Craig, Slingo is turning 30 this year. Looking back at your grandfather’s original vision in 1996, did he ever imagine the game reaching this level of global scale? 

No, but early on he knew he had something special when Slingo was on AOL (dial-up days) and the CEO of Time Warner reached out to Sal and said there were so many ‘hours’ being played that they would need to remove the game or renegotiate the deal, as it would financially hurt the business otherwise. This is when Sal knew he had something special.

Slingo is positioned not as a slot or a bingo game, but as its own distinct genre. At what point did the team realise they were defining an entirely new category of gaming? 

This is a good question and I’m not too sure of the answer but I would think early on. When Sal created this game he took two favourites, slots and bingo, and brought them into one. I would assume he knew he was creating something unique from the get-go. That is one of the reasons why I believe this game took off so quickly, as it was a game format that was familiar and simplistic so anyone could play.

The gaming landscape has changed drastically since 1996. How has Slingo stayed ahead of the curve, especially in the mobile and social gaming era? 

Innovation. The team at Slingo, then Real Networks, and now Gaming Realms have always looked at different ways to build upon the mechanic as well as incorporated popular trends in the industry to enhance the Slingo experience. Some of the additions we have made over the years have been changing the reel configuration beneath the matrix from a 1×5 to a 3×5, offering bonuses within the game when reaching certain levels of Slingos, and licensing popular IPs and incorporating them into the gameplay. All of these different actions have evolved the experience for players, helping keep Slingo on top.

Much of Slingo’s appeal is attributed to its simplicity. Why do you think this continues to resonate with audiences that are exposed to increasingly more complexity and how do you protect the core simplicity of Slingo while keeping the product feeling fresh and competitive? 

When Sal created Slingo, he wanted to make it a simple game that all ages can play. He felt that games at that time were becoming increasingly more difficult and wanted to offer a game that players could easily understand how to play and how to win, which I think Slingo, Real Networks, and now Gaming Realms have done an excellent job continuing to build on over the years.

What is your favourite personal memory involving the game or your grandfather’s work? 

This is an easy one. Sal created Slingo on a napkin with my brother on a flight returning from a family trip in Europe. He then went ahead and purchased a 5-Reel slot machine from Mexico (it had peso on it). When it arrived, we removed all the symbols on the reels and replaced them with stickers that included Stars (now Gold Coins), Wilds (now Jokers), and numbers.

My brother and I would go to my grandparents’ house on the weekends where we would stay over and make pizza and play Slingo by using the slot machine as the 1×5 Reel and have bingo cards that we would use as the matrix. We would stay up late into the evening to play and we knew we had something special at this point. The best part of it all was that the three of us had such an amazing time playing this great game together as a family. I would always lose to my brother for some reason!

As we look toward the next 30 years, what is the ‘next big thing’ for Slingo? 

There is so much more we can do with Slingo. However, it’s important that we continue to keep the game ‘simple’ as that is one of the reasons why it’s been so successful for this long. There are many other ways to build upon the success we have had with Slingo to date for many years to come. We need to continue to innovate, incorporate proven mechanics and popular IPs into the game, as these are all a formula of continued success.