Medium Variance

Oh. My. God! I saw this slot at the ICE show on the Playtech stand in a kiosk and thought “wow”. Coulda played it for ages. And now…it’s come out online exclusively at Bet365! I don’t know where to start LOL. I’m trying to write this and play the damn thing at the same time and it ain’t easy!

Anyway, as slots go, I’m gonna put my rep on the line and say that you won’t see a better slot game come out in 2009! The graphics are stunning, the gameplay smooth, the music is great…the whole thing oozes class, but it’s the gameplay that will ultimately prove whether the Gladiator slot can fight with the best. And it’s good. It’s very good!

There are two bonus rounds, both trigerred by 3 scatters. One is the “Gladiator Bonus” (original name or what?!) and triggerred when the 3 “Wild” Gladiator symbols on reels 2,3 and 4 appear together, while the other is the “Colisseum Bonus” triggered by 3 Colosseum scatter symbols anywhere in view.

You know what? I’m going to finish this review later…this slot is too damn distracting. If you want to check it out, it’s exclusive to Bet365 Casino (No Americans, sorry!).

Now let’s be frank here, there aren’t going to be many people who can afford to bet $500 a spin on an online slot machine! So when you see a screenshot like the one above with a life-changing win of $240,000, that ain’t gonna happen to most of us, right?  Right. I mean can you imagine the adrenaline rush of betting max and pushing the button, then seeing a win like this come in? It would be enough to send most people over the edge, me included. If not emotionally, certainly financially. So my advice…don’t do it!

Anyway, when Intercasino announced this week that they were releasing their King Kong slot machine, it was too good to ignore. I played the King Kong slot in Vegas so had to check this one out to see if it was the same. It’s More…»

Wagerworks, a subsiduary of IGT UK, have just released a new online slot called “Triple Fortune Dragon“, a 243 payline slot with a Japanese theme based on the Land based casino slot game of the same name. I’ve just been playing it at Virgin Casino and am pleased to say it offers something a little different rather than just being a clone of an existing slot as so many new ones are these days. Actually it reminds me of the popular 50 Lions and 50 Dragons slots that you see in Vegas and even more prominently in Macau, although this one doesn’t have stacked wilds like those two do.

When I say 243 paylines (IGT term this “Multiway”), what this essentially means is that a symbol can appear on any reel of the slot and be in a winning combination. With the exception of 9’s and 10’s, you need 3 of any symbol to get a win. To initiate the free spins bonus, you need 3 bonus symbols (or more) on the first 3 reels (as in the screenshot here). The bonus round gives you 15 free spins where all wins More…»

Wagerworks - they who are owned by the world’s largest land-casino based game manufacturer no less - have just added the Las Vegas slot favourite, Wolf Run, to their flash casino software. 

The slot is currently being rolled out to the casinos using Wagerworks software but is already at Virgin Casino (No Americans - read on!) and will no doubt be at my other favourite, Blue Square Casino very soon. For USA players this is a bit of a bummer as US residents are not accepted at Wagerworks powered casinos - sorry, blame your politicians.

That said, if American players want something similar, check out the review of the Cashapilla slot which also has stacked wilds and free spins.

So what’s Wolf Run like?

Well, if you have played the original in Vegas then you shouldn’t be disappointed…the Wolf Run slot online is pretty much identical to the land casino version of Wolfrun, with just a couple of subtle changes to the music. And that’s about it. There was More…»

The Cleopatra slot (and the newer but streakier Cleopatra 2 slot) from Wagerworks is an authentic online emulation of the Las Vegas classic slot of the same name (manufactured by IGT), but with a 95.02% return - somewhat better than your land casino slots. Wagerworks casinos are “instant play” flash casinos that run in your browser and boast some of the top English brand names among their licencees (see list at base of page, or right). Cleopatra is one of the most popular slot games not only at these casinos, but at any online casino and is a 5-reel, 20-payline slot with a free spins bonus round. More…»

Aztec’s Treasure is a popular RTG slot, part of their entertaining “Real Series”. It’s a 20-payline 5-reel slot with a Random Jackpot, expanded wild symbol and free spins bonus.  The wild symbol occurs on reels 2, 3 and 4 only and is 3-symbols deep, so you could end up with all paylines covered, or just one. The slot is medium variance, meaning that there’s a reasonable chance of busting out without a big win or the bonus round. More…»

Aladdin’s Wishes is a low/medium variance (risk) RTG “Real Series” slot - one of 20+ 5-reel slots comprising the Real Series to be found in RTG casino downloads. The Real Series share similar characteristics in that they are mostly 20-paylines (the odd one is 25), 5 reels, have bonus feature rounds (usually triggered by scatters) and each has a Random Jackpot which is awarded, oddly enough, randomly! The bonus is nearly always a free-spins bonus, although in Aladdin, it can vary. More…»

OK…I confess, I love Hitman. I didn’t think I’d see a day where Microgaming came up with a slot that dragged me away from Thunderstruck on a regular basis, but I was wrong. It took 3 years, but finally they did it. That said, it’s had a mixed opinion on the forums - seems like Hitman is a “love it or hate it” slot, but no points for guessing where I lie. It’s medium-high variance, which suits medium/high rollers better, but that’s why I love it: lots of big win potential among the lean spells. More…»

The Goldbeard slot is part of RTG’s thoroughly entertaining “Real Series” slots, of which there are some 20 to check out. It is a 5-reel, 20-payline bonus slot where the bonus comprises between 4 and 24 free spins with a 3x multiplier and “extra wild” symbols during the bonus round. The free spins are triggered by the wild symbol appearing on reels 1 and 5, and they come in blocks of 3, so it is possible to have 3 wilds on each of reels 1 and 5 in view. More…»

Thunderstruck is arguably the most popular online casino slot, has been around since 2004 and has a shade over 95% expected return. It is a 5-reel, 9 payline slot, developed by Microgaming, and is available at all Microgaming powered online casinos, both in the download casino and in the Flash version where available. Interestingly, the Flash version feels “chunkier” and much more playable to me, so I tend to play that version more. More…»