A Vamp for all Seasons

IGT and Elvira team up for a spine-tingling video slot

For over 20 years, Elvira, a.k.a. "the Mistress of the Dark", has been a pop culture icon. Whether hosting B-movie scare-a-thons, starring in national TV commercials, or lending her spooky-but-sexy likeness to a long line of products, her sultry voice, curvaceous figure and macabre sense of humor have made her synonymous with Halloween and all things that go bump in the night.

Leave it to International Game Technology, which has, time and again, converted brand-name shows and personalities into winning slot machines, to immortalize Elvira in the form of an ingeniously crafted game. The new wide-area progressive captures Elvira in all her spooky splendor, while offering players the bonus rounds, clever graphics and pulse-pounding jackpots that fans of IGT games have come to expect.

In real life (as opposed to in reel life, if you'll excuse the pun), the Queen of B Horror goes by the name Cassandra Peterson.

Born in Kansas, Peterson has been performing and entertaining since an early age. As a teenager, her inspiration was actress Ann-Margret. After seeing the star in the Elvis vehicle Viva Las Vegas, Peterson set out for Sin City at age 17 and became the youngest showgirl in the city's history.

Coincidentally, her time in Vegas would also yield a date with Presley himself - and words of encouragement from The King, who caught one of her performances and urged her to pursue a singing career.

But fame would not come calling until 1981, and in a way Peterson could have never predicted. "I was a struggling actress here in L.A., and I heard about a part for a horror hostess on a local television station, KHJ", said Peterson in an interview with Strictly Slots.

"I auditioned for it along with a couple thousand other men, women, everything - they were just looking for a host, not particularly a woman. Somehow I got the job, and I had to come up with a character and a look. One of my best friends at the time said 'I've got a great idea' and drew me a picture of what he thought I should dress like. I went on the TV show and started doing it once a week, thinking 'here's a gig I can make a few bucks at while I pursue my acting career'".

Little did she know that the ultra-low-budget Movie Macabre program, in which her Elvira character introduced shlocky old horror flicks with titles like Attack of the Killer Leeches, would catapult her to stardom. Within a couple of weeks of hosting the show, she'd amassed enough fans to necessitate taking her number out of the phone book. Requests started pouring in for her to appear at birthday parties and store openings. And she was, of course, the celebrity of choice to host any Halloween bash.

The show's ratings blew through the roof, enough to spark fan clubs across the country and an appearance on the Johnny Carson show. She starred in a feature-length TV film, and the show rocketed to national syndication. This led to a series of high-profile Coors beer commercials. "It was a huge campaign", says Peterson. "It really got me into the public eye across the country". She even lent her name and likeness to a pair of very successful pinball games designed by Bally, including one titled "Scared Stiff".

Managed by her husband, Mark Pierson, Elvira has become a one-woman industry. She's made over 1,000 television appearances, starred in three movies, recorded five CDs, published four books, and licensed over 350 products ranging from perfumes to electric guitars to haunted houses. Her trademark costume is the best-selling female Halloween costume of all time.

And although she's a household name, it's a great form of celebrity, according to Peterson; she can still walk unrecognized in public, since in reality the sultry, brunette Scream Queen is a petite strawberry blonde with a sunny disposition. You would never recognize Peterson as the gothic sex symbol that causes fans to clamor for autographs and pictures during her appearances at horror-movie conventions.

TV Screen to Slot Screen

In today's casino-crazed culture, Elvira's latest incarnation is sure to raise her profile even further, and introduce her to legions of new fans. The slot project began when IGT, aware of the success of her pinball games, approached her about creating a slot machine. Peterson and husband/manager Pierson then visited the company's Reno headquarters. "We took a trip out there and saw the whole process", says Peterson. "I just couldn't believe what a huge facility they have, and what an enormous business [slot machines are]".

Under the direction of game guru Joe Kaminkow, IGT's VP of engineering and game design, a collaboration began between IGT's ace designers and programmers, Peterson and Pierson. "Their creative department put it together, but we had several changes to the way I looked, and the way I was portrayed", says Peterson. "We were able to pick and choose what elements we liked or didn't like".

Voice recording was done in Los Angeles, with Peterson laying down a couple hundred scripted lines for the game's various prompts and bonus rounds. The game designer was Randy Mead, whose previous IGT design credits include "Texas Tea", "My Rich Uncle" and "Evel Knievel".

"Staying true to form with Elvira, we designed the game around what made her famous", says Mead. "Her appearance is a big part of it, and then the macabre, kind of campy theme".

The top box is entirely unique, containing an elaborate wheel that glows different colors when it spins. The game comes in two versions: one with 15 lines and five credits per line (with a default 75-credit max bet), and the other with nine lines and five credits per line (a default 45-credit max bet). A brilliantly detailed sculpture of Elvira sits atop the game, and its spinning wheel (it's the patented wheel produced by new IGT subsidiary Anchor Gaming) replicates a spider web. In the top box is a progressive meter, displaying the game's ultimate jackpot as it is amassed between games linked across casinos and even states.

The reel symbols reflect the game's B-horror movie theme, containing spiders, bats, black cats and tombstones. Game play is accompanied by appropriately eerie music. However, as in so many other IGT creations, it's the bonus rounds that give the game its personality. There are three separate bonus events - the "Midnight Matinee" (triggered approximately once every 133 pulls), the "Web of Winnings" (1/120), and the "Deadhead Scatter and Shatter" (1/133.)

Line up spinning spiders on an active payline, and the primary bonus - the "Web of Winnings" - is triggered. The game symbols fade and an animated Elvira pops up on the video screen to prompt the player to choose one of several spider-web symbols. The chosen symbol reveals the number of wheel spins (three, four or five) the player gets. (To show you what could have been, the Web of Winnings symbols display the values that lurked behind the others.)

The screen then transitions to Elvira seated in a chair, with a display showing a spin button and several meters to keep track of credits won and the number of spins left. To Elvira's left, a spider dangles above the spin button; when the player presses it, the spider "climbs up" to the actual wheel on top of the machine. Its eleven wedges contain nine credit values and two icons representing treasure chests. When credit wedges are hit, the credit amount is momentarily displayed in a large Web Win meter to the right of Elvira and the amount of the win is tallied in the total win meter.

If the wheel lands on one of the chest icons, the curtains open to show three chests. Elvira prompts the player to select a chest. When the player makes his/her selection, the top opens and a creature pops up to display the amount of credits won. The chest then snaps shut and the chest values that "could have been" are displayed. At the conclusion of the bonus, a math box displays the total win calculations: the amount of the Bonus win multiplied by the number of credits per line.

The Midnight Matinee is the secondary bonus, initiated when two Midnight Matinee symbols land anywhere on the first and fifth reels. Elvira announces the bonus and the screen shows Elvira sitting on a couch in her Midnight Matinee studio. To the player's left is a stack of five old TV sets. One of them displays a clip from Elvira's latest feature film, Elvira's Haunted Hills, along with a credit value. The remaining TVs display scenes from four other horror movie titles.

After introducing the bonus, Elvira prompts the player to choose one of the movies by touching a TV. Here, the player has the option of selecting the top television - the "Feature Presentation" - which will award them the point value they already know. Or, they can take a chance on a bigger win by selecting one of the other television symbols. The screen of the chosen TV will then enlarge to show a clip from a horror movie, and at the conclusion, a credit amount is displayed (prompting Elvira to make a wisecrack, based on how much you score). Finally, Elvira will ask the player to choose one of three "rating skulls". If the selected skull reveals a rating that matches Elvira's rating, the total bonus credits are doubled. After a closing comment from Elvira, it's back to the game.

In addition to the footage from Peterson's new film Elvira's Haunted Hills, the game features 15 clips from six different campy horror flicks. These include such unforgettable titles as Attack of the Giant Leeches, Beast from Haunted Cave, The Giant Gila Monster, The Killer Shrews and The Mad Monster.

Finally, there is the Deadhead Scatter and Shatter bonus, triggered when all three Deadhead symbols land anywhere on reels 1, 3 and 5. An animated sequence follows of disembodied heads in jars of formaldehyde, bobbing along to the tune "Just A Gigolo" - specifically, the line "I... ain't got no body". (Get it?) Text prompts the player to select one of the Deadhead symbols. As the animation and music continue, the selected head then breaks through the top of the jug to reveal a bonus amount. The could-of-had values of the other two symbols are quickly revealed, and then it's back to the game.

At last October's Global Gaming Conference in Las Vegas, Peterson, in full Elvira garb, accompanied the IGT team as they introduced the game to the public. Here, the Mistress of the Dark herself was able to play the game for the first time in a casino environment. "It was fun to play!" she says of the experience. "I couldn't stop playing it; it really drew me in". She was particularly impressed by the Elvira sculpture that adorns the top of the machine. "The sculptor did a really excellent job", she says. "I think it's one of the best likenesses of the character that's ever been done - I wish they could have done my wax figure".

And when Peterson sat down to play, it was as if the game recognized its namesake was commanding the reels. "I won the most money on it I've ever won on a slot machine... Not only did I play about six straight hours, but I actually walked away from it with $500 in hand!" she laughed. "It was the first time in my life I've ever won money on a slot machine. I started off with twenty bucks that Joe [Kaminkow] gave me, and I ran it up to $500 by the time I left".

Peterson was especially amazed by the game's technology, since she hadn't played a slot machine in many years. "The last time I played slot machines I was working in Vegas as a showgirl at the Dunes in '69", she said. "I wasn't even aware that slot machines had become so electronic - (they've) almost turned into video games".

The Elvira game is now available in casinos in certain states, while at press time it was awaiting approval from other gaming jurisdictions across the country. As for Elvira herself, Peterson shot Elvira's Haunted Hills this past winter in Transylvania. It is due to come out on home video in October. (Information on Elvira and her latest movie, including a trailer, can be found at her website, www.elvira.com.)

As for the Elvira slot, quips America's favorite Scream Queen: "Now, for only a quarter, every guy in America can get lucky with Elvira!"