Andar Baharby Pragmatic Play Ltd.

It’s a new world in the online casino gambling industry!

There’s a new interconnectedness across the world of gaming, as developers, platforms, and players alike are embracing titles that cross cultural boundaries.

Witness Pragmatic Play’s recent expansion into releasing new online slots with Mexican aesthetics, while simultaneously looking towards Indian themes for their new Live Dealer releases. 

Of these, Andar Bahar is especially of interest for today’s players since it continues to bring an excellent game that has been under-appreciated in Western markets into the spotlight.

Let’s take a closer look at this title, but first, how about an in-depth look at the company that created it?

The Designer

In an industry rife with scandal and intrigue, it’s possible that Pragmatic Play might have the most interesting story of all. 

This company was technically founded in 2015, but its origins are masked by the storm clouds of endless scandal and outright malfeasance that was TopGame. This company was known for unbelievably poor quality control (memorably, it once left jackpot icons necessary to win its bonus feature off of a major slot release’s reels) and customer service so poor it bordered on outright thievery. 

Mercifully, it is now defunct. However, some or all of its assets were purchased by Pragmatic Play around the time it was founded.

At first, there was speculation that Pragmatic Play would just be the same bad industry actor as its predecessor, just under a new name. This hasn’t turned out to be the case, however… 

… indeed, the company has seemed to be thoroughly above board in the intervening years. There has been no whiff of further scandal, and they received some important notices, such as a Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) Certificate of Integrity for their Random Number Generator (RNG) in 2016, and the Software Rising Star award at the 2017 EGR B2B Awards. 

They’ve been making big moves in recent months, expanding in international marketsand generally boosting their profile in impressive fashion. 

Indeed, it appears that this company’s troubled past has indeed been left in the rearview, and blue skies are ahead.

Knowing all of that, how does their design team do in this title? 

The Game

Andar Bahar is immensely popular in India, and Pragmatic Play is hardly the only designer to give this massively beloved game its due. Super Spade Gaming released a great iteration recently, and Ezugi has an excellent version as well. It’s encouraging to see this wonderful game grow in popularity the whole world over. 

Why?

For one, it offers player-friendly odds that come close to Western favorites baccarat, roulette, and blackjack – far from one of those gimmicky releases that casinos release just to fleece unsophisticated players. For another, it’s just legitimately fun to play!

Here’s how gameplay works.

Play occurs with a 52 card deck, and begins with the dealer drawing out a single card and placing it in the center of the table (strictly speaking, this card is called the “joker”). The player’s goal is then to predict where the next card of the same rank – say, the next jack, if the drawn card is a jack –will appear: on the left side of the drawn card (Andar), or the right side (Bahar).

After bets are placed, the dealer draws one by one, placing them to the left and the right of the joker. This means the odds of winning are a fairly obvious 50/50. 

There are ways to make the game more interesting, however. Depending on table-specific rules, side bets can allow players to wager on the color or suit of the eventual winning card, as well as whether it will appear in the first 8 draws, the second 8 draws, and so on. 

Placing additional funds into these side bets isn’t always wise from a purely mathematical perspective, but some players find it enhances their enjoyment of the game quite a bit. 

It’s not our place to judge: gamers who like to find the best odds possible will be more comfortable choosing the simpler bets, while those who like to live a bit more dangerously may invest in side bets.

As in all Pragmatic Play’s releases, the user interaction is simple and easy to understand. The game is streamed 24/7 from the designer’s state-of-the-art studio in Bucharest, Romania. The hosts speak English, but player interface is possible in more than 30 languages.

Where to Play

With all the success Pragmatic Play’s releases have enjoyed, it shouldn’t be surprising to discover that player’s have a great many options when it comes to where to play their titles. They’re licensed in a great many locations, which means their games are available across a long and diverse list of casinos…

… a list that includes some of the industry’s top names. 

One excellent contender for discerning player’s business is Mr Bit Casino, a fine outfit that offers reliably exceptional bonuses at sign up, 2nd deposit, and so on. 

For that matter, Vegas Paradise is no slouch either, with its PayPal-enabled gaming acting as a kind of seal of approval.

There are some either excellent options to consider too, though: the player favorite iLUCKI Casino, MegaCasino, and Queen Vegas Casino should be a part of the conversation for sure. Fro those who prefer crypto gaming, 1xBet Casino is also an excellent choice. 

Also Worth Noting

It only makes sense that, as the gaming industry becomes increasingly international, Western players should begin to identify and enjoy the Eastern-style games that speak to them.

If this style of game design appeals to you, you might want to consider other India-style titles. Pragmatic Play’s recently released Roulette India[can link to this page on WCD once last week’s article has been published] takes a kind of inverse approach, taking a favorite game of Western casinos and presenting it with an Indian perspective.