About Andy Mueller & SlotsOnFire

Early Days in the Industry (2005–2007)

I entered the online casino and slots space in mid-2005 when I built my first site using the old Mambo content management system. The project was called Progressive Watch, and its job was simple: monitor progressive jackpots and highlight the highest values for players.

A quick trip through the Wayback Machine shows exactly what a mid-2000s site looked like:
progressive-watch.com (2006)

Looking back, it wasn't bad at all for a first attempt. My formal background is in electrical engineering, but I've always leaned toward software development - especially where data and automation are involved.

Thanks to those skills, I could automatically grab, parse, and store jackpot data and push it into a backend system for display. I loved playing slots, but in those days I was more fascinated by how the jackpots behaved than by reel mechanics (which were very basic compared to today).

Focusing on Specific Providers: Rival Slots

In early 2007, I started building a second site dedicated entirely to Rival Gaming slots. Their games felt fresh and different at the time, and I wanted to spotlight that experience for players. I spoke frequently with different vendors and even with Rival's owners about new games, features, and how to present them to players.

Archive.org struggled a bit with the image-heavy layout, but here is at least one snapshot from 2014:
rivalslots.com (2014)

Around this time I was also playing many of the early industry staples. Microgaming's Avalon stands out as a favorite. There was even a short-lived Hype Gaming set of slots that I really enjoyed before the brand disappeared and left players scrambling to recover funds.

The Evolution of SlotsOnFire.com

Also in 2005, I launched SlotsOnFire.com. The site has gone through multiple full rewrites: front-end, back-end, and database. The original data has been completely replaced - everything you see today has been re-captured, re-verified, and structured with today's standards in mind.

Here is a 2007 snapshot when the site was starting to feel more complete, but still a work in progress:
slotsonfire.com (2007)

Between 2008 and 2012, I pushed the design further and leaned into a more graphical look. The logo was admittedly not great, but the navigation was clear, and players could find what they needed:
slotsonfire.com (2009)

In 2013, the engineer in me couldn't leave things alone. I modernized the site again with a new layout. While I liked the design, it didn't surface the data as aggressively as earlier versions. The information was there, but it wasn't quite as immediate or obvious.

That 2013 version stayed online all the way until October 2025. At that point, I began the major overhaul that led to the version you're looking at today—built around clear, up-front data about which slots players are actually enjoying.

Other Player-Focused Projects

Alongside my slots projects, I also built a bonus-focused site called Casino Bonus Farm. It started in 2004 in a very early form, then ran through to about mid-2014.
casinobonusfarm.com (2004)

One of the more infamous moments from that era was Hype Casino—the brand that launched loudly and then disappeared, leaving players with stuck balances. I helped a few of those players get paid, but many others (especially those who weren't linked through my sites) never recovered their funds.
casinobonusfarm.com (2013)

Affiliate Advocacy: Building AffiliateGuardDog

Around 2006, I noticed a worrying trend: affiliate programs were changing their Terms and Conditions after affiliates signed up, often in ways that reduced or removed commissions. Some changes were subtle, like adding negative carryover or new admin fees, but the impact on long-term affiliates was huge.

To bring more transparency to those changes, I created AffiliateGuardDog, a site focused on monitoring and tracking affiliate program terms and flagging "rogue" or predatory clauses.
affiliateguarddog.com (2006)

I worked closely with a core group of influential affiliates like Bonustreak, Engineer, and Dominique - people who ran large websites and dealt with a wide range of programs. Together we pushed for clearer, fairer contracts and tried to keep affiliates informed.

The site grew quickly, and I ended up speaking at an industry conference as an affiliate advocate. I wouldn't claim it was the best talk ever delivered, but I showed up and pushed the message that affiliates deserved fair terms and transparency.

By 2011, AffiliateGuardDog had grown into a much more complete resource. I added services like translation (before automatic translation was standard) and a payment tracker so affiliates could see which programs were paying reliably and on time.

By 2018, before I sold the site, AffiliateGuardDog had reached its final iteration under my ownership:

I do miss the advocacy side of things, but with young kids and a demanding schedule, I couldn't manage the day-to-day work at the level affiliates deserved. Selling the site was a hard decision, but the right one for my family and my work-life balance. I'm happy to see that AGD is still active today with a strong team and a very engaged community of affiliates.

What Is Happening Today?

In 2025, I decided to completely revamp SlotsOnFire.com and bring it up to the standards I'd want as a player. The goal is to build a comprehensive, actively maintained database of online slots: release dates, features, reel mechanics, bonus types, and more.

Slots have changed dramatically since the early days of this site. We now have cascading reels, bonus buys, multiple layered bonus rounds, more complex reel formats, and a huge variety of themes and volatility options. The tech has caught up, and slots can genuinely be fun and creative again.

This time, my family is involved. My wife brings a marketing background that helps shape how we present the information. My kids provide a newer player's perspective on what matters and what doesn't. Together, the four of us are working to make SlotsOnFire.com a site that feels simple to navigate but deep enough for players who want details.

And, most importantly: please treat slots as entertainment only. Never play beyond your entertainment budget. These are games— engaging, flashy, and fun—but still just games.