Profile of a Games Tester

Profile of a Games Tester

Before a slot machine maker can put a machine with names such as "Betty Boop's Double Jackpot" or "Ride to Riches," on a casino floor, they have to get through Gaming Laboratories International Inc.

In its Toms River offices, testers take apart each machine and dissect the game's electronic software code, line by line. They check out the coin or bill slots. They make the machine hit the jackpot to ensure it pays out correctly.

Engineers might even pour sand into the coin slot or hit it with static electricity, two methods the unscrupulous use to cheat the house. "We test gaming equipment so we know it is fair to the player so the player is not cheated, and we make sure it is fair to the house so the house is not cheated," said James R. Maida, president of the company.

Machines, such as high-tech slot machines and video lottery machines, must meet the standards and rules set by casino and gaming regulators, the government or tribal agencies that make up Gaming Laboratories' clients. They don't work for the casinos, manufacturers or players.

In the early 1990s, Gaming Laboratories expanded to include traditional casinos, Native American gaming facilities and riverboat casinos throughout the United States. The company also began to test slot machines and gaming equipment and consult for provincial governments in Canada.

Maida and Magno visited states and Native American tribes around the country and any jurisdiction that was thinking about gaming. They visited trade shows and casinos to see how machines were being used and where they were placed on the casino floor.

Throughout the 1990s, the company expanded as gaming spread around the United States and the world. The company opened offices in Colorado, Mississippi, Australia, South Africa and the Netherlands. Last year it opened an office in Las Vegas. In late spring, Gaming Laboratories will move its headquarters from Toms River to a new 40,000-square-foot building under construction in the Lakewood Industrial Park. Now the company has about 200 employees worldwide, including 57 in Toms River.

In Toms River, engineers test video lottery, keno and bingo systems and new advances in gaming technologies. Casino-style machines, such as slots, are tested in Denver. The company also verifies amusement machines found on many boardwalks at the Jersey Shore.

Gaming Laboratories' vaults contain copies of every computer chip used by manufacturer. The software on the chips is verified so the game acts the way it's supposed to.

The company also has to keep up with gaming regulations in every state and jurisdiction.
Engineers must be up on the latest technologies. There are now cashless machines, where players have an account and use a card to play and collect their winnings, Maida said. When players want to leave, they stick their card in an ATM-like machine and are paid out.
Some slot machines now even contain full-motion video, he said.

Source: Asbury Park Press