Bingo Pinballs
This page was created on 5-07-2010 – Last updated 5-18-2012 |
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~ Japanese Sigma Bingo Machines ~ |
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Finding
information about this Japanese Amusement Company on the Internet is tough, except
for a few vague references! but I’ll
keep trying! Aruze Also
Buys Sigma: Aruze Corp. has announced that it intends to acquire 4.35
million shares of Sigma Inc. for 1.68 billion yen, which would give it a 61.4% share in Sigma. Sigma operates over 70
game arcades in Japan as well as manufacturing coin-op gaming machines. Aruze, which is a large pachinko machine
manufacturer, will purchase the stock from Sigma President Katsuki Manabe and other top shareholders, with the deal due to
be complete by the end of February. Aruze also wants to buy 2.5 million new shares for 950 million yen. Aruze's goal is
use the profits from its pachinko machines to develop a new business section operating amusement centers as a new source
of earnings. It bought Osaka-based game software developer SNK Corp. earlier this month. |
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One
of the Sales Support references I found for these was a company of the Approved
2002 Japanese
Amusement
Companies from the Nevada Gaming Commission, which kind of makes sense – since
these
Sigma
Bingos also have 3-digit payout meters – 280 Yen, what is that anyway……lol…….
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Sigma Inc acquires Technical Mgmt(Aruze) from Aruze Corp 
Oct
01, 2000
…JAPAN - Sigma Inc (SI), a ##.#% owned unit of Aruze
Corp, merged with Technical Management Inc (TM), a ##.#% owned unit of Aruze
and provider of distribution services, in a stock swap stransaction valued at
##.### bil…
Sigma Inc acquires Kan Design Co Ltd from Aruze Corp Oct
01, 2000
…JAPAN - Sigma Inc (SI), a ##.#% owned unit of Aruze
Corp, merged with Kan Design Co Ltd (KD), a constructor of residential and
industrial buildings and a ##.#% owned unit of Aruze, in a stock swap
transaction valued…
Aruze Corp acquires a minority stake in Sigma Inc Feb
28, 2000
…JAPAN - Aruze Corp (AC) rased its stake to ##.#%
from ##.###%, by acquiring #.# mil new ordinary shares, in Sigma Inc (SI), a
game arcade operator company, for ### Japanese yen ($#.### US) in cash per…
Aruze Corp launches a tender offer for Sigma Inc Feb
23, 2000
…JAPAN - Aruze Corp (AC) completed its tender offer
to acquire #.## mil ordinary shares, or a ##.###% stake or in Sigma Inc (SI), a
game arcade operator company, for ### Japanese yen ($#.### US) per share, or…
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Sigma 1999-2005
Introduction.
First I would like to state that in regards Sigma slot machines, no one seems
to be archiving any information on these. It really too bad as these are
*great* slot machines for the home. Excellent graphics and game play with good
bonus games. And they are fairly inexpensive compared to Williams and IGT
models, yet have all the same features (if not more).
Sigma was bought by Mikohn around 2003, and then was sold to
Progressive Gaming International (PGI) in 2005, where the UV1700 was shelved.
So most Sigma uv1700 video slots were made between 1999 and 2003.
Sigma Gaming Brief History.
Sigma Gaming was actually founded in Tokyo (Japan) back in 1984. They were the
first non-U.S. slot maker to gain Nevada Gaming Commision certification. They
did relocate to Las Vegas in 1996, but the Japanese touch remained. Sigma was
known for technical innovations, and Sigma aggressively marketed their slot
machines and poker machines. This spurred competition, and IGT (International
Gaming Technologies) decided to take Sigma to court over copyrights. (Sound
familiar? See the Williams
slot history for details.) In 1989, IGT claimed the Japanese Sigma
Gaming had been stealing patented game designs from IGT. This was eventually
settled out of court. Sigma is one of only a few manufacturers to hold an
unrestricted license to use the Telnaes technology (which IGT holds the patent)
that allows for virtual reels and unlimited odds. (Spinning reel only, does not
apply to video slots, see Williams
slots for more info on this.) The Telnaes technology enables Sigma
to offer the ability to provide high-end payouts and progressive jackpots
without limitations.
In 1990 Sigma came out with the first "slot top" (sit
down) slot machines. Though not a good home slot machine format due to size,
these were very popular in the casinos (and still are today). Players loved the
comfort of sitting down to play. In 1991 they were honored with the State of
Nevada Governor's Industry Appreciation Award for its continued contribution to
Nevada's growth. Again in 1996 Sigma received the award again.
Sigma was also the first company to embed a dollar bill validator
into their slot machines, which made playing a Sigma slot one-stop shopping. To
the casinos it was not about comfort, but to keep players at one machine for a
longer period of time. There would be no breaks to go sit down, and no need to
run to the cash machine. The ideas worked, and soon IGT was copying Sigma
Games. Sigma wanted to build slot machines which were user-friendly. They made
their slots easy to use and more comfortable to play, hoping this would lead to
player loyalty.
Sigma also released the first red, white & blue-themed game (Patriot),
and a patented locking cashbox extractor. The cashbox extractor featured a
design licensed to and utilized by two other leading slot machine manufacturers
(Bally and Wms), and was offered by JCM.
Sigma Gaming made other slot play innovations too. Though they
didn't invent it, early on they were part of the trend to increase the play
using big credit bonuses. If you payed the full price to play (all the credits
the game would except for one spin, which in some cases was up to 50 credits),
the bonus structure made it worth your while. This is standard nowadays.
Around 1999 Sigma jumped on the video slot machine bandwagon with
the Sigma uv1700 video slot. The video slot was a market largely developed by
Williams (Wms), and one that Wms excelled. Sigma met and I would say surpassed
Wms with the uv1700. Animation is more refined on the Sigma, and the machines
are far easier to repair.
As for repairs, Sigma slots were easier for casinos to repair (and
us too, since these are now in our homes!) For example the UV1700 Sigma slot
machines shown on this page are based on 300 mHz Cyrix/Pentium PC computer
hardware, using standard 168 pin 256meg SDRam DIMM pc100 or pc133 memory sticks
and CD ROM drives. But the PC board is a bit different than those seen in your
home computer. Instead of a board with a zillion connectors, the Sigma 1700
slot uses a DPX-80 board from Densitron
Technologies and Gamingboads.com,
using a single "ConnectBus" connector. This board eliminates the need
to plug and unplug different connectors for power, HDD, FDD, monitor, etc. That
is, all power, I/O, and interface signals are routed to a single ConnectBus
connector. This makes the board literially "plug and play", allowing
Casinos to easily swap a motherboard to fix a machine. Everything is on one
board, so it's pretty painless. (Though a hardware "clear" is still
required though to change a game.)
Unfortunately this all came to an end in 2005, as Sigma (called
Mikohn since 2003) was bought by Progressive Gaming International (PGI). At
that time PGI stopped selling the Simga UV1700, and nothing further has come of
the Sigma 1700 platform.
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Stay Tuned ~
Associated Links
Some Tokyo Japan Pinball History
http://www.manjiro.com/japannewstomarch2000.html
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