Phantom EFX dominating the MMORPC market

There aren’t many Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Casinos. There’s one that I know of, do you know of any others?

When I wrote about Phantom EFX a couple years ago coining it the first MMOCG, a reader corrected me that Leisure Suit Larry Casino first blazed the trail. Today nobody else in the genre does it as well as PhantomEFX and their Reel Deal series of games including: Reel Deal Casino Vegas (all sales links in this post are affiliate links), Reel Deal High Roller, Reel Deal Bonus Mania (slots) and Reel Deal Mystic Forest (slots). Earlier this month they increased the number of titles to six with the inclusion of Reel Deal Ghost Town and Reel Deal Gold Rush. These six titles combine into one growing virtual online casino where you can play without losing any real money. You can also play offline and skip the monthly fee.

That’s right, it’s not a real casino with real cash. Sorry FBI guys. This might be a downer for those who lost interest in Second Life after Linden Lab kicked gambling to the curb, but there’s plenty of entertainment value with these Phantom EFX games. You can buy all six games for around $20 each ($120+tax total), or just the two newest ones and then you’ll need to kick in an extra $9.95/month for the online play.

Once installed, login to the casino and choose to play with Dream World or Real World odds with practically very casino game you can imagine. This year’s new casino title Gold Rush comes with a sportsbook that allows you to bet on real games. They have a feed with true Vegas odds. The map with all six titles has three full floors of virtual gambling fun.

Where is the MMORPG?
Your character levels with every pull of the slot or hand at a table. If you have Mystic Forest, there is a quest generator available at character level 1 by typing in:

/quest

Quests will range from playing a slot for a predefined amount of time to winning $x amount. You earn VIP points along the way that can be spent on items to go in your own suite (suite availability at level 10), including slot machines and other bonus games. The higher your level the more you can bet, so don’t think you can just waltz in and bet a million bones on the world series, it’s not that easy. The Mystic Forest title also offers a prize vault with tiered levels where you open chests with some funny objects like a can of Whoop a$$.

The Phantom EFX website online FAQ details some of the goodies that can be had at higher levels:

Level 3: Opens the I’ve Been Framed shop in the mall where you can purchase a frame.
Level 5: You can now enter and view other’s suites. And On Golden Pawn is now open for you to buy Lotto tickets
Level 10: Congratulations, you now have a suite. Check your email, and then click the Suite Icon on the gaming floor to get your suite number. Then visit the Mall and furnish it at Superior Interior.
Level 11: Congratulations, you can now play the Challenge of the Mystic Stones!!
Level 13: Challenge of the Enchanted Slots
Level 15: Challenge of the Recondite Stones
Level 17: Challenge of the Charmed Slots
Level 18: Opens the Play With It Store
Level 20: The amount you can bet increases.
Level 27-30: You can purchase larger suites.

I’ve been playing on and off since Phantom EFX unveiled the online functionality and had fun. Sure, I’m only level 17 after all this time, but as explained in the past, I don’t have a huge amount of time to dedicated to my favorite hobby: gaming (more in both my virtual and real life retirement someday, I’m certain).

The Reel Deal online casino play isn’t perfect. There are some frustrating things like some problematic patches and lethargic loading but I’d say it’s nowhere near as buggy as Second Life. The games are well designed, with some repetition yes, but generally fun to play with some engaging bonus games. There are plenty of stats in a tab so you can follow along with the payback percentages on each game. Better to cut your teeth learning with fake money than real money.

You can chat with other players either in a general area or in a chatroom of the game you are playing. No voice chat yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they added that in the future.

There is another benefit to paying the $9.95/month online charge: a free slot download at the first of every month. They sell these slots for $5.95 each in the PhantomEFX store. The neat thing about the Phantom EFX casino setup is that each year they can continue to add to the size and scope of the project bringing additional benefits to players.