Konami is a widely recognized brand among video game enthusiasts and gamblers alike. Established in 1969, the company started manufacturing gambling devices in the 1980s and began making slots for the U.S. market in the 2000s.
Free games and bonus features serve to boost the popularity of Ancient Dragon themed slot machine. Based on five decades of institutional history, Konami Holding Corporation understands the gaming public's tastes and preferences for how they like their entertainment. First, a look at the different ways to get free cash to take a shot at winning money playing free slot games. Play free Bally, IGT, Aristocrat and Konami slots online. While packages of chips are available for purchase, patient players can stick with the Konami free casino slot games. The Konami slots app includes linked progressive jackpots and slot tournaments for players looking for high-stakes play.
Konami slots aren't very innovative, and their online versions won't impress you with their special effects; however, there's no denying that over the years, the Japanese developers became the masters of fast-paced games revolving around symbol stacks and free spins.
The best Konami slot games
| Slot name | RTP | Paylines | Reels | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China Mystery | 96.1% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, Chinese |
| Chili Chili Fire | 96.09% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, Mexican |
| Lion Festival Boosted Celebration | 96.08% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, Chinese |
| Jumpin' Jalapenos | 96.04% | 30 | 5 | Mexican |
| Rawhide | 96.03% | 30 | 5 | Wild West |
| Solstice Celebration | 96.03% | 30 | 5 | Spiritual, Seasonal |
| Great Moai | 96.01% | 30 | 5 | Pacific, Polynesian |
| Gypsy Fire | 96% | 30 | 5 | Mystical |
| Dragon's Law | 96% | 30 | 5 | Asian, Oriental |
| Sparkling Roses | 95.92% | 30 | 5 | Beauty, Luxury |
| China Shores | 94.09% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, Chinese |
| African Diamond | 94.01% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, African |
- Kagamasa Kouzuki founded Konami in 1969. The firm was initially a repair business and jukebox rental in Osaka, Japan. Its name is derived from the names of its founders – Kagamasa Kouzuki (CEO and Chairman), Yoshinobu Nakama (partner), and the other partner, Tatuso Miyasako. The meaning of ‘Konami' is ‘little waves,' and the company began designing arcade games as early as 1973. Super Cobra and Scr.
- This video slot game from Konami is an oriental themed slot with Chinese inspired symbols that offers an innovative Action Stacked Symbol feature. China Shores Slot Bonus Games Action Stacked Symbols is where each reel will contain a number of adjacent positions, which are then randomly replaced with other winning symbols apart from the wild.
Konami prioritizes smooth, fast-paced gameplay over eye candy, so their games don't include many disruptive animations. Their visual appeal relies mostly on the symbol and reel designs, which are aesthetically pleasing. This style of slots won't appeal to everyone. If you aren't a graphics hound, you should definitely give Konami games a try.
Konami slots: game spotlights
Konami games may be similar to one another, but fans tend to have their favorites. Below you'll find a short overview of three modern Konami slots that are hot in internet casinos in 2019:
- China Shores – five reels, 30 paylines. The game is based around the action-stacked symbols mechanic, which can fill any reel with stacks of any symbol aside from the wild. The game has a mini-jackpot of sorts, since landing five yin-yang symbols on an active payline results in a 100x payout. In addition, hitting three or more yin-yang symbols will trigger up to 15 free spins with a 2x payout multiplier. If you retrigger this bonus and get to 20 free spins, you'll get an option to activate the 'Balance of Fortune' feature and trade your free games for a random cash reward.
- Chili Chili Fire – five reels, 30 paylines. Chili Chili Fire also utilizes action-stacked symbols. It also has a fade away feature, which replaces low-paying card symbols with random high-paying picture symbols upon counting all the line wins. This makes the smiling wild symbol all the more useful, even though it doesn't ever appear on the first reel. If three or more chili scatter symbols appear on the screen, you'll be awarded with an additional payout and up to 25 free spins. During the bonus, the frequency of the fade away feature is greatly increased.
- China Mystery – five reels, 30 paylines. From a mechanical standpoint, this game is very similar to China Shores. It includes action-stacked symbols and a mysterious woman scatter symbol that can award you with eight, ten, or 15 free spins. Just like in China Shores, you can trade your free games for a random payout by using the 'Balance of Fortune' option, which becomes available once you retrigger the bonus enough times to get to 20 free spins.
Special slots features
Konami slots' action-stacked symbols mechanic makes them very popular among all kinds of gamblers. This mechanic can fill the reels with multiple copies of the same symbol, although this usually doesn't apply to all symbols.
Konami also offers an easily recognizable take on free spins bonuses. The number of scatter symbols typically determines the number of awarded spins, the bonus can be retriggered for more free games, and all payouts are doubled. This formula is very satisfying and is sometimes copied by other slot manufacturers. Free slots on facebook.
Online slots and land-based machines
Konami slots may be more about gameplay than graphics, but that doesn't mean they don't include any special effects. The land-based games tend to play a satisfying animation if you line up several high-paying symbol stacks to score a big payout.
Unfortunately, these animations are either toned down or missing in their online counterparts. Symbol animations in the online games are simplified, too. For example, the mysterious woman symbol in the land-based version of China Mystery is fully animated, but in the online slot, it is completely static.
Free Slot Games By Konami
Obviously, this isn't done out of laziness. After all, modern computers and mobile devices are more than capable of handling even the most sophisticated 2D animations. The problem lies in the bandwidth, as browser-based slot games are expected to work well even on slow internet connections. Simply put, Konami is still forced to cram games with 100+ megabytes (MB) into a three- to five-MB package.
Select games and payback percentages
The RTP for Konami games can range from 92% to 96.1%. In general, the 30+ payline slots with the action-stacked symbols mechanic tend to offer better returns and higher volatility. Examples:
- China Shores– 96.1% RTP
- China Mystery – 96.1%
- Chili Chili Fire– 96.1% RTP
- Lion Festival – 92.48%
Konami slots history
| Name | Konami Holdings Corporation |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Top slot | China Shores |
| Special slot feature | Action Stacked Symbols |
| Land-based games | Yes |
| Online games | Yes |
Early years
Kagemasa Kozuki, Konami's current chairman, founded the company in 1969 as a jukebox repair business. In the second half of the 1970s, Kozuki noticed the potential in the fledgling video game industry and transformed his company into a manufacturer of video arcade machines.
The first Konami coin-operated video game was ready in 1978. The company's first breakthrough hit came in 1981 with the release of Frogger, which was followed by Scramble and Super Cobra.
The 1980s
Throughout the 1980s, the company established many of its franchises, including Metal Gear, Contra, Castlevania, Gradius, and Twin Bee. It also expanded to the United States and Europe and was listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange. By the end of the decade, Konami's capital increased to 8.095 billion yen.
The 1990s
In 1992, Konami expanded into the pachislot and pachinko industry and began creating liquid-crystal display (LCD) games for the Japanese pachinko market. In 1997, it began developing Western-style gambling machines for the Australian slot market. On the video games front, the company released many smash hits for Sony PlayStation, including Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill.
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The 2000s
In 2000, Konami became the first Japanese company to enter the slot machines market in the United States. By 2002, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Konami continued developing games for next-generation consoles but also expanded to the sports industry, which was facilitated by the purchase of People Co., Ltd. (currently Konami Sports Club).
Konami's capital has almost quadrupled since the 1990s. In 2005, the company opened a new office and production facility for gaming machines in Las Vegas, Nevada. Konami also signed a licensing agreement with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to produce soccer video games.
From 2010 to the present
In 2012, Takuya Kozuki replaced Kagemasa as the head of the company. As a result, Konami began to move away from developing high-quality games for home computers and consoles. Instead, they focused on mobile gaming, pachinko, and slot machines.
This led to a conflict between Hideo Kojima, the man behind the Metal Gear series, and Konami's corporate leadership, which ultimately resulted in Kojima Productions being closed in 2015. When Kojima left the company, Konami delisted itself from New York Stock Exchange and stopped producing AAA games, focusing on mobile gaming and low-budget console titles instead.
On the casino side, Konami developers came up with a very engaging slot formula involving stacked symbols and re-triggerable free spins, which is used to this day. The success of this formula allowed the company to open a new slot machine manufacturing facility in Nevada. This second facility became operational in 2015.
Konami investors
Konami Holdings Corporation is a publicly traded company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO: 9766).
As of September 2018, the principal shareholders in Konami included The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. (17.30% stake), Kozuki Foundation (12.50%), Kozuki Holding (11.61%), Japan Trustee Services Bank Ltd. (Trust Account, 7.39%), Kozuki Capital Corporation (5.21%), Trust & Custody Services Bank Ltd. (2.01%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (1.49%), and Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust Account 5, 1.16%).
Konami management and corporate structure
Konami is headed by its board of directors, which are elected by the shareholders. The current president of the company is Takuya Kozuki. He is the son of Kagemasa Kozuki, who is now the chairman of the company. Both the president and the chairman are also acting as representative directors.
The remaining members of the board of directors are Osamu Nakano, Kimihiko Higashio, Satoshi Sakamoto, Yoshihiro Matsuura, Akira Gemma, Kaori Yamaguchi, and Kimito Kubo. The shareholders also elect the audit and supervisory board, which currently consists of Shinichi Furukawa, Minoru Maruoka, Nobuaki Usui, Setsuo Tanaka, and Hisamitsu Arai.
Operating divisions are headed by corporate officers:
- Osamu Nakano (Executive Vice President, Corporate Management)
- Kimihiko Higashio (Executive Vice President, Administration)
- Satoshi Sakamoto (Senior Executive, Gaming & Systems Business)
- Hideki Hayakawa (Corporate Officer, Digital Entertainment Business)
- Katsunori Okita (Corporate Officer, Amusement Business)
- Akira Ochiai (Corporate Officer, Sports Business)
- Kazuhiko Uehara (Corporate Officer, General Manager, Public Relations & Advertising)
- Junichi Motobayashi (Corporate Officer, Finance)
- Shinichiro Yoneyama (Corporate Officer, General Manager, General Affairs Department)
Konami's position as a creator of innovative, visually impressive slot machines and casino games comes after a long, varied history in technology and entertainment. Starting from its simple roots, this Japanese company grew into a multimedia powerhouse with gaming divisions throughout Asia and North America.
Staying true to its slogan of 'Born from Fun,' Konami develops and distributes both original creations and games based off of its popular video game licenses.
With a growing online presence and a steadily increasing list of unique slot machine features, Konami is prepared to stay competitive in the modern gaming environment.
Free to play Konami slot machines
Top five Konami slot games
Players looking to try out some of Konami's hottest offerings can keep an eye out for the following games.
No. 1 Dragon's Law Twin Fever: A fun, Chinese dragon-themed slot machine, featuring fivereels and 30 paylines. This game includes basic action-stacked symbols as well as a free spin bonus round. The titular twin dragons are at the heart of the game. One or two lucky dragons can arrive after any spin to drop additional wild spaces onto the reel for some surprise wins.
No. 2 Solstice Celebration: A cute, wonderfully designed slot game has a theme around the beauty of spring in an enchanted meadow. The five-reel machine features 30 paylines and uses an enhanced version of the action-stacked symbols as a bonus. Called the Sparkle feature, all action-stacked symbols are lined with a bright border. Filling two reels with a full stack of sparkle-lined symbols nudges other partial stacks to fill their reel. It also has the potential to trigger a free spin bonus round.
No. 3 Chili Chili Fire: A five-reel 30 paylines slot has a general Mexican theme. Including action-stacked symbols and the chance to win free games, this machine also uses the Fade Away feature. After any spin, low-paying card symbols have the opportunity to fade away. The newly empty spaces then fill with random higher paying picture symbols, with a chance to turn a disappointing spin into something special.
No. 4 Lion Festival: Boosted Celebration – Inspired by Chinese New Year celebrations, this five-reel slot machine offers players a mix of neat features including a boosted middle reel that has double the symbols to make forming a winning combination that much easier. It includes action-stacked symbols and a free spin bonus round, but the bonus round includes the twist of the Balance of Fortune system. After winning free spins, players can stick with their standard 2x multiplied free spins, or they can trade stacks of five free spins for a 'super-free spin' with a much higher multiplier.
No. 5 Castlevania: Labyrinth of Love – Konami has multiple Castlevania themed slots, inspired by its video game franchise of the same name. This five-reel machine includes an expanded free spin mode along with a progressive jackpot tied to the Castlevania game board. Players who trigger the minigame get to pick from different sets of potential moves to try and reach the castle. At that point, the game switches to a flashy battle minigame, where players get to spin a set of reels to try and land on attack symbols that kill enemies while hoping that they avoid the damage symbols that close off the reel. Making it past the bosses can reward the player with one of the four progressive jackpots. Sadly, Castlevania machines are generally not available on a mobile device.
Konami mobile slots
While some of Konami's more advanced machines are sadly still stuck in physical casinos, it has developed mobile versions of many of their classic slots. Players with a mobile device should be able to find free versions of Konami's online slots available in participating casino apps. Anyone lucky enough to live where real money online slots are legal will also find real mobile versions available.
For unlucky players, Konami does offer a nice middle ground. The My Konami Slots app is available for iOS and Android devices. This app offers several popular slots for free play. Players can collect free chips throughout the day, and the app includes a daily free bonus spin that can award credits. While packages of chips are available for purchase, patient players can stick with the Konami free casino slot games.
The Konami slots app includes linked progressive jackpots and slot tournaments for players looking for high-stakes play. Konami goes back to its video game roots by also offering daily challenges and quests, which reward players for hitting set goals or betting certain amounts. The real hook is that players can win loyalty points that they can spend on prizes and comps at real casinos, similar to Chumba Casino. Players can earn room discounts, credit toward food, tickets to great shows or just themed merchandise. It's a great way for players to have a little fun between trips.
The rise of Konami
Konami began as a jukebox rental and repair company in 1969 based out of Osaka, Japan. The name comes from the first letters of its three original officers, Kagemasa Kozuki, YoshinobuNakama and TatsuoMiyasako. The company's founder, Kozuki, still sits on the executive board. Konami moved away from its original jukebox focus fairly quickly, transitioning to manufacturing arcade cabinets in 1973 to take advantage of the growing video game market.
Konami would go on to produce its important additions to arcade gaming by developing hits such as the massively popular Frogger in 1981, along with gamer favorites such as Scramble and Super Cobra. The company was able to adapt to the rapidly changing video game market throughout the '80s and early '90s, providing titles for the Atari 2600 and the original Nintendo console. Konami adapted and evolved its popular Scramble arcade game into the fan-favorite Gradius for the NES, and also developed popular franchises such as the Castlevania and Metal Gear series.
The video game division continued to grow through the '90s and 2000s with steady sequels and developments even as the company branched out into the gambling industry. Always looking to maintain synergy between their divisions, many of these great video game properties would be adapted into themed slot machines.
Konami's casino gaming division began with its entry into the Japanese pachinko machine market in September 1992. After several years, the company opened Konami Australia in late 1996. In 1997, this subsidiary would oversee the rollout of Konami's expansion into the Australian gaming market and later the general Asian market.
Konami expanded into the American casino gaming market in January 2000. The move into the American market was cemented with the construction of a manufacturing and development office in Las Vegas in 2005. The 360,000-square-foot facility served as its base of operations for expansions through North America, South America and Europe. Building on the success, Konomi opened a second facility in Las Vegas in 2015.
Konami's unique features
While Konami is known for its striking visual design, the company has introduced some software innovations to offer exciting updates to the classic slot machine design. Its development takes full advantage of the ability to modify digital reels before the game or switch symbols after a spin. As a rule of thumb, Konami has focused on enhancing standard slot machine play rather than focusing on adding separate bonus rounds. Konami's unique twists on the slot machine formula give players a chance to see ordinary spins suddenly change into rich jackpots.
The action-stacked symbols feature
Players of Konami slots are almost guaranteed encounter its action-stacked symbols system. This feature creates sections across all the reels in a game that pick one single symbol to stack for that spin. With a little luck, players will see these sets of stacked symbols fill up their paylines for big wins.
Also, many games have separate bonus features that tie into the action-stacked symbols feature. For example, players may see the reels get nudged into higher payouts with the right set of lucky frames.
Other variations on standard play include dynamic reels that can morph after a spin. In certain games, players may see new wild symbols appear to fill out lines, or they may see low-value spaces disappear to make room for big winners.
The Balance of Fortune features
That's not to say that Konami has ignored its bonus games, even if it sticks to traditional free spins and multipliers. When going through Konami's catalog, players will find innovations such as the Balance of Fortune system. This offers winners a choice in how their bonus game plays out, usually based around a more certain smaller payout versus a riskier shot at a big return.
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The Mirror Reels bonus feature
The addition of special Mirror reels in bonus rounds also adds a fun change of pace to free spins. Mirror reels are what they sound like, with the two leftmost and rightmost reels mirroring one another, making it easier than ever to get a straight line of five symbols.
Similarly, while many of Konami's games feature bonus games and special features instead of traditional jackpots, some entries feature progressive jackpot systems.
Konami's progressive jackpot games
Games such as Pirate's Jackpot and Pharoah's Wish include stand-alone progressive jackpots. Konami also has machines with community-linked progressive jackpots.
For example, Beat the Field offers players — in a bank of linked machines — each a chance at different progressive jackpots when one player in the bank triggers the special round. Eligible players can win set bonuses or a progressive jackpot based on the results of a simulated horse race.
Machines, such as the new Power Boost Inferno, offer a supreme progressive jackpot that can potentially be linked across multiple participating casinos.
Konami's recent innovations have also shifted toward more noticeable changes to gameplay. In 2016, the company unveiled the Crystal Cyclone. This upgrade adds a social element to Konami's older physical machines. The system places a roulette wheel in the center of several linked Konami slot machines.
Konami is a widely recognized brand among video game enthusiasts and gamblers alike. Established in 1969, the company started manufacturing gambling devices in the 1980s and began making slots for the U.S. market in the 2000s.
Free games and bonus features serve to boost the popularity of Ancient Dragon themed slot machine. Based on five decades of institutional history, Konami Holding Corporation understands the gaming public's tastes and preferences for how they like their entertainment. First, a look at the different ways to get free cash to take a shot at winning money playing free slot games. Play free Bally, IGT, Aristocrat and Konami slots online. While packages of chips are available for purchase, patient players can stick with the Konami free casino slot games. The Konami slots app includes linked progressive jackpots and slot tournaments for players looking for high-stakes play.
Konami slots aren't very innovative, and their online versions won't impress you with their special effects; however, there's no denying that over the years, the Japanese developers became the masters of fast-paced games revolving around symbol stacks and free spins.
The best Konami slot games
| Slot name | RTP | Paylines | Reels | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China Mystery | 96.1% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, Chinese |
| Chili Chili Fire | 96.09% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, Mexican |
| Lion Festival Boosted Celebration | 96.08% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, Chinese |
| Jumpin' Jalapenos | 96.04% | 30 | 5 | Mexican |
| Rawhide | 96.03% | 30 | 5 | Wild West |
| Solstice Celebration | 96.03% | 30 | 5 | Spiritual, Seasonal |
| Great Moai | 96.01% | 30 | 5 | Pacific, Polynesian |
| Gypsy Fire | 96% | 30 | 5 | Mystical |
| Dragon's Law | 96% | 30 | 5 | Asian, Oriental |
| Sparkling Roses | 95.92% | 30 | 5 | Beauty, Luxury |
| China Shores | 94.09% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, Chinese |
| African Diamond | 94.01% | 30 | 5 | Cultural, African |
- Kagamasa Kouzuki founded Konami in 1969. The firm was initially a repair business and jukebox rental in Osaka, Japan. Its name is derived from the names of its founders – Kagamasa Kouzuki (CEO and Chairman), Yoshinobu Nakama (partner), and the other partner, Tatuso Miyasako. The meaning of ‘Konami' is ‘little waves,' and the company began designing arcade games as early as 1973. Super Cobra and Scr.
- This video slot game from Konami is an oriental themed slot with Chinese inspired symbols that offers an innovative Action Stacked Symbol feature. China Shores Slot Bonus Games Action Stacked Symbols is where each reel will contain a number of adjacent positions, which are then randomly replaced with other winning symbols apart from the wild.
Konami prioritizes smooth, fast-paced gameplay over eye candy, so their games don't include many disruptive animations. Their visual appeal relies mostly on the symbol and reel designs, which are aesthetically pleasing. This style of slots won't appeal to everyone. If you aren't a graphics hound, you should definitely give Konami games a try.
Konami slots: game spotlights
Konami games may be similar to one another, but fans tend to have their favorites. Below you'll find a short overview of three modern Konami slots that are hot in internet casinos in 2019:
- China Shores – five reels, 30 paylines. The game is based around the action-stacked symbols mechanic, which can fill any reel with stacks of any symbol aside from the wild. The game has a mini-jackpot of sorts, since landing five yin-yang symbols on an active payline results in a 100x payout. In addition, hitting three or more yin-yang symbols will trigger up to 15 free spins with a 2x payout multiplier. If you retrigger this bonus and get to 20 free spins, you'll get an option to activate the 'Balance of Fortune' feature and trade your free games for a random cash reward.
- Chili Chili Fire – five reels, 30 paylines. Chili Chili Fire also utilizes action-stacked symbols. It also has a fade away feature, which replaces low-paying card symbols with random high-paying picture symbols upon counting all the line wins. This makes the smiling wild symbol all the more useful, even though it doesn't ever appear on the first reel. If three or more chili scatter symbols appear on the screen, you'll be awarded with an additional payout and up to 25 free spins. During the bonus, the frequency of the fade away feature is greatly increased.
- China Mystery – five reels, 30 paylines. From a mechanical standpoint, this game is very similar to China Shores. It includes action-stacked symbols and a mysterious woman scatter symbol that can award you with eight, ten, or 15 free spins. Just like in China Shores, you can trade your free games for a random payout by using the 'Balance of Fortune' option, which becomes available once you retrigger the bonus enough times to get to 20 free spins.
Special slots features
Konami slots' action-stacked symbols mechanic makes them very popular among all kinds of gamblers. This mechanic can fill the reels with multiple copies of the same symbol, although this usually doesn't apply to all symbols.
Konami also offers an easily recognizable take on free spins bonuses. The number of scatter symbols typically determines the number of awarded spins, the bonus can be retriggered for more free games, and all payouts are doubled. This formula is very satisfying and is sometimes copied by other slot manufacturers. Free slots on facebook.
Online slots and land-based machines
Konami slots may be more about gameplay than graphics, but that doesn't mean they don't include any special effects. The land-based games tend to play a satisfying animation if you line up several high-paying symbol stacks to score a big payout.
Unfortunately, these animations are either toned down or missing in their online counterparts. Symbol animations in the online games are simplified, too. For example, the mysterious woman symbol in the land-based version of China Mystery is fully animated, but in the online slot, it is completely static.
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Obviously, this isn't done out of laziness. After all, modern computers and mobile devices are more than capable of handling even the most sophisticated 2D animations. The problem lies in the bandwidth, as browser-based slot games are expected to work well even on slow internet connections. Simply put, Konami is still forced to cram games with 100+ megabytes (MB) into a three- to five-MB package.
Select games and payback percentages
The RTP for Konami games can range from 92% to 96.1%. In general, the 30+ payline slots with the action-stacked symbols mechanic tend to offer better returns and higher volatility. Examples:
- China Shores– 96.1% RTP
- China Mystery – 96.1%
- Chili Chili Fire– 96.1% RTP
- Lion Festival – 92.48%
Konami slots history
| Name | Konami Holdings Corporation |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Top slot | China Shores |
| Special slot feature | Action Stacked Symbols |
| Land-based games | Yes |
| Online games | Yes |
Early years
Kagemasa Kozuki, Konami's current chairman, founded the company in 1969 as a jukebox repair business. In the second half of the 1970s, Kozuki noticed the potential in the fledgling video game industry and transformed his company into a manufacturer of video arcade machines.
The first Konami coin-operated video game was ready in 1978. The company's first breakthrough hit came in 1981 with the release of Frogger, which was followed by Scramble and Super Cobra.
The 1980s
Throughout the 1980s, the company established many of its franchises, including Metal Gear, Contra, Castlevania, Gradius, and Twin Bee. It also expanded to the United States and Europe and was listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange. By the end of the decade, Konami's capital increased to 8.095 billion yen.
The 1990s
In 1992, Konami expanded into the pachislot and pachinko industry and began creating liquid-crystal display (LCD) games for the Japanese pachinko market. In 1997, it began developing Western-style gambling machines for the Australian slot market. On the video games front, the company released many smash hits for Sony PlayStation, including Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill.
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The 2000s
In 2000, Konami became the first Japanese company to enter the slot machines market in the United States. By 2002, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Konami continued developing games for next-generation consoles but also expanded to the sports industry, which was facilitated by the purchase of People Co., Ltd. (currently Konami Sports Club).
Konami's capital has almost quadrupled since the 1990s. In 2005, the company opened a new office and production facility for gaming machines in Las Vegas, Nevada. Konami also signed a licensing agreement with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to produce soccer video games.
From 2010 to the present
In 2012, Takuya Kozuki replaced Kagemasa as the head of the company. As a result, Konami began to move away from developing high-quality games for home computers and consoles. Instead, they focused on mobile gaming, pachinko, and slot machines.
This led to a conflict between Hideo Kojima, the man behind the Metal Gear series, and Konami's corporate leadership, which ultimately resulted in Kojima Productions being closed in 2015. When Kojima left the company, Konami delisted itself from New York Stock Exchange and stopped producing AAA games, focusing on mobile gaming and low-budget console titles instead.
On the casino side, Konami developers came up with a very engaging slot formula involving stacked symbols and re-triggerable free spins, which is used to this day. The success of this formula allowed the company to open a new slot machine manufacturing facility in Nevada. This second facility became operational in 2015.
Konami investors
Konami Holdings Corporation is a publicly traded company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO: 9766).
As of September 2018, the principal shareholders in Konami included The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. (17.30% stake), Kozuki Foundation (12.50%), Kozuki Holding (11.61%), Japan Trustee Services Bank Ltd. (Trust Account, 7.39%), Kozuki Capital Corporation (5.21%), Trust & Custody Services Bank Ltd. (2.01%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (1.49%), and Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust Account 5, 1.16%).
Konami management and corporate structure
Konami is headed by its board of directors, which are elected by the shareholders. The current president of the company is Takuya Kozuki. He is the son of Kagemasa Kozuki, who is now the chairman of the company. Both the president and the chairman are also acting as representative directors.
The remaining members of the board of directors are Osamu Nakano, Kimihiko Higashio, Satoshi Sakamoto, Yoshihiro Matsuura, Akira Gemma, Kaori Yamaguchi, and Kimito Kubo. The shareholders also elect the audit and supervisory board, which currently consists of Shinichi Furukawa, Minoru Maruoka, Nobuaki Usui, Setsuo Tanaka, and Hisamitsu Arai.
Operating divisions are headed by corporate officers:
- Osamu Nakano (Executive Vice President, Corporate Management)
- Kimihiko Higashio (Executive Vice President, Administration)
- Satoshi Sakamoto (Senior Executive, Gaming & Systems Business)
- Hideki Hayakawa (Corporate Officer, Digital Entertainment Business)
- Katsunori Okita (Corporate Officer, Amusement Business)
- Akira Ochiai (Corporate Officer, Sports Business)
- Kazuhiko Uehara (Corporate Officer, General Manager, Public Relations & Advertising)
- Junichi Motobayashi (Corporate Officer, Finance)
- Shinichiro Yoneyama (Corporate Officer, General Manager, General Affairs Department)
Konami's position as a creator of innovative, visually impressive slot machines and casino games comes after a long, varied history in technology and entertainment. Starting from its simple roots, this Japanese company grew into a multimedia powerhouse with gaming divisions throughout Asia and North America.
Staying true to its slogan of 'Born from Fun,' Konami develops and distributes both original creations and games based off of its popular video game licenses.
With a growing online presence and a steadily increasing list of unique slot machine features, Konami is prepared to stay competitive in the modern gaming environment.
Free to play Konami slot machines
Top five Konami slot games
Players looking to try out some of Konami's hottest offerings can keep an eye out for the following games.
No. 1 Dragon's Law Twin Fever: A fun, Chinese dragon-themed slot machine, featuring fivereels and 30 paylines. This game includes basic action-stacked symbols as well as a free spin bonus round. The titular twin dragons are at the heart of the game. One or two lucky dragons can arrive after any spin to drop additional wild spaces onto the reel for some surprise wins.
No. 2 Solstice Celebration: A cute, wonderfully designed slot game has a theme around the beauty of spring in an enchanted meadow. The five-reel machine features 30 paylines and uses an enhanced version of the action-stacked symbols as a bonus. Called the Sparkle feature, all action-stacked symbols are lined with a bright border. Filling two reels with a full stack of sparkle-lined symbols nudges other partial stacks to fill their reel. It also has the potential to trigger a free spin bonus round.
No. 3 Chili Chili Fire: A five-reel 30 paylines slot has a general Mexican theme. Including action-stacked symbols and the chance to win free games, this machine also uses the Fade Away feature. After any spin, low-paying card symbols have the opportunity to fade away. The newly empty spaces then fill with random higher paying picture symbols, with a chance to turn a disappointing spin into something special.
No. 4 Lion Festival: Boosted Celebration – Inspired by Chinese New Year celebrations, this five-reel slot machine offers players a mix of neat features including a boosted middle reel that has double the symbols to make forming a winning combination that much easier. It includes action-stacked symbols and a free spin bonus round, but the bonus round includes the twist of the Balance of Fortune system. After winning free spins, players can stick with their standard 2x multiplied free spins, or they can trade stacks of five free spins for a 'super-free spin' with a much higher multiplier.
No. 5 Castlevania: Labyrinth of Love – Konami has multiple Castlevania themed slots, inspired by its video game franchise of the same name. This five-reel machine includes an expanded free spin mode along with a progressive jackpot tied to the Castlevania game board. Players who trigger the minigame get to pick from different sets of potential moves to try and reach the castle. At that point, the game switches to a flashy battle minigame, where players get to spin a set of reels to try and land on attack symbols that kill enemies while hoping that they avoid the damage symbols that close off the reel. Making it past the bosses can reward the player with one of the four progressive jackpots. Sadly, Castlevania machines are generally not available on a mobile device.
Konami mobile slots
While some of Konami's more advanced machines are sadly still stuck in physical casinos, it has developed mobile versions of many of their classic slots. Players with a mobile device should be able to find free versions of Konami's online slots available in participating casino apps. Anyone lucky enough to live where real money online slots are legal will also find real mobile versions available.
For unlucky players, Konami does offer a nice middle ground. The My Konami Slots app is available for iOS and Android devices. This app offers several popular slots for free play. Players can collect free chips throughout the day, and the app includes a daily free bonus spin that can award credits. While packages of chips are available for purchase, patient players can stick with the Konami free casino slot games.
The Konami slots app includes linked progressive jackpots and slot tournaments for players looking for high-stakes play. Konami goes back to its video game roots by also offering daily challenges and quests, which reward players for hitting set goals or betting certain amounts. The real hook is that players can win loyalty points that they can spend on prizes and comps at real casinos, similar to Chumba Casino. Players can earn room discounts, credit toward food, tickets to great shows or just themed merchandise. It's a great way for players to have a little fun between trips.
The rise of Konami
Konami began as a jukebox rental and repair company in 1969 based out of Osaka, Japan. The name comes from the first letters of its three original officers, Kagemasa Kozuki, YoshinobuNakama and TatsuoMiyasako. The company's founder, Kozuki, still sits on the executive board. Konami moved away from its original jukebox focus fairly quickly, transitioning to manufacturing arcade cabinets in 1973 to take advantage of the growing video game market.
Konami would go on to produce its important additions to arcade gaming by developing hits such as the massively popular Frogger in 1981, along with gamer favorites such as Scramble and Super Cobra. The company was able to adapt to the rapidly changing video game market throughout the '80s and early '90s, providing titles for the Atari 2600 and the original Nintendo console. Konami adapted and evolved its popular Scramble arcade game into the fan-favorite Gradius for the NES, and also developed popular franchises such as the Castlevania and Metal Gear series.
The video game division continued to grow through the '90s and 2000s with steady sequels and developments even as the company branched out into the gambling industry. Always looking to maintain synergy between their divisions, many of these great video game properties would be adapted into themed slot machines.
Konami's casino gaming division began with its entry into the Japanese pachinko machine market in September 1992. After several years, the company opened Konami Australia in late 1996. In 1997, this subsidiary would oversee the rollout of Konami's expansion into the Australian gaming market and later the general Asian market.
Konami expanded into the American casino gaming market in January 2000. The move into the American market was cemented with the construction of a manufacturing and development office in Las Vegas in 2005. The 360,000-square-foot facility served as its base of operations for expansions through North America, South America and Europe. Building on the success, Konomi opened a second facility in Las Vegas in 2015.
Konami's unique features
While Konami is known for its striking visual design, the company has introduced some software innovations to offer exciting updates to the classic slot machine design. Its development takes full advantage of the ability to modify digital reels before the game or switch symbols after a spin. As a rule of thumb, Konami has focused on enhancing standard slot machine play rather than focusing on adding separate bonus rounds. Konami's unique twists on the slot machine formula give players a chance to see ordinary spins suddenly change into rich jackpots.
The action-stacked symbols feature
Players of Konami slots are almost guaranteed encounter its action-stacked symbols system. This feature creates sections across all the reels in a game that pick one single symbol to stack for that spin. With a little luck, players will see these sets of stacked symbols fill up their paylines for big wins.
Also, many games have separate bonus features that tie into the action-stacked symbols feature. For example, players may see the reels get nudged into higher payouts with the right set of lucky frames.
Other variations on standard play include dynamic reels that can morph after a spin. In certain games, players may see new wild symbols appear to fill out lines, or they may see low-value spaces disappear to make room for big winners.
The Balance of Fortune features
That's not to say that Konami has ignored its bonus games, even if it sticks to traditional free spins and multipliers. When going through Konami's catalog, players will find innovations such as the Balance of Fortune system. This offers winners a choice in how their bonus game plays out, usually based around a more certain smaller payout versus a riskier shot at a big return.
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The Mirror Reels bonus feature
The addition of special Mirror reels in bonus rounds also adds a fun change of pace to free spins. Mirror reels are what they sound like, with the two leftmost and rightmost reels mirroring one another, making it easier than ever to get a straight line of five symbols.
Similarly, while many of Konami's games feature bonus games and special features instead of traditional jackpots, some entries feature progressive jackpot systems.
Konami's progressive jackpot games
Games such as Pirate's Jackpot and Pharoah's Wish include stand-alone progressive jackpots. Konami also has machines with community-linked progressive jackpots.
For example, Beat the Field offers players — in a bank of linked machines — each a chance at different progressive jackpots when one player in the bank triggers the special round. Eligible players can win set bonuses or a progressive jackpot based on the results of a simulated horse race.
Machines, such as the new Power Boost Inferno, offer a supreme progressive jackpot that can potentially be linked across multiple participating casinos.
Konami's recent innovations have also shifted toward more noticeable changes to gameplay. In 2016, the company unveiled the Crystal Cyclone. This upgrade adds a social element to Konami's older physical machines. The system places a roulette wheel in the center of several linked Konami slot machines.
When triggered, players on the linked machines get to watch bonus balls fall onto the spinning wheel in the center with credits and bonuses applied based on where the balls land.
Finally, Konami's development comes full circle with the recent development of a partially skill-based Frogger game that provides increased payouts to players who can get their frog farther up the randomly generated arcade game.
