The Games Company

The Games Company Review

The Games Company, or TGC, is a privately owned game development firm based in the U.K., with a development office in Portugal. The company offers a small portfolio of nine online slots games and a bespoke keno game. TGC’s games are developed in HTML5 for instant gameplay across all devices, browsers, apps, and platforms.

The Games Company went through a series of acquisitions in recent years. TGC is now held by Skyrocket Entertainment, a company that specializes in bringing Hollywood movies and brands to the online gaming world.

The Gaming Company holds licenses from Alderney (Core Services Associate Certificate 139A) and the U.K. Gambling Commission (Remote Operating License Number 000-040391-R-320099-001).

Casinos with The Games Company (TGC) Games

TGC’s online slots games are available at William Hill, where several of TGC’s slots were launched exclusively. Other examples of The Games Company casinos include GDay, Cloud Casino, Black Spins, JonnyJackpot, Temple Nile, Hello Casino, and Pocket Vegas.

TGC also developed a bespoke keno game, Lucky 8 Keno, for the Loto-Québec online gambling site.

The Games Company – Games

The Games Company’s relatively small catalog of online slot games spans a variety of different themes ranging from a retro Woodstock style hippie fest (Hippie Chicks) to a slick Tron-inspired game (Light Racers).

Current TGC slots titles include Hippie Chicks, Mariachi Mayhem, Cash Cowboy, Furious Furry Friends, Two Tribes, Witch of the West, KGB Bears, Light Racers, and Monster Mash.

Noteworthy Products

Hippie Chicks – The term “Hippie Chicks” takes on a new meaning in this game, as the Hippie Chicks are actually chickens decked out in hippie gear. This slot is TGC’s most recent release (2018) and is all about peace, love, and free spins.

The colorful, flower power reels in this five-reel, 20-line slot offer up several bonus features, including mystery colossal symbols that land in different random sizes that can be as big as the entire set of reels. In the “Give Scatters a Chance” enhanced scatter feature, the old-school Hippie Chicks add more scatter symbols to the reels to increase the chances of triggering the free spins bonus feature.

The “Power to the Reels” free spins game can award up to 200 free spins, depending on how many scatter symbols trigger the free spins, with a 2x multiplier on all wins. Plus, a mystery colossal symbol lands on the reels during every free spin. The RTP is on the high end compared to other TGC games at 96.4% RTP, with a volatility rating of 20.9 (provided by TGC).

KGB Bears – One of TGC’s earliest releases in 2014, KGB Bears, sports a retro Cold War-era design theme featuring a cast of Russian KGB spy characters—but the spies are bears!

This five-reel game with 50 paylines only offers scatter and wild symbols as special symbols on the reels. The action is focused on the free spins bonus game, which awards a random number of free spins and a random multiplier, plus possible retriggers. An extra mini-reel displays the free spins and multipliers that could be awarded on each spin if the bonus feature hits. The RTP is 96.01%, with a medium/high volatility level.

Light Racers – This futuristic Tron-inspired slot game offers the same exact game configuration and bonus features as KGB Bears, as well as the same 96.01% RTP and medium/high volatility level.

Important Features

The Games Company slots are average in both graphics and features. While some of the TGC slots look more current than others, the games are generally well-designed with decent graphics and relatively simple bonus features.

TGC’s bonus features rely heavily on free spins games, and many of the games share similar features. For example:

• Wild and expanding wild symbols
• Free spins bonus games
• Random free spins and multiplier meters
• Colossal symbols and mystery colossal symbols

A few TGC games introduce more variety into the catalog—like Cash Cowboy, which features five different reel modifier features including locking symbol respins, free locking spins with rising wilds, an adventure game, mega symbols, and mystery wins. Furious Furry Friends is the only TGC game that features cascading reels, collectible symbols, and detonating symbols.

RTP (Return-to-Player) values for all of TGC’s slots land in the 95% to 96% average range.

RTP and Volatility Ratings (Provided By TGC):

• Hippie Chicks: 96.4% RTP, 20.9 volatility rating
• Mariachi Mayhem: 95.1% RTP, 23.32 volatility rating
• Cash Cowboy: 95.11% RTP, 20.36 volatility rating
• Furious Furry Friends: 96.17% RTP, 21.4 volatility rating
• Two Tribes: 96.91% RTP, 28.47 volatility rating
• Witch of the West: 96.68% RTP, 25.79 volatility rating
• KGB Bears: 96.01% RTP, medium/high volatility rating
• Light Racers: 96.01% RTP, medium/high volatility rating
• Monster Mash: 95.976% RTP, medium/high volatility rating

The Games Company History

Hans Winkelmann and Ian Matthews, both bringing solid igaming experience to the table, founded the Games Company to “deliver high-quality games.” TGC launched its first two games in 2014—Football Crazy and Road to Rio—for the FIFA World Cup games in Brazil. TGC went on to release nine more online slots games between 2014 and 2018. 

However, the Games Company website does not show any history or new game releases after 2018, when the company changed hands several times. In 2018, BlockChain Innovations (BCI), a Las Vegas-based blockchain company that serves the gaming industry, acquired The Games Company. Then, in September of 2019, Skyrocket Entertainment acquired TGC from BlockChain Innovations. Skyrocket had just launched its company at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 with the vision of bringing Hollywood movie brands to the online casino and social gaming markets.  

After Skyrocket Entertainment acquired The Games Company, Hans Winkelmann was appointed Chief Product Officer at Skyrocket, and Ian Matthews remains as Product Director. Before founding TGC, Hans was a Creative Director at bwin.party and a Creative Lead at PartyGaming. Ian held positions as a Slots and Gaming Product Manager at PartyGaming and a Casino Games Product Manager at bwin.party.