Casino Gear - the GambleBox

 

The GambleBox

Admit it- we've all been there. The jackpot finally comes and you get a big payout. You cash the ticket and put all that money in your wallet or purse. You're riding high!

Then the end of the night comes, you go to look at your money, and you're amazed at how little of your win you have left. You gave most or all of it back to the casino.

Well there's a solution for that!  Pick up the Gamblebox Gambling Personal Pocket Cash Drop Lock Box - a simple concept with a great execution. The top of this metal box has a slot to put in your bills, and has a simple key lock on the front to open it. Slide in some bills from your win - any amount you want to "lock in" - and leave the keys at home. You're protecting your winnings from yourself!

The box is black, sleek, and light. It comes with two keys so that you can leave one at home and place a second somewhere else just in case. It even comes with a red velvet bag to prevent scratching.  It's thin enough to slide into a pocket or purse easily.

At only $22.95, it's way cheaper than giving most of your jackpot back to the casino. It's an easy choice to pick one up now!

Zeus II by WMS

Slot machine name:  Zeus II

Manufacturer: WMS

Slot Type: HOT HOT SUPER RESPINS

Lines: 40 lines

Reel dimensions: 5 reels, 4 symbols per reel.

Bonuses: Free spins bonus, with HOT HOT RESPINS feature

Progressive:  No progressive

Author's Rating: 8.0/10

Zeus is one of the older video slot machines to still make regular appearances in casinos today.  Part of WMS's Hot Hot Respins series, Zeus can be a great machine to park at when you're looking for a low volatility game that stretch your money and your time while still offering decent, consistent bonuses. 

There are two high paying symbols.  The "Zeus II" symbol is the highest premium, and always comes stacked in columns of at least four high.  The symbol tends to be somewhat common, and the majority of payback on these machines comes from various sizes of Zeus symbol payouts.

The other less common premium symbol is the pegasus, which comes stacked in groups of two.  Though less common than the Zeus symbol, these can also offer decently large pays.

The bonus is triggered by getting three blue lightning bolt symbols, which appear on the first three reels only. This will grant ten free spins with extra Zeus symbols stacked.

In order to trigger the game's primary feature - the "Hot Hot Super Respin" - you will need to land a full reel of Zeus II symbols on the first reel.  This can happen on any spin, although it's much more common during the bonus feature due to the extra Zeus symbols that are added.

Once you do this, you'll see the Hot Hot Penny mascot pop up, and all Zeus and Wild symbols will lock in place.  Then you will receive two additional free respins, which will continue to lock in place every Zeus and Wild symbol you manage to land.  At the end of the two additional respins, you will be paid once for all line hits.

This single feature is responsible for most of the big wins in this game.  Triggering this tends to be fairly easy, which in turn means that even a full screen of Zeuses or Zeus's plus wilds will only net you between 200x and 400x your original bet, depending on the specific pay tables on the machine.  This is the primary reason the machine's variance is so low.

In conclusion, Zeus is a great machine that you can sit at for a while without too much concern you'll lose your money quickly. You'll likely see plenty of respin features, which is great!  Give it a try the next time you're at your local casino!

Monopoly Jackpot Station

Slot machine name:  Monopoly Jackpot Station

Manufacturer: WMS

Slot Type: Transmissive Reel

Lines: 20 lines

Reel dimensions: 5 reels, 3 symbols per reel.

Bonuses: Free spins bonus, with random multipliers, wild reels, and other goodies

Progressive:  One progressive variant with large jackpot for 5 monopoly symbols across line 1.

Author's Rating: 9.0/10

Jackpot Station is one of many Monopoly based games released by WMS. This particular version is a 5x3 transmissive reel version which features a fairly frequent free spin bonus and a change-to-symbol feature on a five of a kind match of the blank community chest .
The base game features 20 lines. I have seen this game in several denominations, including 1c, 2c, and 5c. In my experience, the base game pays fairly poorly. There are stacked wilds present on each reel, but they are rarely seen unlike many other games.

This game shines in it's fun and frequent bonus round.  The bonus round is triggered by getting three or more scattered bonus symbols in the game area.  This gives the player two dice which they are asked to roll twice.

The player starts on the "Go" space, and moves around the board for each roll. Each property awards a number of spins, with properties further along the board awarding higher amounts. Note that the absolute best starting case you could obtain is rolling a 7 to land on chance, picking "Advance to the next railroad (7 spins), then rolling a 10 to land on another railroad (10 spins) for a total of 17 spins.

Once you have your base spins, the game starts. For each base spin, the player picks one of  5 characters on the screen. The characters are assigned randomly from a pool of 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x, and wild reel.  Not every choice is present on every pick and sometimes symbols might appear multiple times.

Once the player makes their pick, that spin either has the multiple of the player's choosing or the first reel turns to all wilds.

If, during that spin, the player gets TWO or more bonus symbols, they get to roll the dice again for additional free spins with the chosen multiplier.  Example:  I have 10 spins and pick a 5x multiplier.  On that spin, I get 3 of a kind and two more bonus symbols. I get paid for 3 of a kind times 5, then roll again. When I roll, I land on St. Charles place for 3 spins. I now get 3 more spins at 5x. Once those are over, I still have 9 of my base spins left for which I must pick new multipliers.

Due to the fact that only two bonus symbols are required to re-trigger the bonus, bonuses tend to last quite a while.

The other feature in the game is the community chest bonus.  Some of the symbols on the reels are "blank" cards.  Normally they pay nothing and block other combonations. However, if you manage to get 5 of them on a payline then you get a community chest pick, transforming all the blanks into the symbol you choose. Among the choices may be BONUS and WILD symbols. If you manage to get this mini-bonus during the regular bonus and then pick the wild symbol, be prepared for a massive payout.

Jackpot party is a great game.  Most of the pays come from the bonus, but it shouldn't take you to long to hit it.  I'd recommend you give this game a shot!

Buffalo by Aristocrat

Slot machine name:  Buffalo

Manufacturer: Aristocrat

Slot Type: Video Reel

Lines: Reel Power - 1024 ways (4^5)

Reel dimensions: 5 reels, 4 symbols per reel.

Bonuses: Free spins bonus, with multiplier wilds

Progressive:  No progressive variants

Author's Rating: 8.0 / 10.


Buffalo is one of Aristocrat's Xtra Reel Power line, which means that there are no "lines." -  if a symbol appears left to right, then it will be paid.  Technically this is the same as 1024 paylines, but who's counting?

The premium pay symbol is the Buffalo itself - offering 300 coins per way if you manage to get one on each reel.  Because this is every line is a pay line, the amount you win will go up exponentially for each buffalo on the reels.  For example, in the above picture there are 13 buffalo, and the player has won 108 x 300 x 5(for betting 5x the minimum bet) for a total win of $1620.

The free spins bonus in Buffalo is triggered by getting three or more scattered coin symbols. 3 coins awards 8 spins, 4 coins awards 15 spins, and 5 coins awards 20 spins.  

As with many slots, the bonus games are where the real winning potential of Buffalo comes out.  The wild symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4 are replaced with wild multiplier symbols - 2x or 3x.   This significantly increases payout potential as these multipliers can stay with themselves.  If one manages to get all three wilds at once, a win can be multiplied by up to 27x.  Combine this with a few buffalo and you're talking some seriously large pays.

Re-triggering the bonus round is also easier than normal if you're already in the bonus spins.  Only two coins are required to add more - awarding 5 additional spins.

Buffalo is almost always a penny game, though it can occasionally be found with a higher coin in high limit rooms.  Returns can vary between 89% and 94.85% depending on the casino.  Buffalo is a relatively low variance game, so you should be able to play for a while.

Lil' Red by WMS

Slot machine name:  Lil' Red

Manufacturer: WMS

Slot Type: Video / Colossal Reels

Lines: 100 lines (usually 50 credits minimum bet)

Reel dimensions: One reel set 4x5, and one colossal reel set with 12x5

Bonuses: Free spins bonus round

Progressive:  No progressive.

Author's Rating: 9 / 10

Lil' Red is another entry in WMS's Colossal Reels series.  This series is characterized with one 5x4 reel set on the left and one 5x12 reel set on the right. There are stacked wilds, and very long premium pay symbols on the larger "colossal" reel set.

If a player manages to fill a whole column in the left reel set with stacked wilds, then that entire column of wilds transfers over to the 5x12 set of reels on the right also, creating a gigantic 12 wild symbols!

The bonus free spins can be initiated by getting three or more bonus symbols. The symbols appear on reels 1,3, and 5 of both the 5x4 reel set and the 5x12 reel set. A player only needs 3 total bonus symbols to trigger the bonus. That is, you can get one bonus symbol on the 5x4 set and two bonus symbols on the 5x12 set and that would still trigger the bonus.

One different in Lil' Red vs. many other games in the Colossal Reels series is that during the bonus spins, any wilds which a player gets on the 5x4 reel set will nudge to fill that entire reel - and therefore will copy over to the colossal reel set as described above.  However, the tradeoff for this is that pays on the 5x12 reel set are only at 2x vs at 5x on other Colossal games such as Forbidden Dragons.  This creates slightly less volatility than other games in the series.

If you're looking for a moderate volatility game with a decent number of bonus rounds and plenty of premium pay symbols, Lil' Red may be your ticket.

Bier Haus

Slot machine name:  Bier Haus

Manufacturer: WMS

Slot Type: Video / G+ Deluxe 5x4

Lines: 30 lines, 40 lines, and 100 lines

Reel dimensions: 5x4

Bonuses: Free spins bonus round with some locked wilds

Progressive:  Available in stand alone, and major/minor progressive versions. Can also be linked to a "group" game like Leprechaun's Gold.

Author's Rating: 9 / 10


Bier Haus is a favorite slot for many, including myself.  G+ Deluxe machines generally carry a mid-to-high level of variance, and Bier Haus is no exception. However, frequent appearances of wild symbols help to bring the variance down below other G+D variants.

Bier Haus is usually found in 30 or 40 line 1c variants, but can occasionally be found in 100 line 1c or 20 line 5c variants as well.

Bier Haus's main appeal lies in it's bonus round.  The bonus is triggered by getting 5 or more left-to-right waitress symbols.  The symbols usually appear stacked on the reels, so it generally only takes 2 to 3 reels of waitresses to get the required 5 symbols.

5 waitresses will award 5 free spins. For each waitress symbol over 5, you will get an additional 5 spins. (That is, 5 waitresses = 5 spins, 6 = 10 spins, 7 = 15 spins, etc...).  

Waitresses come in two types - green and purple. The majority of waitresses are green, but each bonus trigger generally has at least 1-2 purple ones as well.  The catch is that the purple waitresses turn into locked wild symbols for all of the free spins.

This trigger would award 10 free spins, with the leftmost three purple waitresses turning into locked wilds.

Because of the locked wilds, it is not uncommon to have every spin pay something.  

Retriggers are also possible, which can add even more locked wilds to the screen for the remainder of your spins.

Overall, Bier Haus is a great game - one of the most fun ones I've played.  If you happen to see it in your local casino, I highly recommend you give it a try.

Big Money Show

Slot machine name:  Big Money Show

Manufacturer: WMS

Slot Type: Video / G+ series

Lines: 30 lines 

Reel dimensions: 3x5

Bonuses: Free spins bonus round

Rebranded:  No exact copies, but is part of the G+ series.

Progressive:  No progressive.

Author's Rating: 6 / 10


Big Money Show is one of the entries in WMS's G+ series.  G+ machines are generally known for their moderate volatility, and free spin based bonus rounds.

Big Money Show's bonus round is triggered by getting three or more scattered bonus symbols during regular play.  The player will receive 12 bonus spins regardless of the number of bonus symbols they get.

On each spin during the bonus rounds, a random multiplier between 2x and 5x will be applied to the results.  Some symbols on the 5th reel have a boomerang symbol on top of them in addition to the regular symbol.  If the boomerang appears anywhere on the 5th reel, then the multiplier will be between 4x and 30x instead. In my experience the multiplier averaged around 7x.

The bonus round may be retriggered during the free spins, resulting in 12 additional free spins.