FORT KNOX, Kentucky – When casino games are a dime a dozen, our players want gold bars.
We went all in with our Casino.exe launch, bringing an original and elevated experience to the sleepy casino metaphor – but we knew it couldn’t stop there. Our users want more than traditional casino games wrapped in new skins – they want to get hands-on, with more depth and entertainment.
After the success of our first original game, Rushlane, we saw an opportunity to build on the original experience Rivalry offers with a brand new title that could further bridge the gap between online betting, gaming, and entertainment.
But the challenge was: how do we give our users something they’ve never seen before, but make it slick, simple, and fun?
And as always: how do we make it not suck?
Sometimes the solution is simple: ask them.
We’ve conducted plenty of user research at Rivalry to learn more about what Millennial and Gen Z players look for in the games they play. After plenty of feedback and multiple focus groups, we settled on some pretty clear guidelines. Our players:
Don’t want to press a button and watch the screen, they want agency.
Want to jump right into the action – no need for any tutorial or explainers.
Want something fast, without any hidden tricks or gimmicks.
Care less about the size of the stake and more about frequent, smaller wins.
Participants also recognized Rivalry’s branding, motifs, and original character IP, right down to their names and place in our universe. And they wanted to see more of it.
Leading the project, our Senior Manager of Games, Andre Noguiera believes that developing a hit game has less to do with “waking up in the middle of the night with a killer idea” and more about diligent user testing and feedback.
Making Cash & Dash successful was “1% killer idea and 99% effort."
Based on the guidelines we set, we had 15 different prototypes of games, which we created in snappy fashion – about 24 hours a game. We concept-tested each prototype with our users, getting feedback on how fun or desirable the game was to weed out the weaker games from the strong.
The rapid testing of these barebones games – where gameplay was stripped back to little more than gray boxes and polygons – provided direct feedback on the core mechanics of each game. This way, we could focus on what made the game fun and minimize the chances of a flop.
As we narrowed down our selection of prototypes we introduced a few storylines into the games. This is when we discovered that our users loved the concept of a heist, or breaking into a secret lair: what came to be Cash & Dash.
Making player agency and engagement the focal point of Cash & Dash allowed us to insert qualities our audience loves most from their favorite form of entertainment: video games.
Our users loved that the map flips halfway through the game once they reach the treasure, while alarm systems sound off to add suspense and excitement to the gameplay. Having unique playable characters and deciding whether you make a run for it with your haul or chicken out all added to a one-of-a-kind casino experience.
In the end, Cash & Dash brought a layer of entertainment value the average online casino player hadn’t seen before. Since launching the game in September, it has already become one of the stickiest games we offer with an age mix right on par with what we were going for: 48% Gen Z and 45% Millennial.
By nailing the core gameplay and creating a game in the Rivalry universe where player choices matter on every single run, Cash & Dash gives the next generation of players a casino experience worth its weight in gold.
Now it’s on them to pull off the heist.
