Introduction

Vista Gaming was founded in 1996, and provides their software mainly to online bingo sites with an online casino mixed in occasionally. Players who have used Vista Gaming software in the past have commented on how it looks dated, and is generally unimpressive, even when compared to developers like Rival or Real Time Gaming, who don't necessarily put out the best looking games in the world.

Blackjack

The blackjack game has a very unusual set of rules. After playing many hands, here is my understanding of them:

• Eight decks.
• Dealer hits soft 17 (contrary to what the felt says).
• Dealer peeks for blackjack only with an ace up. If player doubles or splits against a ten, and the dealer gets a blackjack, then the player will lose everything.
• Player may double on hard 8 to 11 only.
• Player may not double after a split.
• Player may split only once.
• Early surrender against a 2-10, and late surrender against an ace.
• Eight-card Charlie (eight-card hand is an automatic winner).

To get the house edge under this bizarre set of rules I had to use both my blackjack house edge calculator and my list of rule variations. After considering everything, I get a house edge of 0.78%.

Here is my basic strategy under under this set of rules.

 

The limits at the Vegas Crest casino are 50¢-$100.

Double Exposure

Vista Gaming calls their double exposure game Bare All Blackjack. The online rules are incorrectly the same as those for blackjack. It would take me hours to determine the actual rules by trial and error playing. Until they put up the correct rules for the game, I am afraid you are on your own on this one.

The limits at the Vegas Crest casino are $1-$100.

Baccarat

Standard baccarat rules are followed with eight decks of cards. The tie bet pays 8 to 1. The house edge of the three bets are as follows:

• Banker: 1.06%.
• Player: 1.24%.
• Tie: 14.36%.

Both the graphics and audio sometimes incorrectly refer to the Banker as the "dealer."

The limits at the Vegas Crest casino are $1-$100.

Casino War

The game of Casino War also has an usual set of rules. Normally if there is a tie after going to war it is a win for the player. However, with the Vista Gaming version, the player has the option to surrender or go to war again. What happens if there is a third tie? The same thing. I'm told that the player can go to war up to ten times. No word on what happens on the 11th consecutive tie, but that will probably never happen. Eight decks are used.

Following is my analysis of Casino War under this set of rules. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 4.04%. Compare that to 2.88% under the standard rules.

Texas Hold 'Em Bonus

Vista Gaming refers to Texas Hold 'Em Bonus as just Texas Hold 'Em, which makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Texas Hold 'Em is the player against player game you see in every poker room in Las Vegas.

At least Vista follows the liberal Vegas rules, where a winning straight or better pays even money on the Ante, as opposed to the stingy Atlantic City rules.

The house edge under the Vegas rules is 2.04%.

Table Deuces Wild

This is a table game version of the video poker game deuces wild. The player may play one to five betting spots. Vista follows the same pay table as the video poker game, except a royal flush pays 250 instead of 800 per coin bet. This lowers the house edge from 99.48% to 98.31%.

Table All American

This is a table game version of the video poker game All American. The player may play one to five betting spots. Vista follows the same pay table as the video poker game, except a royal flush pays 250 instead of 800 per coin bet. This lowers the house edge from 96.27% to 95.12%.

Slots

Vista does a good job with the slot machines. This would seem to be a strength of theirs, especially compared to table games. It can be hard telling a Vista slot machine from Rival or any other company. Here is a list of games that are identified as Vista from the company web site:

• Lost Vikings
• Sands of Egypt
• Princess of the Sea
• Amazon Quest
• Monster House
• The Lucky Farm
• Mystery at the Manor
• Coral Reef
• Wanted
• Scary Night
• Be Wild
• Frankie's Place
• Disco Fever
• Grocery Store
• Games Bond
• Reel Wheels
• Circus
• Havana Nights
• Rock Star
• Lucks 7s

Vista also identifies some of their games as "arcade games." Personally, I feel an "arcade game" should involve some element of skill, like shooting baskets, rolling balls or pounding gophers.

In the case of the Vista, the arcade games are variations of a game popularly known as Chain Reactors. There is a square array of random symbols and the player is paid according to how many like symbols can be found adjacent to each other. Then they disappear, the symbols above drop down, and new symbols replace the vacuum. This keeps happening until there is no paying combination.

I hope Vista will forgive me in calling these slot games, which I consider them to be. The ones I am aware they have are:

• Tutti Frutti 4
• Tutti Frutti 5
• Tweet Tweet 4
• Tweet Tweet 5
• Jewelz 5

The number in the title identifies the number of symbols on any one side of the matrix.

Bingo

It is my understanding that Vista started out as an online bingo company. So it should be no surprise that live player vs. player bingo is one of their strongest games. My only exposure to them were the practice games that I played on the Vista web site, by myself. Based on that experience, the bingo games seem fun and entertaining. The pace was nice and slow, compared to other places, so it is probably a good place for your money to last a while.

It should be noted that what I call Rival Powered Bingo is made, obviously, by Rival Powered, despite the game saying "Vista Gaming" when it loads.

Conclusion

Vista Gaming is a gambling software developer who has been around for a long time, but is generally more focused on bingo software than on table games, slots, or video poker. The company seems to provide their software to bingo sites primarily, but does also supply games to Vegas Crest Casino, which also offers Rival games to players.

Players playing casino titles by Vista Gaming will notice that the titles generally look dated and the selection of games is not the best in the industry. If you are willing to overlook these faults, then Vista Gaming titles can be a fun and decent experience to try.