Founded back in 2011, Crazy Tooth Studio is headquartered in Nevada, USA, which is a rarity for companies operating on these shores.
The brain child of Ben Hoffman, it’s a small studio despite being longer in the tooth than some of the other developers we cover on this site; the team consists of around just 10-15 people, but they have built up a very strong game portfolio over the years.
Hoffman is a veteran of the industry who left IGT to found Crazy Tooth, and his interest lies solely in slots, so this studio do not make table games or anything like that.
The business did well for itself too, so much so that in 2019 they were approached by Microgaming who offered them a partnership deal, so now, Crazy Tooth Studios games are available exclusively through Microgaming.
As for the name, well it’s actually in homage to the company creator’s dog, who did indeed have a crazy ‘snaggly’ tooth.
What are Crazy Tooth Studio Games Like?
The games from this studio are incredibly diverse and varied, in terms of theme, layout, features, the way they play – everything really.
One thing they all have in common though is genuine innovation. These guys do things that other slot developers don’t even think of, such as the way the camera moves from the slot game to the bonus game in 3 Devils Pinball, and all completely in line with the theme.
Since the studio goes back a ways, some of their older titles have started to look a little dated (their new ones could never be accused of this), but even back then Crazy Tooth’s knack for doing things a little different was apparent.
Choco Choco is one of their very early games that fits this description, but it equally needs to be mentioned so I can show you a picture of the logo.
Remember when I said the company was named after Ben Hoffman’s dog? Well that dog was called Choco, and they made the game about him, look:
This game did really well too, probably in part because people knew why it had been created.
A great strength of Crazy Tooth Studio is their ability to not only jump between various different art styles to suit the many different game genres, but also how the artwork is designed to enhance the playing experience.
What I mean by that, is that the artwork doesn’t just look good and serve the theme, but it also helps build tension before potential wins, or increases the sense of celebration after a bonus round trigger, for example.
It serves more than the obvious purpose.
Crazy Tooth Studio are also big advocates of innovative game mechanics, and they have come up with a shed load of them for their titles.
A few are covered below, but honourable mention goes to those not covered in detail, such as Coinverge, WinCrease, ReelQuest, HaloReels, Continuwin, RiftZone, and Any Adjacent Pays.
Respin Insanity
A simple feature but a cool one, whereby any wins will isolate the symbols involved in that win, and re-spin them.
The whole reel doesn’t spin, just the symbols that were included in the win, and if further wins are created, any symbols involved in the new win will be isolated too and the same thing happens again.
This can create a chain reaction of ongoing wins and it’s really exciting to watch when it happens, plus, since it’s a base game feature it makes every single spin interesting. Lady Earth features this mechanic.
PowerPath
3 Devils Pinball is a good example of this in action, although it was Crystal Rays that first features the mechanic.
The base game looks like a regular slot, but is played out on the horizontal part of a pinball machine. Once you trigger the bonus though, the camera zooms out and pans up to the vertical part of the machine, where the Powerpath mechanic comes into play.
The ball rockets around the machine, hitting deflectors to change direction, and picking up cash amounts as it goes, with the potential to also pick up multipliers.
A really unique way for a bonus game to play out.
TeamUp Reels
Diamond Force features this mechanic, in which a bonus mini game is triggered when 3 character symbols land on the board.
Diamond Force is a Super Hero Comic themed slot, so the mechanic works well because when the heroes all land it triggers, a bit like bringing all the Avengers together to team up.
A new mini reel appears and the heroes add their own special symbols, such as multipliers or extra spins symbols, and they are mixed in with the cash values before the reels spin and a combination of cash values and special symbols land, creating your payout amount.
BIG BuildUp
Banana Drop is the silliest fun they have had with the BIG BuildUp mechanic, although it usually works in tandem with other game features.
Here, bananas can randomly be added to the top of reels, and those bananas eventually drop to reveal wilds on the reels or cash prizes. Up to 3 reels can show bananas at any one time.
The banana drop feature triggers randomly too, so working in conjunction with BIG BuildUp (which randomly puts the bananas there in the first place), we get the full feature of the game.
In 777 Deluxe it is poker chips instead of bananas and they represent multipliers and can also extend the reels, so the execution isn’t always the same.
Proprietary Framework and Platform
Crazy Tooth Studios have a moto; Quality Always Wins.
This tells you a lot about their outlook on the subject of game development, and it comes through in their final products too, so it’s certainly more than just a catchphrase.
Producing quality games doesn’t necessarily need to be a long and laborious process though, and to help keep things snapping along, Crazy Tooth have their own proprietary framework and platform for building games, called CTS Arsenal.
It’s regularly updated and improved, providing excellent functionality for everybody using it, and allowing the hard work and creativity of the team to flow from initial concept to final product in record time.
Don’t mistake this as rushing out cookie cutter slots though, they certainly don’t have a template that they work to; each game is unique and designed to be individual, but the CTS Arsenal has all the necessary tools to do so efficiently.
The result is a games list that can delight and surprise players in equal measure, all with with great functionality, easy integration for casino operators, and full optimisation for all devices.
YouTube
As a bit of a footnote to this page on Crazy Tooth Studios, it would be remiss not to mention their YouTube channel.
Rather than just a platform from which to advertise their new releases, Crazy Tooth’s YouTube channel is really insightful.
It features interviews with the people who work at the company, explaining their views and opinions on new game features and upcoming releases, and also has mini featurettes on how the art work impacts the game, or how they design the sound and music.
It’s funny too, with silly sketches acted out by the employees that usually go hand in hand with news or announcements.
If your interest in slots goes beyond just playing them, then this channel deserves your attention.