Chess

What is Chess?

For Splash Tech founder Adam Wilson, RubyPlay’s acquisition of his company is not simply the coming together of two complementary suppliers. It is an early indication of where the wider supplier market may be heading.

The deal adds Splash Tech’s free-to-play games and supplier-agnostic jackpot engine to RubyPlay’s existing portfolio of free spins, rewards, missions and tournaments. In doing so, it strengthens RubyPlay’s evolution from a content-led provider into a broader content and engagement tools company, giving operators a way to add engagement mechanics across existing and third-party portfolios without building those capabilities from scratch.

Wilson expects others to follow.

About Chess

That ceiling stays substantial at 20,000x the bet. It’s reserved for a fully developed free spins round where Fisherman Wilds collect Money symbol values and progressive retriggers push collection multipliers higher.

The one genuinely new seasonal wrinkle is a pumpkin symbol. It can land during free spins to award mid-bonus upgrades, layered on top of the ante bet and feature-buy options already familiar across the range. For an experienced Big Bass player, the proposition is deliberately recognizable rather than reinvented.

The value of this release lies in what it says about franchise strategy. The Big Bass series has become one of Pragmatic Play’s most reliable engines, and reskinning a proven math model with seasonal theming is a low-risk way to keep the brand visible during a commercially significant window.

What is Chess?

The first time I walked into an iGaming conference was daunting. I knew next to no-one in the industry and, as far as I knew, no one knew me. I was an outsider in every sense, representing an unknown product in an industry I believed would be resistant to change.

While this initially seemed terrifying, I quickly discovered that this outsider status was a gift. It has allowed me to view the industry through fresh eyes. I do not have any preconceptions about companies or products. This has become my superpower, allowing me to analyse the industry without bias and, hopefully, help shape its future.

iGaming was not the industry I set out to work in. Before 2021, I worked in finance and business – agro companies, management consultancy and investment funds, none of which were remotely linked to the industry.