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Tiki Fruits Totem Frenzy video slot by Red Tiger (RTP 95,69%)

July 27, 2021 by HSR Leave a Comment

Tiki Fruits Totem Frenzy Verdict

Tiki Fruits Totem Frenzy is a refreshing follow-up on the original Tiki Fruits game. The theme is nothing spectacular, but well executed. Gameplay is smooth and prevents the base game from feeling like an endless grind on your way to the bonus. Instead, the four sleeping wilds give you a great balance. Taking out the low-paying symbols in the bonus nevertheless gives you a good shot at an impressive win.

Atmosphere: 17/20

Gameplay: 27/30

Math: 23/30

Editor’s discretion: 16/20

Total: 83/100

You should play Tiki Fruits Totem Frenzy if: you like your staycations with a beautiful screensaver and a chance to rake up winnings.

Tiki Fruits Totem Frenzy Key Facts

Lay-out	7*9
Win lines	Clusters
Max win	3,319x
Lowest bet	$0,20
Highest bet	$20
RTP	95,69%
Extras	Sticky Wilds, Cascading Symbols, Free Spins

Theme and Atmosphere

The theme is a non-descript tropical island where Tiki statues sit alongside the game. In the sunny background, a ship sails by, and the soundtrack is like piña colada to your ears. Compared to the original Tiki Fruits game, this sequel received a make-over worthy of a reality tv show.

Gameplay and bonuses

Tiki Fruits Totem Frenzy is a cluster game, which means you’re trying to combine the 63 symbols in view in groups of 5 or more symbols. Bigger groups give you significantly higher wins, and every combination shifts the playing area, because winning symbols disappear.

Four wilds are sleeping in the corners. Creating a winning combination adjacent to these wilds wakes them up, and they’ll act as wild for the remainder of the spin. These wilds also wake up the totems on the side of the screen, which can randomly trigger two extras where symbols disappear from the field. Activating all four wilds triggers the bonus game.

This bonus game gives you 10 (or randomly 15) free spins. The five lower fruit symbols are shown on top of the field, each sporting a meter. Filling the meter (after combining a total of 35 symbols) eliminates the symbol from the bonus game. Ideally, this leaves you with only high-paying symbols, and higher chances to create combinations.

The bonus game isn’t as elusive as with other Red Tiger Gaming slots, but taking away more than one fruit symbol is a lot harder.

Math

The math intuitively feels great. You get enough wins in the base game to not just watch your bankroll drain, while also feeling that a great win is just around the corner. It’s easy to see how the bonus game can trigger a major win, but the game is capped at a ‘measly’ 3,379x and the RTP differs per casino, but never exceeds a lame 95,69%.

Editor’s discretion

Tiki Fruits Totem Frenzy feels like the mini vacation it should have been. A more generous math model (especially RTP and max win) could have improved the game over the long run, but in-game, everything feels balanced and great. Even the background music takes forever to get annoying, which is quite the feat.

Alternative slots

Tiki Fruits Totem Frenzy is the follow-up to Tiki Fruits. The original game looks dated, but still plays well. The theme and cluster pays immediately bring to mind Aloha! by NetEnt.

Golden Glyph 2 video slot by Quickspin (RTP 96,09%)

June 15, 2021 by HSR Leave a Comment

Golden Glyph 2 Verdict

Golden Glyph 2 is a great slot on all accounts. It’s incredibly well-made and balanced, giving you the chance to win big, without giving you the feeling that most players are going through a dry grind to fund the incidental huge win. The extras are plentiful and add a great pace to the slot, while the bonus (and the bonus buy) gives you the chance to get very close to the near 30,000x win.

Atmosphere: 17/20
Gameplay: 26/30
Math: 28/30
Editor’s discretion: 18/20
Total: 89/100

You should play Golden Glyph 2 if: you Egyptian slots and wish cluster slots had more features.

Golden Glyph 2 Key Facts

Lay-out	7*7
Win lines	Clusters
Max win	29,500x
Lowest bet	$0,20
Highest bet	$100
RTP	96,09%
Extras	Free Spins, Extra wilds, Multiplying Wilds, Bonus Buy, Cascading Symbols, Mega Wild, Sticky Wilds

Theme and Atmosphere

It’s hard to put the Egyptian theme into a new perspective, but Golden Glyph 2 manages to make the recognizable look fresh. The symbols look great, the slot has a smoothness, and even the background is beautiful. What’s there is executed beautifully, and fans of Egyptian slots can add a new favorite to their list.

Gameplay and bonuses

The base game revolves around the blue globes that are left after a winning combination. Each cluster of five or more symbols leaves such a globe behind. New symbols cascade into view, and the blue globe now works as a wild. Each combination with a blue globe unlocks the next feature displayed under the reels.

There are three types of features that are unlocked once cascading symbols stop triggering new combinations:

A Horus pattern will burn away symbols in view to rearrange the grid and give you extra symbols. There are six different patterns to unlock.
A scarab will fly across the grid and leave between 4-11 wilds.
The giant wild is the last feature you can unlock. This 2*3 symbol guarantees multiple wins.

You can line up all features as long as you keep making combinations with the blue globes.

Aside from these extras, the pyramid symbols give you access to the bonus game. This bonus game uses the same mechanism where you stack features using the blue globes, but adds an important extra feature. You always get a Golden Glyph: a multiplying wild that adds a factor to its multiplier with each combination. If you manage to use all seven features in one spin, the last feature adds a Golden Glyph. You can earn a maximum of four Golden Glyphs; after that, you earn an extra free spin.

Some casinos will offer the bonus buy, where you select how many Golden Glyphs you want to start with. The traditional bonus will cost you 50x, whereas two or three Golden Glyphs go for 150x en 275x respectively.

Nearing the end of the first bought bonus with the number of multiplying wilds maxed out. I wasn’t able to replicate this win in my subsequent bonus buys.

Math

I love the math in Golden Glyph. With a max win of nearly 30,000x and a 96,09% RTP, all bases are covered, but the game feels incredibly balanced on top of that. Big wins always seem possible, and the cascading features you’ll regularly unlock make up for some dry spells.

In my playing session, I won well over 600x in the first bonus round I decided to buy (see screenshot above), but I couldn’t repeat that in any of my other bonus rounds.

Editor’s discretion

Golden Glyph 2 is a great slot. It’s fun to play, it looks amazing, and you can feel the win potential at every spin. The multiplying wilds in the bonus can bring you joy for days.

Alternative slots

Even though it plays very differently, Golden Glyph 2 reminds me of Valley of the Gods (or Valley of the Gods 2). Fans of cluster slots should check out Tome of Madness by Play ‘n Go.

Blue Fortune video slot by Quickspin (RTP 96,57%)

May 25, 2021 by HSR Leave a Comment

Blue Fortune Verdict

Blue Fortune seems to be a Pirates of the Caribbean-inspired underwater pirate slot. The Kraken plays a key role in the re-spin feature, which can land you decent wins in the base game and great wins in the bonus round. Don’t expect features that will break the status-quo in video slots, but a well-crafted and executed slot in an original enough theme.

Atmosphere: 16/20
Gameplay: 20/30
Math: 25/30
Editor’s discretion: 12/20
Total: 73/100

You should play Blue Fortune if: you love mystical underwater pirates and re-spins.

Key Facts

Lay-out	5*3
Win lines	10
Max win	3,111x
Lowest bet	$0,10
Highest bet	$100
RTP	96,57%
Extras	Free Spins, Re-spins, Locked Symbols

Theme and Atmosphere

The theme isn’t new; we’ve seen the Kraken before, and nothing else truly stands out in the graphics or theme. Everything works together to create a recognizable atmosphere that keeps you afloat for a while.

Gameplay and bonuses

The re-spin is at the heart of this slot. This re-spin feature locks symbols from a winning combination and introduces new symbols for the other positions. Each extra symbol gives you an additional (compounding) win and another respin. When no new applicable symbols appear, the re-spin stops, your last win is repeated, and all wins are added up.

Each bonus symbol that appears adds to the meter on the left. When you’ve found three in total, they unlock the bonus round with ten free spins. During these spins, only high-value symbols come by, giving you an additional chance for big wins.

Math

The math works well. According to Quickspin, Blue Fortune has a high volatility, but only when you compare it to other Quickspin slots. The re-spin feature ensures a decent win every once in a while, and the bonus doesn’t take forever to unlock. Especially the bonus can be very volatile. A small downside is the relatively low maximum win of 3,111x.

In my test run, I managed a 300x win after a successful bonus round (seen in the screenshot above). According to Quickspin’s details, that’s pretty rare, though.

Editor’s discretion

Blue Fortune is fine. It’s well-made, but doesn’t have the x-factor.

Alternative slots

Pirate’s Plenty Megaways is a pirate slot with more potential and that x-factor. We’ve discussed a Kraken monsterslot from Thunderkick before which is an alternative, but not worth the detour.

Scroll of Dead video slot by Play ‘n Go (RTP 96,28%)

May 24, 2021 by HSR Leave a Comment

Scroll of Dead Verdict

There’s honestly not that much to say about Scroll of Dead you couldn’t have known from glancing at the slot for a few seconds. The Book of… mechanism is popular for good reason, but fans of the genre quite honestly have more exciting versions than Scroll of Dead to choose from. The only difference between Book of Dead and Scroll of Dead is the sixth reel you unlock for the bonus spins. Other than that, there’s nothing to explain Scroll of Dead’s (undoubtedly short-lived) popularity.

Atmosphere: 10/20
Gameplay: 20/30
Math: 20/30
Editor’s discretion: 8/20
Total: 58/100

You should play Scroll of Dead if: you’re such a fan of Book of… games that you want to make sure you play every single one.

Key Facts

Lay-out	53 and 63
Win lines	1-10
Max win	7,500x
Lowest bet	$0,01
Highest bet	$100
RTP	Maximum of 96.28%
Extras	Free Spins, Book of… mechanism, Free Spins Retrigger, Wild Scatters

Theme and Atmosphere

Play ‘n Go have not only recycled the gameplay, but also used the same symbols you’ll find in any Egyptian slot. The background is a dark tomb. There’s very little else to say about the theme, but it looks fine.

Gameplay and bonuses

The gameplay is as revolutionary as the theme. Adding a sixth reel in the bonus helps you get bigger wins.

Math

The slot may be a copy of a hundred others in theme and gameplay, but the math is solid. It’s easy enough to earn (more) free spins, you’re not going broke in the base game, and the Book of… mechanism in the bonus always gives you a chance for great prices. Nothing wrong here.

Editor’s discretion

Play ‘n Go is one of my favorite developers, because they often find original angles to a slot that they’ll dress up in a spectacular way. Scroll of Dead feels like an assignment they gave a team of interns. After all, the theme and symbols were already there, and the type of game is safe enough. Unless you’re a true fan, there’s no reason to play Scroll of Dead.

Alternative slots

Book of Dead is the ‘original’ from Play ‘n Go and the most solid version. A more daring alternative is Cat Wilde and the Doom of Dead. For an out-there slot, try Book of Shadows by No Limit City.

Primate King video slot by Red Tiger Gaming (RTP 95,66%)

May 17, 2021 by HSR Leave a Comment

Primate King Verdict

Primate King uses a new concept by Red Tiger where you save up for a better playing experience. The more you play, the higher your potential wins. This essentially means you trade the classical free spins bonus for a sticky increasing multiplying wild and a sixth reel that brings you extra wins. It works wonderfully well, and combined with the theme, Primate King will keep you hooked for hours.

Atmosphere: 16/20
Gameplay: 25/30
Math: 25/30
Editor’s discretion: 15/20
Total: 81/100

You should play Primate King if: you’re a patient player and you prefer a high volatility over a free spins bonus.

Key Facts

Lay-out	54 and 64
Win lines	30
Max win	3,800x
Lowest bet	$0,20
Highest bet	$20
RTP	95,66%
Extras	Gameplay Upgrades, Multipliers, Sticky Multipliers, Sticky Wilds, Wild Reels

Theme and Atmosphere

Primate King is essentially a King Kong slot without the license. Thankfully, it doesn’t feel or look cheap. The sounds, visuals, and theme work together like a charm, and all fit into the ‘Adventure Island’ thema. Skulls and gold coins are supplemented with the occasional gorilla roar. It’s no jaw-dropping slot that belongs in the museum of video slots, but a great production nonetheless.

Gameplay and bonuses

The game revolves around five reels and four rows. You combine three or more symbols on up to thirty winlines. The wild helps you here in two different ways. First, it replaces other symbols in a combination, but it also drives the special mechanism in this slot.

Some symbols appear with a gold coin. If you combine the gold coin with a wild, they contribute to the meter that has taken up the place of the sixth reel. There are three milestones to save up for, with each milestone upgrading the wild.

The first upgrade turns the single-symbol wild into a wild reel. Secondly, you receive a random multiplier on every wild reel. The third upgrade is a double whammy: it makes the random multiplier wild reel sticky and replaces the meter with the sixth reel (where only high symbols appear).

This last sticky multiplying wild remains as long as you get winning combinations. Each winning combination adds a factor to the multiplier, creating a chance to create a sequence of increasingly higher wins.

Each upgrade lasts the remainder of your playing session, which means that wins get higher as you play longer. The multiplying sticky wilds essentially take the place of the traditional bonus rounds. There is no such bonus round in Primate King.

primate king video slot sticky multiplying wild reel in action

Math

I’ll be honest, the math model is fascinating to me. You start off with a normal wild, and play towards a sticky multiplying wild reel that keeps increasing with every subsequent win. After a while, wins are higher than when you first start playing. Nevertheless, the game always feels balanced. One downside is the relatively lox max win of 3,800x, especially considering the maximum bet size of $20 per spin.

Editor’s discretion

Primate King is a great slot, which is all the more impressive since not that much happens on the reels. There are no scatters, no bonuses, and you’re just collecting gold coins for improved wilds. Yet the slot still feels thrilling and has big wins scattered throughout to keep you afloat. This isn’t a hit and run slot by any means, but it’s a slot you’ll want to keep playing.

Alternative slots

Pirate’s Plenty Megaways follows a similar pattern where the game gets more rewarding after you’ve played a while. It also offers a great atmosphere.

Phoenix Forge video slot by Pragmatic Play (RTP 96,51%)

May 14, 2021 by HSR Leave a Comment

Phoenix Forge Verdict

Phoenix Forge is driven by the concept of cascading wins, which intuitively feel just a tad too rare. This makes the volatility of Phoenix Forge slightly higher than the 5,000x maximum win would suggest, but perhaps this indicates a sense of realism more than a wonky math model. In the test run, my highest win was a 320x win after 15 free spins. Landing such a big win in the base game proves a lot more difficult, but certainly seems possible. Although nothing is obviously wrong with Phoenix Forge, it didn’t quite captivate as it might have.

Atmosphere: 12/20
Gameplay: 20/30
Math: 17/30
Editor’s discretion: 10/20
Total: 59/100

You should play Phoenix Forge if: you love the chance to build on cascading wins and straight-forward gameplay.

Key Facts

Lay-out	5*3
Win lines	20
Max win	5,000x
Lowest bet	$ 0,20
Highest bet	$ 100
RTP	96,51%
Extras	Multipliers, Cascading Wins, Free Spins, Sticky Multipliers

Theme and Atmosphere

As expected, the mythological phoenix plays a role in this slot, but it might as well have been a dragon or a magical frog. There’s a room full of gold coins in the background, the symbols on the reels are different gems, and the phoenix itself is the scatter symbol. The golden egg is the wild.

Gameplay and bonuses

The gameplay revolves around multipliers that increase with every cascading win. After a winning combination, the ‘winning positions’ get a golden frame and a multiplier, starting with 1x. New symbols fall into place, and subsequent combinations in the same spin up the multiplier by 1. Hence, you need three combinations in the same spot to earn your first real multiplier. After each spin, the multipliers are reset.

Three or more scatters give you access to the free spins. During free spins, multipliers don’t reset, and build with every combination. This allows you to keep increasing the multipliers and reach big wins, especially towards the end of the free spins. Three or more extra scatters earn you another five spins.

Image of the free spins bonus in the Phoenix Forge video slot coming to an end

Math

The cascading wins starting at 1x feel a bit lame, but they build up, and you’re sure to see a big win after a while. You will need the bonus game for a solid win that comes anywhere near the 5,000x maximum.

Editor’s discretion

In a great slot, you feel a big win is always just around the corner. When playing Phoenix Forge, it feels it takes just a bit much to reach a high multiplier. You’ll hit the big wins, but starting with a 1x multiplier feels like it takes the momentum away from the game.

Alternative slots

For a bit more excitement with a phoenix, try Red Tiger Gaming’s Phoenix Fire Power Reels. To experience a classic slot with cascading reels and an increasing multiplier, Gonzo’s Quest is your best bet.