King Kong could arguably be the unofficial mascot of Blueprint Gaming, such is the impact the iconic ape has had on the UK slot developer’s recent fortunes. In the light of this, we sat down with Jo Purvis, Director of Marketing, PR and Events at Blueprint, to discuss the reasons behind the success of the King Kong Cash series last year and what new iterations stakeholders can expect in 2025.
It’s fair to say a host of King Kong Cash titles took centre stage when looking at Blueprint Gaming’s output for 2024. What were the reasons behind this focus, and how did players respond to the approach?
Jo Purvis: 2024 was a successful year for new releases across our game series, but an array of meticulously designed additions to the King Kong Cash family led the way. June marked the landmark launch of Rapid Fire Jackpots, a complementary offering to the industry-renowned Jackpot King progressive system. The first title to feature the new jackpot mechanic was King Kong Cash DJ Prime8, the perfect move that saw us combine the latest version of one of our biggest IPs and one of the strongest mechanics we have launched in the last year or so.
The move was unquestionably justified, with King Kong Cash DJ Prime8 posing as our most substantial Rapid Fire release, accounting for 20% of Rapid Fire turnover. Despite only being launched in September, King Kong Cash: Even Bigger Bananas 2 finished the year as our second biggest release, behind only Fishin’ Frenzy, Even Bigger Fish. Three of the top five UK releases this year also featured King Kong Cash titles, underlining their popularity amongst slot enthusiasts and their enthusiasm around carefully crafted iterations.
With 11 titles and 16 variants in the King Kong Cash series, how does Blueprint ensure each release offers refreshed and captivating gameplay to drive player acquisition and retention levels?
JP: The driver behind the Kong series’ success is a combination of several elements that pervade all Blueprint releases. Taking the firm bedrock of originals, we carefully craft fresh content that players love, with new versions that retain that charm and familiarity while taking the game forward with the creativity of our development team and the best mechanics and features available in the industry. King Kong Cash: Even Bigger Bananas Power Play saw our Christmas release retain the bold colours and personality that feature throughout the Kong series but with a welcome twist.
As in its predecessor’s offering, all unlocked upgrades remain in the base game and during the title’s free spins feature. However, any non-collected banana, golden monkey or golden barrel symbols are added to the new banana pot at the top of the player‘s screen, which can trigger the Go Banana’s feature at random, presenting players with three Pick a Prize features. The festive release also features a brand-new Power Play game available at 5x the original bet, benefitting from only cash, cash pots, collects and bonus symbols active, increasing the chance of additional collects and bonus wins. Standing as our top performer for December, King Kong Cash: Even Bigger Bananas Power Play pays testament to Blueprint’s ability to enthuse players with innovative adaptations to the Kong family.
Blueprint Gaming has become synonymous with leveraging household brands to produce engaging slot titles. As an original IP, how does your King Kong Cash offering differ from your branded game family portfolio?
JP: Our collection of game series has become successful due to the strong narrative built into each title. Therefore, our Kong offering and collection of branded game families complement each other, resonating with players due to the characters, settings and adventures that draw upon existing themes, soundtracks and speech clips.
The longevity of our branded success and Kong collection also comes from the challenge of taking each series and applying suitable mechanics, a challenge we embrace. We consider what each series represents and what we want players to get back from the game. Ultimately, our success is built on the strategic development of games using our decades of industry experience.
Turning attention to 2025, what can we expect from the King Kong Cash series this year? Can we expect it to play a big part in Blueprint’s roadmap?
JP: We are raring to go this year and couldn’t be more excited for players to enjoy our thrilling roadmap for the year ahead, packed with feature-first, captivating titles. January 16 saw the highly anticipated launch of King Kong Cash: Even Bigger Bananas 2. The beloved Cash Collect, Banana Blitz, and Super Kong Free Spins are all set to star alongside More Monkey Madness with four different Kong collect symbols and the Golden Kong symbol now active from the start of gameplay, increasing opportunities for lavish wins. A host of new additions to our top-performing series will take centre stage throughout the rest of Q1 before the third instalment of Even Bigger Bananas in March.
