Monday, September 19, 2011

Three Kings by IGT

Slot machine name:  Three Kings

Manufacturer: IGT

Slot Type: Video

Lines: 100 lines

Reel dimensions: 5 reels, 4 symbols per reel.

Bonuses: Three progressive free spin bonuses with extra wilds.

Rebranded: No known equivalents

Progressive:  Progressive free spin sets

Author's Rating: 6.5 / 10.







Three Kings is a relatively new offering from IGT which introduces the concept of a progressive free spin meter. The number of free spins per bonus builds up as a player plays. The number of spins for each bonus is displayed on the upper display, while the game itself is played on the lower display.


Players are only eligible for the progressive free spins when playing max bet, generally 125 credits, which includes 100 paylines and 25 credits towards the bonus feature. If a player is not playing max bet, each bonus type will provide ten free spins.


This game pays as usual on each payline, plus scatter pays for lion heads. The game features stacked wild symbols during both bonus games and the regular game.


In order to trigger a bonus, the player must match three of the same color lion heads. Green heads appear on reels 1-3, red heads on reels 2-4, and purple heads on reels 3-5.  Green heads provide the most free plays (starting at 50 when playing max bet), while purple provide the fewest (starting at 12 with max bet.)


When a player triggers bonus spins, lion heads of the triggered color and lower become wild. That is, if a purple bonus is triggered, purple heads become wild. If a red bonus is triggered, red and purple heads become wild. If a green bonus is triggered, all lion heads become wild.


Although enjoyable, this game sucks money away quickly if you aren't lucky enough to trigger a bonus round quickly. Don't bother to play without betting the maximum, as you'll miss out on the extra free spins, which is the whole point of this machine vs. others.


Also, the green and red bonuses are significantly harder to get than the purple bonus. Expect to pump in several hundred dollars if you want to see the green lion heads.



Thursday, September 15, 2011

Kitty Glitter by IGT

Slot machine name:  Kitty Glitter

Manufacturer: IGT

Slot Type: Video

Lines: 30 lines

Reel dimentions: 5 reels, 3 symbols per reel.

Bonuses: Free spins, with additional activated wilds.

Rebranded: Elvira's Secret

Progressive:  No progressive.

Author's Rating: 7 / 10.



Kitty Glitter is a popular video offering from IGT. The base game is a fairly standard video machine, using cats and card symbols 10 through Ace on its reels. The unique portion of the game comes in during the bonus round.


Kitty Glitter's only bonus, the free spins bonus, is triggered when three bonus symbols appear scattered in the play area on any spin. The player is awarded a number of free spins based on the number of bowls in the play area, with a minimum of 15 spins.


The bonus begins with normal spins at normal payoff. However, a new set of icons appears at the top of the screen - one for each cat symbol in the game. Each cat has three diamonds next to it.


During the bonus spins, the diamond appear with increased frequency. For each diamond bowl symbol that stops on the play area, one diamond is filled up next to the leftmost unfilled cat icon. When you fill a set of three diamonds, all future instances of that cat during the bonus spins become wild. This creates a lopsided bonus which will tend to pay off significantly more on later spins than on earlier spins.


The bonus can be re-triggered by getting three or more bonus symbols on one spin during the bonus round.



Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Goldfish 2 / Armada by WMS


Slot machine name:  Goldfish 2 - Armada


Manufacturer: WMS Gaming


Slot Type: Transmissive Reel


Lines: 30 lines. A player must bet all lines on each spin.


Reel dimensions: 5 reels, 3 symbols per reel.


Bonuses: Free spins bonus, plus 5 separate fish bonuses.


Rebranded: None, but shares some mechanics with Goldfish 2 - Mermaid's Wonder.

Progressive:  No progressive.

Author's Rating: 8.5 / 10.


Goldfish 2 - Armada was one of the first two transmissive reel slots put out by WMS gaming, coming out in January 2009. The game remains popular today due to frequently triggering bonuses and a relatively low minimum bet. These are often penny machines, leading to a low 30 cent minimum bet per spin.

In most configurations of this game, each reel has 4 stacked 'armada' ship symbols and two stacked 'wild' symbols. The remainder of the symbols on the reels are not stacked.

Each reel has at least one free spins symbol. In order to win free spins, a player must get at least three of these symbols within the play area. They do not need to be on consecutive reels, or be on a single pay line. Bonus spins are all awarded with a 3x multiplier. The number of spins depends on the number of symbols triggering the bonus:

  • 3 bonus symbols = 12 free spins
  • 4 bonus symbols = 20 free spins
  • 5 bonus symbols = 30 free spins
In addition to the free spins bonus, each spin (including free spins) can trigger a fish bonus. One of five colors of fish will come out and give you a specific prize:

Gold fish: Displays a series of chests. The player picks one of the chests to reveal a number of free spins. After each winning free spin, the goldfish applies a multiplier of up to 10x to that spin. The free bonus spins may also be triggered during this bonus.

Red fish: Displays a number of shells to the player. Each shell contains a symbol from the reels. All symbols except Wild and Bonus symbols are present. The player picks three shells, and those symbols will replaced with wilds on the previous spin.

Purple fish: The purple fish gives a direct credit reward.

Blue fish: The blue fish randomly respins individual reels between 2 and 5 times, and generates a multiplier of 1x to 10x for each respin.

Green fish: Displays a series of chests. Chests contain either keys, each of which will increase the multiplier and generate credits, or a squid or pearl, which generate credits and end the bonus round. At the end, the total credits are multiplied by the multiplier. If the player picked all 7 keys, they automatically win the pearl credits as well.




Welcome Message

Welcome!

The goal of this blog is to provide information about slot machines. Each post will provide the following information:


Slot machine name:  The title or name of the machine.


Manufacturer: The company that manufacturers the machine.


Slot Type: Mechanical Reel, Pure Video, or Transmissive Reel (Which are physical reels with a video overlay)


Lines: The maximum number of lines the machine provides.


Reel dimentions: The number of reels, and the number of symbols spaces in play for each reel at any time.


Bonuses: A list of known bonuses for this game.


Rebranded: If this game shares the same mechanics with another differently named game, but has different artwork, it will be listed here.

Progressive: Whether or not this machine has a progressive payoff. If it does, is it shared with a bank of machines? How many levels are there? How is it won?

Author's Rating: The author's rating of a particular game, independent of whether or not it pays out. How "Fun" the game is to play. This rating is provided out of ten.


Along with the above information, I will provide my thoughts on the game, offer descriptions of bonuses, and any other observations I make about individual games.


I hope you enjoy the site!