Reminiscing about Microgaming’s First Games 20 Years On
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Published on August 14th, 2019 18:17
Microgaming is one of the oldest names in online gaming, having formed in 1994 and brought out its first slots in 1998 as you can learn in https://www.microgaming.co.uk/about-us.
The online casino software giant is still going strong today with a portfolio of around 540 games. Its best online slots can be found at many of the places listed at https://www.uk-online-slots.co.uk/
For all the excitement of Microgaming’s more recent games such as Lara Croft: Temples and Tombs, Jurassic World Online Slot, and Zombie Hoard, there’s something appealing about the older Microgaming games.
It hard to find the oldest Microgaming games at casinos these days, but we’re always happy to reminisce here at http://www.dcemu.co.uk/content/. Let’s look back at five of the best Microgaming slots from the late ‘90s and early 2000s.
Pharaoh’s Fortune Slot, 1998
Pharaoh’s Fortune was the original Microgaming online slot brought out way back in January 1998. This game appears basic when viewed through a modern lense, but it was incredibly advanced for its time. Based on the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Pharaoh’s Fortune slot was a 3-reel game with one payline running horizontally across the reels. What it lacked in bonus features and Wild symbols (there weren’t any!) it made up for with cool ‘90s graphics and sounds.
Jurassic Jackpot Slot, 1999
Microgaming has been producing Jurassic Park-themed slots for more than 20 years, starting with the original Jurassic Jackpot slot in 1999. The original Jurassic Park film was released in 1993 and Microgaming capitalised on its popularity with this very basic 3-reel, 1-payline slot game. As you can see, all the early games had fewer reels and paylines than today, but the stories behind them were still just as good!
Gladiators Gold, 1999
Another popular film that came out around the same time as the first online slots was Gladiator, released in 2000. Microgaming must have known about the film because it beat Hollywood to the punch and released Gladiators Gold in August 1999. This slot was an advancement on earlier slots, with 3 reels and a whopping 3 paylines! It also signalled the moment when casino games started looking more advanced in terms of graphics and sound. Bonus features were still a fair way off, but Gladiators Gold was perfect for any gamer just wanting to have some fun and perhaps win some prizes at the same time.
Fruit Fiesta, 2000
The year 2000 marked the start of a new century and with it many new developments from the likes of Microgaming and other online casino manufacturers. We know all about the craze of the Starburst online slot and Candy Crush mobile games, but what about the early versions? In July 2000, Microgaming took a big leap with the release of Fruit Fiesta, a 5-reel, 15-payline online slot based on those vintage fruits machines you used to find at online casinos and pubs. This was also one of the early online slots to introduce extra features like wilds (the Fruit Fiesta logo) and bonus games.
Thunderstruck, 2003
`This was the game that preceded the globally popular slot of the same name in 2010. This was a 5-reel, 9-payline slot based on Norse mythology. How popular was Thunderstruck? Well, just look at how many games still put a spin on Norse mythology to this day. This was quite possibly the original global online casino slots hit.