Fremantle is not a slot software house in the traditional sense. This is a TV company, which owns some of the biggest brand shows around. They have a long history (all the way back to 1917), though the ‘Fremantle Media’ arm was formed in 2001. What this company does is find other outlets for their branded shows (for example Family Fortunes, Blockbusters and Play Your Card’s Right). The reason that they are featured here is that slots are one of the ways that the brands are made available to new audiences.

It would be easy to use the brand names and create some mediocre games – as many slot makers have done before. You’ll be pleased to know that Fremantle games are actually very good. Graphics are often deliberately on the retro side (some of the shows are quite old), though the bonus features and general game-play give away that these are well produced and modern slots.

Innovations from Fremantle

The innovation driving these games is mostly an obvious one – the break out bonus features are based on well-known TV gameshows. There are some which you’ll need to have watched the show to fully understand, for example fitting your avatar through a person-shaped hole in the ‘Hole in the Wall’ game. Others include the famous ‘High-Low’ game on Play Your Card’s Right, and the duelling families of Family Fortunes.

These are not the only innovations, there are some great shrinking / expanding symbols (again on Hole in the Wall) and there is a feature bonus with progressive prizes in ‘the Good the Bad and the Ugly’ too.