Psycho Slot Machines

Psycho slot machines from NextGen are based on the classic 1960 Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name, which in turn was adapted from a 1959 novel from Robert Bloch. The black-and-whitethriller continues to terrify viewers more than 50 years later, and anyone familiar with the work is sure to get a certain amount of enjoyment from of this adaptation.

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at the slot, from its paytable and bonus round to the unique gamble option included on most NextGen releases. I’ve even thrown in some Psycho triviaand quotes, just to help you get in the mood for playing a game about murder and particularly unnerving showers.

For those who haven’t seen the film, the movie starts with a secretary named Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) stealing a large sum of money from her boss and fleeing town. She intends to give it to herboyfriend so he can cover his debts and afford to marry her, but a combination of stress and rain causes her to pull over for the night at the Bates Motel.

She finds 12 rooms and 12 vacancies, as well as a mild-mannered motel manager named Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Norman cares for his ailing mother who lives in the old mansion on the hill,and he spends the rest of his time engaging in hobbies such as taxidermy. Everything seems relatively normal at first, but things take a turn for the murderous when Marion showers and getsstabbed to death by a mysterious woman who appears to be Mrs. Bates.

From there, the movie centers on the search for Marion. Both her sister (Vera Miles) and lover (John Gavin) are frantic with worry, and they encounter another interested party in the form of aprivate detective who’s been hired to find the missing woman. Some live, others die, but everyone is permanently changed and creeped out by the secrets they uncover in the Bates mansion.

Alfred Hitchcock was kind of a strange fellow to begin with, so when he set out to make a film dealing with such controversial themes, it was obvious that a number of interesting stories and bitsof trivia would come from it. Here are a few to ponder while you’re playing the slot machine based on his masterpiece:

• For his role as Norman Bates, actor Anthony Hopkins received $40,000. Coincidentally, this is exactly the same sum of money stolen by Marion Crane at the beginning of the film.
• Before Janet Leigh was cast in the role of Marion Crane, other actresses considered for the part included Lana Turner, Eva Marie Saint, Angie Dickinson, and Piper Laurie.
• The film cost $800,000 to make, but it brought in more than $40 million in box office revenue.
• Janet Leigh didn’t mind filming the shower scene. After seeing the completed movie, however, she claimed to take baths for the rest of her life.
• Instead of a soundtrack featuring strings, Alfred Hitchcock and screenwriter Joseph Stefano originally envisioned the movie with a jazz score.
• In 1998, a shot-for-remake was made starring Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche. It was met with overwhelming disapproval.
• The famous shower scene includes 50 cuts and 77 different camera angles.
• Alfred Hitchcock always made a cameo in his own films. In Psycho, he appears outside Marion’s office wearing a cowboy hat about four minutes into the movie.
• When recording the effects for the film, the sound of a knife cutting through flesh in the shower scene was achieved with a blade and a casaba melon.
• While the shower scene only lasted on-screen for about 45 seconds, it reportedly took seven days to shoot.

If you’ve played any of the NextGen slots, then you’re likely to be familiar with their basic set of game rules. For those who are encountering their products for the first time, this list shouldprove helpful.

• The game features 25 fixed paylines. “Fixed” means that all lines are always active.
• All payouts are made according to the paytable.
• Scatter wins are multiplied by the bet.
• Scatter wins are added to payline wins.
• Payline wins are multiplied by the size of the player’s wager.
• On each selected payline, only the highest winning combination is paid.
• Wins on different lines are added together to determine a total.
• Wins pay left to right. The only exception is the scatter, which pays regardless of its location on the reels.
• In the case of a game malfunction, all plays and pays are considered void.

Players can pick up additional money with the Free Games feature, but most of their winnings are likely to come while playing on the main reels. In this section, we’ll discuss each of theavailable symbols, as well as listing their payout values.

• Psycho Wild

  The game’s wild symbol may be present on any spin, and they substitute for all symbols except the scatter. During the base game, a winning line that includes a wild may have its totalmultiplied by 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, or 20.

• Bates Mansion

  This is the game’s scatter symbol, and it depicts the ominous mansion that’s home to Mrs. Bates. When three or more of these icons appear anywhere on the reels, the player is transported tothe Free Games feature. In addition, multiple scatters offer the following prizes: 25 credits for two matches, 50 for three, 375 for four, and 2500 for five.

• Marion Crane

  The main female character during the early stages of the film, Marion Crane steals money from her boss so that her boyfriend can pay off his debts. As she drives across the state with theloot, a rainstorm causes her to pull over for the night. Unfortunately, she happens to choose the Bates Motel for refuge, and this decision alters her life forever. When Marion makes up awinning combo, she pays one of the following: one credit for two matches, 25 for three, 200 for four, and 1000 for five.

• Detective Milton Arbogast

  After Marion Crane steals a large sum of cash from her employer and flees, a private detective named Arbogast (Martin Balsam) is hired to track her down. He stops at the Bates Motel to asksome questions, but he later regrets his decision to go poking around the house on the hill in search of Mrs. Bates. This symbol offers the following payouts: one credit for two matches, 20for three, 100 for four, and 250 for five.

• Voyeur & Stolen Money

  These symbols represent Norman spying on Marion Crane as she undresses, as well as the $40,000 in cash that Marion embezzled from her employer. If either of these lands on the reels enough tocreate a winning line, the player can expect to receive one of the following payouts: 15 credits for three matches, 50 for four, and 200 for five.

• Room Key

  In the film, Norman gives Marion the key to the motel room closest to the office. Of course, those who’ve seen the movie know it’s so he can spy on her taking a shower through a small hole inthe wall. If this icon makes up a winning combo, the following amounts are available: 10 credits for three matches, 30 for four, and 150 for five.

• Ace

  Like with most games from NextGen, playing card icons are used to round out the symbols on the reels. I would’ve loved to see Norman or Mrs. Bates instead, but nobody bothered to consult withme while the game was being designed. When it makes up a winning combo, this symbol offers the following payout: 10 credits for three matches, 30 for four, and 150 for five.

• King & Queen

  When either of these face cards comprises a winning combo on the reels, the player can expect to receive one of the following amounts: five credits for three matches, 25 for four, and 125 forfive.

• Jack & Ten

  The least-valuable of the playing card icons, either of these symbols pay the following when they make up a winning combination: five credits for three matches, 20 for four, and 100 for five.

If three to five scatter symbols appear on the reels during a single spin, the player unlocks the Free Games feature. This bonus takes place immediately, with the player receiving 10, 15, or 20free spins depending on the number of triggering scatter symbols.

Free games are played at the bet and paylines of the triggering game, and they can be retriggered. Wilds also appear at a more noticeable rate, and any wilds with these symbols may be multipliedby one of the following: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 20, or 40.

Once all complimentary spins have been completed, the total winnings for the bonus phase are added together and deposited into the player’s account. Then, the customer is taken back to the basegame to continue play.

Present on most NextGen slots, this optional feature gives players a chance to increase the amount of any winning spin. Once the win is announced, the gamble feature can be activated by pressingthe button associated with it on the main screen.

You’ll then be taken to a screen with a face-down poker card. Correctly predicting the color of the card results in the winning amount being doubled, while predicting the suit causes it to bequadrupled. This can be done up to five times in a row, although any wrong guess results in the player losing their recent winnings.

Fans of the original Psycho movie are going to absolutely love this slot machine. It’s practically oozing with atmosphere, and the opening scene shows a car driving down a lonely highway andpulling into the Bates Motel parking lot.

Things get even better from there, as the game shifts to the main screen. To the right of the reels, we can see the creepy Bates mansion sitting on the hill. To the right, there’s the distinctiveBates Motel sign with the vacancy indicator prominently lit.

Creepy music and sound effects play even when the reels aren’t in motion. To further enhance the creepy mood of the game, there are also intermittent lighting flashes in the background. I wasespecially impressed by the reels, and their background depicts a still-wet shower curtain.

Spinning the reels results in a burst of violin music, and the appearance of the wild symbol causes a knife-wielding hand to flash across the screen. If you pay close attention, you’ll evennotice quotes from the movie in the area directly below the reels.

If you want to get in the mood before playing a session on the Psycho slot machine, take a look at the following quotes from the original movie. Turn down the lights, crank up the volume to getthe full benefit of the eerie sound effects, and keep repeating these lines over and over.

• “It’s not like my mother is a maniac or a raving thing. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven’t you?”
• “Well, a son is a poor substitute for a lover.”
• “Mother! Oh God, mother! Blood! Blood!”
• “A boy’s best friend is his mother.”
• “Oh, but she’s harmless. She’s as harmless as one of those stuffed birds.”
• “She might have fooled me, but she didn’t fool my mother.”
• “I think that we’re all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we neverbudge an inch.”
• “A hobby should pass the time, not fill it.”
• “I don’t set a fancy table, but the kitchen’s awful homey.”
• “Hate the smell of dampness, don’t you? It’s such a, I don’t know, creepy smell.”

Since the 25 paylines are fixed, a player can enjoy a spin for as little as 0.25. This makes the Psycho slot machine ideal for low rollers, but the 50.00 maximum should also please mid-rangegamblers.

While the payouts and betting options are decent, the biggest selling point of this game is the theme. Psycho is one of the most famous films in the history of cinema, and even those who’ve neverseen it are bound to know something about it. The slot does an excellent job of recreating the atmosphere of the original, and those with poor nerves may find it too scary to tolerate for longstretches of time. Consider yourself warned.