'Queen of the Nile' is the most ubiquitous and widely played poker machine in Australia. It embodies the qualities that have made electronic poker machines the main destination of the gambling dollar, reducing other forms of gambling and wagering to relatively minor status.
The 'Queen of the Nile' poker machine first appeared in 1998, more than twenty years after the introduction of electronic poker machines in the 1970s. During this time, the makers of the 'Queen of the Nile', Aristocrat, introduced numerous modifications to their design. The most significant of these was the marriage of pokies to computer games to add secondary games to the basic spin of the wheels. For example, the ability to play multiple lines, which allow players to choose the number and configuration of symbols to be gambled, and allowing players to gamble for prizes via choices of symbols. Both add an interactive element to the machine. Players can make decisions, rather than being completely in thrall of the random spin of the cards, and there is a heightened sense of anticipation. According to Len Ainsworth, the founder of Aristocrat, ''We realised that there was a huge opportunity to offer players more...they are intelligent, and want a little more stimulation than just pressing a button'.
Although there is little to distinguish the function of the 'Queen of the Nile' from that of numerous other poker machines, it has become a phenomenon of the industry. The fact that the machine is still being produced (in Mark 6 format) places it in a singular category as most poker machine designs are superseded within five years. It has also created a substantial export industry for Australian poker machine manufacturers, particularly to Asia and the US. Furthermore, on the subject of gambling addiction, counsellors argued that the 'Queen of the Nile' is 'the most popular machine turning up in gamblers' therapy'! Its appeal has also been dissected by academics, and in a rare cultural cross-over, scored a story in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Weekend magazine.
This machine was designed, built and reconditioned by Aristocrat Technologies at its Waterloo factory between 1997 and 2006.
Aristocrat was founded in 1953, when Len Ainsworth began repairing and making poker machines at his family's dental supplies factory. At this time the playing of poker machines was illegal in NSW, but the law was so widely flouted that a poker machine manufacturing industry already existed in Sydney. In addition, numerous machines were imported from the USA.
Poker machines were legalised in registered clubs in 1956, and in the following two decades Aristocrat became the main Australian manufacturer, forcing numerous competitors from the industry, notably the Nutt & Muddle company, maker of the popular Jubilee machines. The methods employed by Aristocrat to gain market dominance attracted the attention of the police and regulatory authorities; Ainsworth is still involved in litigation arising from the resulting prosecutions.
However there is no doubt that Aristocrat's success was also based on several innovations in the design of poker machines. Although Aristocrat machines were initially copies of US models, by the 1960s Aristocrat was exporting to US casinos. During the 1990s its video poker machines became major competitors with US manufacturers, and Aristocrat now manufactures and sells machines in the USA, England, South Africa and 55 other countries. It is the second largest manufacturer in the world, after the US company IGT.
Len Ainsworth severed ties with Aristocrat in 1996, founding a new company Ainsworth Game Technology.
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