like The Dog House have dogs barking in it. There used to be a stigma that music from games or slots wasn’t real music but that’s not true at all. There is a lot of effort put into making music for slots.
Casino music has to be specially made to account for the fact that the player may be listening to it over and over again. Much like game music, this music has to loop, and usually, that loop has to be unnoticeable. There are a few main reasons why online casinos in Japan like Casumo use the music that they do.
1. Music as a Theme
Music for ambiance is an important staple but some slots have taken this further and made the music their theme. A western example of this is the Elvis-themed slot that would play midi versions of Elvis songs. Japan has a large variety of slots with music themes as well but instead of it being unmistakably popular like the Elvis slots, they’ve used the music of pop groups and idols. It doesn’t stop there because there are even slots with music from digital vocalists like Hatsune Miku, a Vocaloid, and music from Japanese animations. The reason these themes work is that, in Japan, rhythm games and animations about music are very very popular.
Casumo Casino is a great example of how companies will take popular music and turn it into a popular slot machine. Casumo Casino noticed when one of the popular all-girl rock bands (Tankobuchin) went on hiatus and so they decided to make slot machines that emulate the same musical style, with anime-styled characters. This would draw Tankobuchin fans to their casino in search of similar music. On the other hand, bands can earn extra money by collaborating with brands like Casumo, which makes music a great opportunity for profit for both online casinos and bands.
2. Familiar Ambience
Casinos need to be as comfortable and entertaining as possible. Online casinos need to be this way as well and bring that sort of ambiance to you at home. Casinos don’t just need to be comfortable but familiar. This is the core basis of online gambling is to feel like it is the same as gambling at a casino. This is because the stakes are just as real and the ambiance of casinos has very particular purposes which will be discussed further. To achieve this feeling of familiarity, slot games will usually follow familiar themes whether it’s the high rolling style of Lucky 7 or the western style of Liberty Bell. There’s more to it than simply familiar music. Slot games will also use familiar sound effects like coins spilling, bells, and happy little jingles when you score big.
3. Time Tracking
There are two contradicting factors when it comes to music in slot machines and even games. As mentioned above, this music repeats and as a rule of thumb, the main theme of the slot machine will be around 50 seconds long. The music needs to be designed in such a way that the player doesn’t get sick of it after the 15th time the song has been repeated. This music has to be made in a way that the player doesn’t even notice it’s repeating. This is difficult, to say the least, because this means that the music cannot have any sounds that stand out and show it as having been repeated. Because of this, the music often comes across as boring or annoying.
Interestingly enough, players use music as part of a strategy. If you can tell when the music repeats you can gauge how long you’ve been playing and if you’re starting to find the music annoying it means it’s time to stop. This doesn’t always apply some slots revolve around music as a theme and the player will play because they want to hear what plays when they win. This is common amongst Japanese slots.
© 2023 The Havok Journal
The Havok Journal welcomes re-posting of our original content as long as it is done in compliance with our Terms of Use.