RUYI Baccarat Branding
Client: Casinos BC
Year: 2019
Agency: Hamazaki Wong Marketing Group

Role
Art & Creative Direction
Visual & Strategy Direction
Naming & Branding
Design & Production Lead

Casinos BC was replacing and rebranding the EZ Baccarat live table games to introduce a new identity and not have to worry about paying for the licensing fee.

The ask was to create a new brand identity for the existing EZ Baccarat live table game, including the 2 side bet options (3 in total).  The design must be Asian-themed with cultural references and easily stand out in contrast to the different colour felts (green, yellow, white, and red) used by different casinos in the lower mainland. The logos would be trademarked by Casinos BC so the names and designs must be ownable as well.

The name of the new baccarat game, Ruyi, is a talisman symbolizing power and good fortune in Chinese folklore. It is commonly used in Chinese cinema and is well-known among the Chinese community to this day. Standard Chinese uses ruyi (如意) either as a stative verb meaning “according to one’s wishes; following your heart’s desires”, or as an adjective meaning “satisfied, pleased, happy, comfortable”. Ruyi is made from valuable materials like gold and jade, which both can be mined in BC. Besides the appropriate meaning of Ruyi and how Ruyi tied in with BC’s rich mining history, the pronunciation of Ruyi Baccarat was very punchy, short, and sweet, similar to ‘EZ’ Baccarat.

The two side bet options were named Jade 8 and Gold 7 respectively. Taking design cues from Chinese Mahjong tiles, the side bets were enclosed in rectangular tiles and acted as markers on the table. The numbers 8 and 7 were incorporated in the Chinese letters that appeared as the main visuals on each of the tiles, 發 on Jade 8 and 財 on Gold 7. The two words can combine to form the term facai (發財) meaning “to become rich; to make money” and is commonly used during Chinese new year celebrations.

The result? It was a hit. Casinos BC loved the names and designs and so did the players. The names felt natural and were welcomed by everyone in the casinos. Find out more about RUYI Baccarat here.