Here is Yo! at Global Gaming Expo (G2E)

Andrew: My name is Andrew. This is Dawn.

Dawn: Hi, I’m Dawn with play more Yo. We are based out of Pittsburgh. Yo is a simplified dice game. It’s very simple to play. We have eight wagers that represent two different sets of dice.

We have the game dice. And we have the bonus dice. The bonus dice are only relevant when they roll an eleven. The game is relevant to five different wages that we have. These five that are on the board. And then we have three wagers here. Very simple game. Players make a wager on the play. The dealer will stack the dice. And put them in the random roll dice cup.

Player gives them a shake. And rolls themes onto the layout. Oh I win 4 to 1!

Heather: Awesome!

Dawn: That is a great way to start the game isn’t it Sir. Our objective here, it is very similar to craps, is that we want to establish a number for a point with the game dice.

Dealer: Seven! That is going to be a push in the game Yo!

Heather: Oh so you don’t lose on the seven?

Dawn: You do not lose on a seven before we do have a point. After we have a point it is a loser.

Heather: Oh Okay.

Dawn: We took away the confusing part of sometimes seven wins and sometimes seven loses.

Dealer: Eight.

Dawn: So it’s always a bad thing. It’s either a push or a loss.

Dealer: Okay so you rolled an eight so that is your opportunity to place the bets.

Dawn: So we can bet more here which is similar to odds. You can go to four times on the More wager after we establish a point. Then we can bet the Yo! Bonus. The Yo! Bonus stays in play and falls with the point and pays every time the yellow dice roll an eleven. The payouts are determined by the simultaneous roll of the game dice. If the game dice roll an eleven with the bonus dice of eleven it pays 20 to 1.

Heather: Okay.

Dawn: If you have a bonus dice roll of eleven with a pair, it pays 4 to 1. And if you have any number roll with the bonus dice roll of eleven it pays even money. In the event that you have a seven out with the game dice all wagers will lose but the bonus would be paid for the bonus then it would be a loss because of the seven. So it’s essentially a push.

Heather: Okay.

Dawn: So even when you lose you win! How fun is that?

Heather: That is pretty cool. So can we see a couple hands?

Dealer: Absolutely.

Dawn: These are single roll wagers similar to the outside of roulette. The players can just make those wagers at any time. The dealer can use both hands when playing. They don’t have to watch any cards. They have nothing to maintain other than the dice. The dealers handle the dice, stack the dice, and put them into the random roll dice cup, which is part of the patent. This game is trademarked and patented. It is currently being placed in four casinos in the United States.

Heather: Oh which ones?

Dawn: Four different jurisdictions. We are going live hopefully by January (3:30) Tulalip Casin in Washington State.

Heather: Fantastic!

Dawn: We are already licensed in Washington state gaming. We are also processing jurisdictions in Oklahoma, Iowa, and New Mexico. So we are very excited about this. One of the things about Yo! that I like best when we designed it is that it is the first ever social game. So social meaning we are all on the same side. If you come to the game and you play with your friends. You either win and then I would feel bad that I won. I couldn’t really enjoy my win.

Heather: You don’t don’t have to worry about people playing the DC’s and then everyone getting upset with them because they are playing the DC’s?

Dawn: Exactly! This is the first game ever to hit the casino floor where everybody is playing on the same side. We believe in our culture – that’s just the direction that we are going. Everybody wants everybody to be a winner, right?

Heather: Right?

Dawn: Alright! Fantastic! We want to Yo! Oh we got a 10. Oh you win on the High though. So instead of being able to do place bets like on craps, here we have combined the points. So you have 4 - 5 - 6 for the Low points. And 8 - 9 - 10 for the High points. And it’s a single wager.

Heather: Do you mind if I ask what these are then?

Dawn: That is just so we can mark the established number.

Heather: That is what the yes/no marker is?

Dawn: Correct. Yes we have a number, no we do not.

Heather: Oh ok. Instead of On/Off?

Dawn: Yeah. On/Off is kinda confusing in craps. Don’t you think? Especially to a new player.

So the math actually has been verified by GLI.

Heather: Oh good.

Dawn: And we have a slightly better house edge on this game. Only because the mathematics in seven being a push in the beginning of the game. But it’s such a small variable. It goes from 1.43 to 1.70 and our mathematician here actually Andrew is the genius behind that.

Heather: Oh wow. So does that just – the house edge depends on the paytable that is being used?

Dawn: It actually depends – that seven is a push at the beginning of the game before we establish a point. Because mathematically all variables such in craps are divided by 36 outcomes of the dice. When seven becomes a push you take out those six variables and now you are diving between 30 not 36. Correct!

Andrew: Sounds good. Yep.

Dawn: Andrew is the mathematician guy. He is a pretty good dealer too. The design on the random roll dice cup that is patented. It has a diamond inner base at the bottom like you would on a craps table. So when the dice go in the cup they are on a dicagonal there. Game protection. (Playing game) So there – oh no roll. I had a bad roll.

Heather: And that would be the same as them hitting the pyramids on the side of the table.

Dawn: Yeah. Absolutely. I am really glad you stopped by Heather.

Heather: Thank you. Now I know you have videos of this online and a website. Where can people go to find out more information about the game?

Dawn: Good question. So playmoreyo.com is the name of our website and of our company. Yo! Is the game. It’s patented and trademarked. You can also email us at [email protected]. We are on LinkedIn, and Facebook. We would love to hear your feedback. It’s a simplified game. I am sure more craps people might find it a bit rudimentary. I think that our blackjack dealers and roulette dealers will embrace the concept that they can deal a variation of craps with little or no training.

Heather: And the don’t know craps, this would be a great game for that because then you have both aspects of it.

Dawn: Actually that is exactly why the game was created. I own a casino party company and we were finding that people on a craps table – even though there was fun money and they had no risk and no reward, they couldn’t lose anything, they were just apprehensive or confused and they just didn’t want to learn craps. Even though we had talented and very personable dealers that were patient and wanted to teach them craps. So my husband and I – they made us take pause and we said, “Well let’s just create our own game and let's make that game so easy and so engaging that people would want to learn how to play craps. And that is how Yo! Was born. That’s the story behind the game. And we had it in our casino parties. And we had all these certified dealers that we used to work with in the casinos working with us. And craps dealers, roulette dealers, blackjack dealers and we were like this is a great game, we should take it to market. And the funny story Heather, is we brought it to market here at the G2E three years ago. And when my husband and I got on the plane we were like we are going to go to Vegas. All the casino executives are going to laugh at us and tell us what a bad ideas this is, go home!” It was actually the opposite. They embraced it, they loved the idea. They asked us to go home and check mark off all of our boxes, get the patent, get your trademark, get the GLI report. Get all of your ducks in a row and then come back and see us. And now we are actually seeing placements happen so we are so excited.

Heather: That’s really fantastic.

Dawn: It’s encouraging. I want to encourage other game owners and designers – like don’t give up.

Heather: Yes

Dawn: If you believe in what you are doing and you have a passion for it, just follow through. Check off all those boxes. And reach out to people like Heather, she was a great mentor to me and how through this process. She has great advice and great insight in the industry. So I think that is really important to have your ears open like a good craps dealer should, and listen and get feedback from people. Just don’t be so closed minded to what you are doing. Get that feedback. The objective is to get it winning and get it in the casino, right?

Heather: Right. And now you said that you actually put this game in some of your casino parties?

Dawn: Yes.

Heather: So what was your feedback from that? I bet you have gotten a lot of feedback from doing that?

Dawn: Absolutely. So that is one of the most important facts in all of this. We were actually able to demo it live at casino parties. And we found that everyone from the age 18 - 80 loved playing it. And they were teaching the dealers on the deal and they would have to pay them. You know the finger pointing at them. So we understood at that point, when we do fundraisers I would donate the game to the fundraiser so we could get that data and those focus groups and get that feedback. So we were able to tweak the game from that and take away things that were problematic. Like we – this layout right here, this single betting arch. We used to have a little bit of yellow in here and it was confusing players. So we said, “Humm let’s make it color coordinated so that they understand that this is the red dice not the yellow dice.” So from that, I think we were able to anticipate some of the problems that the casino might face once it went live on the floor.

Dealer: Yeah sure it’s been through a number of revisions since it’s conception.

Dawn: Yeah.

Heather: That is part of the process. I mean every single new table game out there has to go through revisions. That is just part of it. I think that some of the table game inventors they don’t realize that that is the part of the process.

Dealer: Right. They think they can just invent it and it’s going to go straight to the casino the way they first invent it.

Heather: Right. It’s perfect the way it is. Yeah it totally isn’t. That is great you guys have already done all of that. Fantastic!

Dawn: And I would recommend that you pilot your game for free. Let’s give them a layout and say hey, throw this in. Let me be the dealer to deal it so I can teach people how to deal it so that you will get that feedback.

Dealer: It a cheap way to –

Dawn: Yes a cheap way to get that information that is so important. I am going to close with this. The people that we actually donated the game to in the last two years. When they went to book it the next year, they ended up booking more than one Yo! Game.

Heather: Oh Wow!

Dawn: I was at this one event for the YMCA in Pittsburgh and I was at the door and I was passing out casino chips for people to come play the fundraiser. And these three ladies came in the door and they said, your the Yo! Lady. Is Yo! Here tonight? I was like gosh yes it’s here tonight. That was like music to my ears because they remembered from before. And that is what you want. You want people to enjoy the experience. We don’t want this game to beat people up to badly. You want them to engage and sit and drink and have fun. It makes them want to come back and that is what it’s all about.

Heather: Well you have a fantastic game. It does leave an impression. I saw it once and it’s been in my mind ever since. This is absolutely a phenomenal game. Is there anything else you want to tell the audience before we end.

Dealer: Roll the dice one time so don’t beat us up in the box.

Heather: Sounds good.

Dawn: Thanks everyone!