Freedom AND Fate: The Design Secret to Engaging eInstants

If you want to find the most innovative game ideas in the world, where do you look?

Our answer is simple: the mobile and casual games market. It produces tens of thousands more games a year than any other category. This sheer volume creates a hyper-competitive environment where only the most creative and engaging ideas survive. For us, it’s the most fruitful place to look for inspiration when designing new eInstants.

This thinking is central to our design process. We look for the most clever and engaging mechanics from the world of casual games to see how we can adapt them. But finding a great mechanic is the easy part. The real challenge is in the adaptation.

For a casual game inspiration to become a great eInstant, the integration must be seamless. The mechanic cannot feel like a separate element bolted onto a money game.

This is where many attempts go wrong. The player first plays a short game, and only after it's over, a message reveals if they won. The gameplay feels like a pointless chore - a gimmick you have to endure before you see the real result.

A great eInstant fuses them together. The player's actions must drive the money game forward in real time. The gameplay is the reveal. This creates a far more compelling experience, but it also introduces a fundamental design challenge:

How do you give the player freedom to make their own choices when the outcome of the eInstant was already determined at the moment of purchase?

This is the challenge of Freedom and Fate.

The solution is what we at Fennica call the "adaptive algorithm." It’s an engine we’ve been refining for over two decades, ever since we created this game category. This algorithm creates a flexible path where any choice the player makes - every tap, every swipe - ultimately leads to the correct, predetermined result. The player has genuine freedom to play as they see fit, but the outcome remains secure.

It’s this technology that allows us to successfully adapt mechanics from the world of casual games. It lets us give the player a real sense of agency while upholding the fixed-odds logic of a lottery product.

That is the true secret. Success doesn't come from simply spotting a good idea in the casual market. It comes from having the expertise and the technology to rebuild it for the world of money gaming. It's how we deliver on the promise of both freedom and fate.

Harri Järvinen, Product Development Manager at Fennica, is widely regarded as the father of eInstants. An innovative mathematician with a sharp eye for player entertainment, he blends casual game design with proven money gaming mechanics to create world-class eInstant experiences. His work brings together creativity, mathematics, and engaging gameplay; shaping some of the most entertaining eInstants in the world.