Interview with Emiliano Sanchez from Mancala Gaming

The online casino industry is always expanding, with new studios entering the market and surprising us with the kind of innovation and freshness they are able to bring into the mix. One of these companies is Mancala Gaming, a brand new online casino games supplier based out of Prague, Czech Republic. GamblersPick had a chat with Emiliano Sanchez from Mancala Gaming, giving us a thorough insight into the workings of this fresh player in the online gambling industry. We bring the interview in full, right here.

GP: Hello and thank you so much for agreeing to take the time to speak with us. For starters, why don’t you introduce us to Mancala Gaming in short. When was the company founded, who is behind it and what was the vision when you set out to found the company? What do you hope to bring to the online casino landscape?

Emiliano: The company was founded in May 2019 and united a number of industry professionals who shared the vision on how things should be done and where the igaming industry should be heading. It took almost a year to prepare the brand for launch, set up an in-house game studio, and consolidate the game portfolio.
We believe that igaming industry needs to start evolving in order to keep its position in the next 5-10 years. One of the biggest challenges will be offering the range of games that new generations of players: Millennials and Gen Z, would play, enjoy, and come back to. And this is why Mancala gaming was founded, to start the change of the igaming industry slowly but surely to accommodate a new type of players.

GP: Unlike so many young software studios out there, Mancala already has a portfolio of over 70 games, making it a very serious company. How long did it take to develop this portfolio and how unique would you say your games are? Do you try to bring something new with every slot you release?

Emiliano: We know that new game providers don’t have an easy start in igaming industry. Usual problems are lack of knowledge, contacts, small game portfolio.

To have a decent portfolio while entering the market we decided to purchase a code for several games from an external studio and started building our in-house game studio. At this very moment, we have 10+ games in the process which each will have brand new mathematics, innovative features, and hi-end design that you are used to seeing in the portfolio of top game providers.

Games in our current portfolio are a classic type of slots, but in the future, we aim to cater to more younger players. We want to start changing the igaming industry and the games that are offered to players to keep up with the latest trends and technology and to create a product that would interest younger players.

GP: Mancala Gaming is not a name that every casino player out there recognizes just yet, but we are sure you are looking forward to introducing as many players with your games as possible. What are some of the top casino sites where players can try out your games? How many casinos offer them at this time altogether?

Emiliano: Right now, any new brand coming out is an ongoing distribution process. We are currently expanding in the CIS market, Europe and LATAM. You can find us on sites such as Supergame.be, Playamo, favbet, vbet, 1xslots, 1xbet, just to name a few. 

We are working hard to increase our presence in more markets with our strategy and our roadmap of the licensing process for 2021.

GP: You are based in Prague, while many of your competitors have chosen to move to Malta or Gibraltar. What are the reasons you guys are remaining in Czech Republic and do you believe it is more beneficial for you to operate from there or are there any plans for a potential move to one of these “gaming hubs” in the future?

Emiliano: We are lucky that we had the opportunity to pick Prague as our headquarters. Prague’s convenient location in the heart of Europe and mild climate make it a perfect place to live, grow business, and have a work-life balance. There is a generous number of industry professionals located in the area and we are also open to the relocation of people. With all this said, it is clear that we are not planning to move to any of igaming hubs anytime soon.

GP: The new Mancala game, Cherry Bombs, is set to launch in a few days. Can you please tell us a little bit about the mechanics of the game and how it will stand out from what we have seen thus far. How will the player progression system work and what kind of gameplay modes can players look forward to?

Emiliano: Cherry bomb is the perfect game to close 2021. While everyone is looking to launch a Christmas based game, we understand that sometimes doing things differently will get attention as well. This game is a perfect balance of the classic fruit game, an 80’s vibe, and new engaging mechanics. The players can be ready to have a taste of a new game mechanic with 3 levels and second chances within one spin. When moving between game levels, the gameplay transforms from the traditional line wins into a cluster game with a massive amount of winnings. We trust this will be a hit with all our partners

GP: What comes next after Cherry Bombs? Are you going to make more games with this unique new gameplay style? Are there other new engines in the works at Mancala? What can the players expect moving forward from your studio?

Emiliano: Lack of ideas is not our way to go. Luckily, we have a lot of creative people that have proposed ideas within our studio and I cannot give a lot of details, but what you are going to see next year will be unique. As we have mentioned in the past, we do a balance of classical slots and new trends to surprise the players from different age groups into a more engaging and exciting slot game. At the end, in a sea of offers that all are quite similar, we are trying to propose something that is both familiar yet new in terms of theme, mechanics, and design.

Part of this will not only include our games but also the engagement tools that will be available for our partners to increase retention and the rewards to their players.

Thank you so much for taking the time and answering all our questions so thoroughly. We wish you all the best and hope to speak to you many times in the future as Mancala Gaming continues to grow and successfully release future games and bring innovation to the online gaming landscape.