Before you put on your best green in preparation for St Patrick’s Day festivities, sit back and relax as we guide you through a selection of recent slot releases including Peter & Sons’ mediaeval mayhem, Evoplay’s samba-dancing sensation and Blue Guru Games’ Irish heist.
Book of Books – Peter & Sons
With a slot title that the studio suggests was inspired by Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, Peter & Sons’ latest release uses a 5×3 reel setup with 10-paylines and a maximum win of up to x10,000 the player’s stake. This mediaeval game has high volatility with an RTP of 96.1 per cent.
Stuart McCarthy, Head of Product & Programs at Yggdrasil, stated: “Book of Books is a game that we’ve been looking forward to releasing for some time now. Packed with plenty of engaging features, the title sees a classic game mechanic incorporated into the fantastic Peter & Sons art style.
“We’re thrilled that the YG Masters program continues to facilitate excellent game development, and this is another shining example.”
Depending on the number of scatters that land to trigger the free spins, the bonus game mode can be played on a larger reel set.
Landing three scatters will provide seven free spins on the standard 5×3 reel set with 10-paylines, whereas four scatters will run the feature with a 5×4 reel set that has 20-paylines.
If players land five scatters to trigger the game mode, the free spins will be played on a 5×5 reel set with 40-paylines in total.
At the beginning of the bonus game mode, one random paytable symbol is chosen to be enhanced for the duration of the free spins, filling entire reels to increase each spin’s win potential.
Throughout the base game, landing two scatters on a single spin will award one of three power-up features to be saved for when the free spins game mode is activated. These power-ups include additional spins, an additional expanding symbol and x1 or x2 multipliers for the expanding symbols.
Yann Bautista, Business Development Manager at Peter & Sons, added: “Working in the YG Masters initiative allows us to focus on creating incredible gaming experiences, and Book of Books is a fun take on the hugely popular ‘Book of’ game style. We want to produce games that put players first, and we’re confident this will be another strong performing game in our offering.”
Hot Rio Nights – Evoplay
Evoplay’s latest slot has transported players to South America for a hip-swinging carnival party. Using a 5×3 reel board with 10-paylines, this game offers a maximum win of up to x5,178 the player’s stake while using low-high volatility with an RTP of 95.99 per cent.
Ivan Kravchuk, CEO at Evoplay, said: “The release of Hot Rio Nights gives us the opportunity to honour the Carnival festival with both our global and Latin American audience.
“Evoplay’s design and animation team did a terrific job with capturing the magic of the event, transporting players to the famous Brazilian city, and combined with our world-class mechanics, we have a truly exciting slot.”
Brazil flags depict the scatter symbol for Hot Rio Nights. These scatters will always appear in stacks of three symbols on one reel, triggering the free spins feature if three or more scatter stacks appear on the same spin.
As the free spins feature begins, players must choose one of five features to be activated, with each feature deciding which paytable symbol will appear stacked on the reel set for the duration of the game mode.
Selecting the wild to expand in the game mode will provide six, nine or 12 free spins if three, four or five scatter stacks landed on the reels respectively.
Choosing the highest value purple carnival dancer symbols provides eight, 12 or 16 spins and the second-highest value red dancer gives out 10, 15 or 20 spins.
If players choose the third-highest value green dancer, they will receive 12, 18 or 24 free spins, depending on how many scatter stacks landed to activate the game mode.
Players can also choose a mystery feature, which can award anywhere between six and 24 free spins, depending on which random symbol is chosen from the above options.
Leprechaun’s Heist – Blue Guru Games
Celebrate St Paddy’s Day in style with an Irish-themed slot from Blue Guru Games that sees players take part in an Irish-American heist on a 5×5 reel slot with scatter-pays and a maximum win of up to 6,706 the player’s stake. This game has an RTP of 96 per cent with high volatility.
Kristian Hassall, Commercial Manager at Blue Guru, commented: “Leprechaun Heist was created to break the mould on Irish-themed slots. Everyone loves a great heist story, and we wanted to build that narrative into a game that surprises.”
This game has cascading wins, meaning that symbols in a winning combination will disappear after providing their payout, making way for new symbols to drop in and increase the win potential.
Randomly triggered throughout the base game, the reels can spin to reveal a reel set up of 6×6 or 7×7, increasing the player’s chances of landing winning combinations.
Due to these cascading wins, the game’s bonus features are provided for landing a certain amount of consecutive wins on the same spin.
Landing four payout wins on the same spin will provide players with a wild feature, which causes the next cascade to be enhanced by a number of wilds being placed across the board.
Another four wins on that spin will trigger the upgrading symbols feature, turning low and medium value symbols into higher-paying alternatives.
Landing 12 consecutive wins will trigger the symbol transformer feature, which will select a number of symbols to transform them into a different symbol to guarantee another win.
Furthermore, another four wins, 16 in total, will trigger the free spins feature with eight spins awarded to the player.
These consecutive cascade win features will work with the same set-up in the free spins game mode and landing 16 consecutive wins will retrigger the feature with five additional turns.
Symbols can appear with multipliers between x2 and x5 in the free spins feature, to be applied to any winning payouts that they contribute to.
Shelley Hannah, Director of Casino Products at Relax Gaming, added: “We’re proud to launch Leprechaun Heist alongside the Relax Gaming Silver Bullet programme, taking this game to the widest audience possible just in time for St Patrick’s Day.
“Blue Guru Games continue to engage players with original concepts, and we’re thrilled to play a part in that.”
The Race Megaways – Big Time Gaming
Big Time Gaming has returned with another Megaways slot release, this time aiming to pump adrenaline through the veins of its players as it presents a six-reel slot with between two and seven rows, 117,649 ways to win and a maximum win of up to x24,070 the player’s stake.
Gionata La Torre, Chief Executive Officer Europe at Evolution, explained: “This game has it all: adrenaline rush, tension, action, and some truly mind-blowing features. We know our players are going to love The Race Megaways, and we’re delighted that we get to debut another smash hit from BTG.”
As a Megaways title, this game uses cascading wins. This means that symbols in a winning combination will disappear after providing their payout, making way for new symbols to drop in and increase the win potential of an already successful spin.
The game also has an additional bottom horizontal reel, which adds an extra row to reels two, three, four and five.
In the free spins feature, players are taken to a 4×5 reel set where only heart scatters can land on the reels. Players are given three spins to land as many scatters on the board as possible, with each scatter resetting the number of spins to three.
Every heart that drops in will award one life for the free spins feature, with up to 20 hearts available.
When the free spins begin, lives will not be deducted with each spin as only broken heart symbols on the fifth reel can remove lives. These will not land on every spin, guaranteeing that players will gain more free spins than lives.
Once the free spins begin, a win multiplier will appear to the side of the reels, increasing by a value of one with each winning cascade that occurs. This multiplier will not reset in between spins and will stay active for the duration of the game mode.
Nik Robinson, BTG CEO, added: “We’re constantly thinking about new features that will surprise and delight players while pushing the boundaries of what a slot can do. And the sky’s the limit! I really think The Race Megaways represents something new and exhilarating, and that’s why I’m so excited about this launch.”
Super Duper – Booming Games
In the latest release from Booming Games, players are tasked with finding stacked wilds for big wins on a 5×3 reel slot with five-paylines that pay both ways, from left to right and right to left. This game has medium volatility with an RTP of 96.97 per cent.
Moritz Blume, Director of Product at Booming Games, noted: “Not only is Super Duper incredibly fun to play, but it has a standout soundtrack that really adds to the overall player experience. This is a fantastic addition to our growing portfolio, and we look forward to seeing players have a super duper time playing our latest release.”
Wild text symbols are available, substituting for all symbols other than the scatter. These wilds can offer between x1 and x1,000, depending on the number of wilds that land on a winning payline.
Wilds can appear stacked to fill entire reels and can also appear with x3 multipliers to be applied to any wins that the wild contributes to.
Finally, Super Duper text scatters are included, triggering 10 free spins if three or more land on the same spin. These scatters can also provide between x5 and x1,000, depending on how many scatters appear on the same spin.
During the free spins game mode, all wins are multiplied by three while the feature can be re-triggered by landing more scatters on the same free spin.