As the links between video games and online casino continue to be taken to new levels, the Game Play series discovers how key characters within the gambling industry embarked on their gaming journey.
In this week’s Game Play feature, we spoke to Ron Regan, Head of Business Development at Bitblox, who told how his passion for snowboarding bled into the games he gravitates towards and remembered the eighties arcade classic that occupied him on long trips into work.
Are you a PC or console gamer? What was your first home gaming experience?
My gaming experience started with PC-based games, like a lot of people of my generation. I played all kinds of games and swapped floppy disks with friends containing all our favourite games. Of course, this was way before PlayStation and Xbox came along and changed everything.
There were consoles on the market before those two, but they just didn’t hit the spot as far as graphics go, so they never tempted me to play their games until the more powerful consoles became available.
What is your favourite game of all time and why?
My two sons and I are passionate snowboarders, so we all gravitated towards the SSX snowboarding racing game, which was originally available on any Microsoft PC.
This game sparked huge competitiveness amongst the three of us which remains, in a friendly way, today. We also eventually upgraded to SSX Tricky, and that’s when the graphics started to become quite sophisticated.
Last video game completed?
SSX, back in the dark ages! It’s not surprising that I completed it, given how long I’ve spent playing on it. My two sons also played so there was a friendly family rivalry which motivated me even more!
Favourite video game character?
Hiro Karamatsu, a snowboarder from the SSX games. He was Japanese and rode in an Alpine style. He was the cooler character out on the snowy slopes.
What mobile game have you spent the most time playing?
As a regular commuter in the eighties, I loved to play Tetris on my very basic Nokia 6110. This provided hours of gameplay to help pass the boring two-hour commute to the office. The game’s genius is its simplicity and the deeper you go, the more you have to concentrate and anticipate. So it’s actually very engaging as a strategy game, much more than people might think.
Which mobile game are you currently playing?
None! I used to love playing any P2P quiz-type game including Scrabble, but the launch of Chat-GPT makes these games less fun to play now as your opponents can use AI resources instead of their own brains, which makes the P2P experience less interesting for me.
Sticking with the P2P theme, I’m also a big Backgammon fan and I find the Backgammon Free app is extremely good on iOS.
Unfortunately, Android has far superior P2P games in its library.
Favourite all time slot?
I’m not a big slots fan, unlike many other people in the online gaming industry, but if pushed I would have to go with NetEnt’s Starburst.
This is a slot game that many online slot players first cut their teeth on. It’s easy to play and understand, unlike many of the newer slot games around today.
Starburst is a classic. Simple, yet engaging with great graphics, animation and brilliant sound effects. What more could you ask for?
