The Barstool Sportsbook and Casino app offers a large collection of games, but because of this, users often have trouble finding specific games tucked within various collection pages. In this project, I designed a dynamic search feature for mobile and web that:

• Streamlined app navigation by reducing number of clicks to launch a game
• Encouraged the discovery of new games by suggesting similar games in search results
• Surfaced game thumbnail artwork to help users identify games more effectively

Prior to the search feature, users had to go through these steps to find a specific Casino game:

1. Find the corresponding category header in the lobby (Slots, Blackjack, Roulette, Poker, etc)
2. Click into the category page to see all games within in the collection
   
3. Scroll through the alphabetically-ordered page to locate the game

Naturally this process caused a lot of friction for users who just wanted to find and play their favorite games. Our primary goal with Casino search was to streamline this process by minimizing the amount of mental load on users and providing an intuitive navigation experience within the Casino.

In the ideation and wireframing phase, some ideas I explored were:

• Recently searched
• Autocomplete suggested terms
  
• Search results dropdown directly within Casino lobby
• Filtering search results with additional category tabs

Mobile

These are the final designs I landed on for mobile.

• When clicking into the search bar, it shows games that have been recently launched as opposed to recently searched terms, which reduces clutter in "recently searched" history if the search term didn't end up in a game the user was looking for
  
• As the user types in their query, the results dynamically populate with relevant game tiles for a quicker and more responsive experience
• Search results are displayed in the form of tiles rather than lines of text, which helps users identify games based on their thumbnail art
• If no matches are found, featured games are still suggested to the user to aid in new game discoverability so it doesn't feel like a dead end

Web Browser

The main difference in the designs for the web client is the location of the search bar. Since game tiles can only be displayed in the content region (white area) below the site navigation UI, I placed an expandable search bar in line with the collection tabs. This allows the game results to override the game tiles from other collections when search is active.

Casino Search provides a visual and dynamic way for users to launch any games offered in the Barstool Casino. It also allows them to quickly access their favorite games and encourages them to try new games they might like. Eventually I would like to have one app-wide search feature to create more cohesion and cross-sell opportunities between Sportsbook and Casino, but based on the current set of constraints, the feature does its job well.