Slot Machines News

That’s the name of one of the new iSlots that are showing up at Rival powered casinos online.  iSlots are pretty eye-catching slot games.  They are a combination slot machine, video story game playing experience.  If that makes any sense.

For instance, the HeavyWeight Gold machine is a 20 payline video style slot game.  Here’s a snapshot of it. . .

It’s obviously a boxing themed slot, with symbols like a barbell, ring referee, and black-eyed characters. It also has a spit bucket and speed bag to help bring home the feel of the gym.

It’s always fun to see what kind of theme they can put on a slot machine next, and the Ring Rat flavor of this take on boxing is fun. 

There are plenty of ways to land a winning combination, and the fact that the machine has an expanding WILD symbol helps.  If you land a WILD symbol, and it helps to complete a payline, the WILD will expand and cover the entire column on the slot.  That helps by potentially completing even more winning combinations.

A lot of modern slots won’t stop at having that one extra feature.  The HeavyWeight Gold game also adds a FREE SPINS symbol to the mix.   Land three or more of the Lovely Ring Girl symbols and you trigger a Free Spins Session that last as long as 100 spins!

The thing about an iSlot that makes it an iSlot is the “interactivity”.  In HeavyWeight Gold, the interactivity comes in the Bonus Round Game - which puts you into the boxing ring.

Every time you unlock a Bonus Round, you’ll be facing off against a different opponent. I started out battling the meek Melvin Meyerstein, and worked my way up to Crusher McKillicuty. My final bout was against the fearsome “Back” Ali Bloodsoe.

After each bout you are scored on

• effectiveness
• accuracy
• defense
• style
• Overall

Of course, the idea is to come out on top in the end . . . .

You can play this slot at . . .

i think i may have set a record for “how long can you go between blog posts?”  I’m not sure, but I know it’s been super-long. 

So, Christmas duties are done, and as a reward I’ve decided to settle into some time at the online casinos as a treat to myself.  Yay ME!!!

As habit has it, the first thing I do is generally check out what’s going on at English Harbour/Superslots.  They always have a slots tournament taking place, and I’m sure with the holidays there would be something big happening.  There is . . .

The “COUNTDOWN TO 2010″ is a bit of a play with the guaranteed prize pool of $201,000.  It’s 100 times better than a $2,010 prize pool. 

Anyway, the tournament is broken into four weeks of action, each on a different machine, and each with its own prize pool.  I’m too late for the first two weeks, but you know how the Christmas season can kindof take up a lot of time. 

They ran “legs” of the tournament on the Dr. Love game and also The Right Prize machine.  This week, between the 14th and the 21st, they’re running a tournament on the “X Marks the Spot” game.  So, it looks like I have a new slot to download!

I took a look at the payouts, and the first thing I noticed is that there is a $5 entry fee for the tourney.  Lol.  I think after all the cash I spent on the holiday I can swing a few $5 bills for myself!

They “only” pay the top 240 or so players, and already there are 890 people involved.  That means someone actually lost.  Over the summer the casino payed out so many places that pretty much every single player placed in the money.  I’m not too shocked that that couldn’t last forever.

It does mean, however, that if you reading this blog and took advantage of those tournaments that you were a very astute online slots player, and my hat is off to you!  Trust me, I keep looking for the good deals

I guess I didn’t realize that it will be a new decade!  That’s kind of a big event, and I think it deserves a slots tournament in honor of it.  So, wish me well on my spins in the big English Harbour “countdown to 2010″ slots tournament.

I’ll put up a review of the machine after I go enjoy a well earned casino visit!

The Rival Powered Casinos have added some new slots to their line up recently.  Among them is the new(ish) Psychedlic Sixties slot machine.

I had a chance to take this slot out for a test drive, from my office chair that is, at the “This is Vegas” online casino. 

The Psychedelic Sixties slot game is an iSlot, which means there are interactive features that you can unlock by landing certain winning combinations.  I LOVE this style of slot machine.  Before I get into the unlockables though, here’s a screenshot of the slot machine itself. 

You can see that there are 20 paylines on this machine.  That’s a lot of ways to land a winning combination, so anyone who loves the five reel video style slots, and likes landing a lot of winners should enjoy this game.

You can wager more than one coins per payline as well.  In fact, you can wager up to 10 coins on each of the paylines.  And speaking of coins, the coin sizes range from a penny ($.01) up to a dime ($.10).  So, you have some power over the wagering, and can set the cost of a spin where you want it.

Now, for the special features . . .

WILD SYMBOL - Of course the Psychedlic Sixties slot has a Wild icon on the reels.  But, it’s a unique Wild Symbol.  For instance, it will only appear on the first three reels.  The Wild Symbol changes when you enter the free spin sessions. 

It becomes an expanding wild symbol, that will take over the entire column when it appears, making it much easier to fill in the holes in a winning combination.  In fact, I managed to hit a BIG winner with the help of the expanding wild symbol while i was taking the Psychedlic 60’s slot for a test drive.

It also acts like a multiplier, so if you make use of one wild symbol you’ll earn a payout.  If you make use of two wild symbols your payout will be multiplied.  Payouts during the free spin sessions have larger multipliers, so the free spins session can really lead to big payouts.

FREE SPINS - there’s a free spin motorcycle symbol on ther reels.  If you manage to land three or more of them, you’ll unlock the free spins session, where all of the winning combinations are multiplied. 

BONUS ROUND - the Psychedlic 60’s slot is an iSlot after all, so we should certainly expect a bonus round of some kind.  The bonus round is actually a “Summer of Love” tour.

Players make stops in 5 different cities around the world, picking up fellow hippies and bonus credits. 

You can take this slot game for a test drive at any of the better Rival Powered Casinos including Slot O Cash and This is Vegas.

Thre third and final session of the big Summer Slots series at Superslots (and English Harbour) is underway. 

during the month of August, players will be taking spins in a tournament that makes use of the “Reel Deel” slot machine at the casinos.  there is $200,000 in prize money up for grabs, and whoever is at the top of the leaderboard when the tournament finishes at the end of August will take home $50,000!

that’s kindof news, but these days there are some pretty high cash tournaments going on at a couple of casinos, so it’s not completely earth-shattering.  what is great, and i may never get tired of smiling at this, is that the way this big name slots tournament is set up, just about everyone should win.

how?

here’s a snapshot of the tourney board from this afternoon, 10 days into the big event.  there are 2008 players who paid the entry fee of $10 to take thier spins.

 the top 1,500 places pay more than $10.  the top 8,000 places pay at least $10. 

well, it’s looking like out of those 2,008 players, 1,500 (or 75% of them!) have made $15 in profit. 

THAT is what’s so amazing about the Summer Slots Series at Superslots and English Harbour. 

and yes, both casinos have inviting sign up bonuses for new players.  you can visit their websites to see what the current bonuses are.  in fact, you should probably do that soon because this is the final leg in the big Summer Slots series and it all comes to a close at the end of the month!

i was on my way to check out the happenings in the third leg of the Summer Slots series at English Harbour (it’s also running at Superslots), and decided to check in on free slots tournament of the day.

today they are running a $0 entry fee tournament on the Funky Chicken slot machine.  and, since i have a little time to play with, and i’ve never played the Funky Chicken slot before, i thought i’d sit down, take some spins and a do a review of the game.

here’s what the reels look like . . .

you can see that the theme of the slot game is a cartoony farm setting.  the symbols on the reels are the basic “Ace through Ten” plus a half dozen characters taken from right off the farm.  before i get into those though, i need to mention that this 5 REEL slot game has a whopping 25 PAYLINES!

that bears repeating - 25 PAYLINES are available on the Funky chicken slot game.  and you can wager anywhere from a penny a line (which means each spin costs a quarter) up to $10 on each payline you activate.  i’m not sure exactly how many people are wagering $250 on each spin, but i suppose there are some pretty big bankrolls out there.

in order to land a winning combination you’ll probably need to line up three symbols in a row.  there are only two symbols that start paying out for “two in a row”, and they are the farmer and the house.  so, that’s how you can stick sooooo many paylines on a slot machine and still not be landing winners every single spin.

FEATURES - the Scarecrow symbol is the WILD symbol on the game.  he’ll help fill in the blanks on any potential winning combination. 

the FUNKY CHICKEN is the other symbol of note on the machine.  he acts as both a scatter symbol, and is the key to unlocking the  free spins session. 

so, if you land two funky Chicken symbols you’ll start earning payouts.  land three or more and you’ve unlocked the Free Spins!

during my time at the machine i managed to unlock a free spins session, and rose to as high as 300th place in the tournament.  but, that was as high as i got - so no money finishes today.

well, the month of June isn’t completely over, but we’re getting very, very close to flipping the calendar.  that means that the first round of the big “Summer Slots” series at English Harbour and Superslots is coming to a close.

So, i decided to check up on things tonight and see how it looks like it is going to wrap up. 

just as a reminder, the first part of the slots tournament has $100,000 in prize money up for grabs.  it takes place during the month of june (the entire month) on the “Right Prize slot machine“.

here’s a screenshot of the “vitals” of the tournament.  pay special attention to the number of players, because that shows how easy it is to make the money in Part One of the Summer Slots tournament at English Harbour.

so, there are 2,139 players in the tournament.  how hard is it to win?  well, there are well over 7,500 places paid out.  so it looks like everyone is a winner!  i knew it though - well, i had a strong feeling that everyone would at least get their money back. 

if you take a look at the next screenshot - the places paid snapshot - you can see that about 3 out of 4 players made a profit.  1,500 players earn $25 or more, while paying a $10 entry fee. 

that makes the Summer Slots tournament at English Harbour about the best deal in online slots that i know about. 

the following people are in position to land the b ig money prizes, with oliver799 looking at a payday of $50,000 by the end of the week if his score holds up as the # 1 slot player in the tournament. 

i’m not in the big money this time around :(  but, another round is starting soon - phase 2 of the Summer Slots tournament will be here in the middle of the week, and i’ll probably be trying my luck again in the next phase.

I’m looking through my email today and I come across this . . .

it turns out that English Harbour casino is having a fit of generosity this weekend.  i’m not sure if this applies to everyone, or how it works in conjunction with thier other bonus offers (they already have a generous welcome bonus set up in place for new players). 

i am sure that i’m not a new player though.  i must be on the list because i moved from one computer - that if it isn’t dead, it’s on life support - to a new computer.  and when i did i visited the casino’s website and downloaded the casino games again.  i’m sure they have me down as being “new” on their email list because of that. 

it doesn’t matter though.  a 200% bonus is nice for those people who may have signed up and played in some of the tournament freerolls and maybe played for fun, but haven’t made a deposit for any real money playing yet.  so, if that’s YOU, and you didn’t get this offer, email customer support at English Harbour and show them this blog post - and tell them you’d like the same treatment

you know how i usually “stumble” into English Harbour (and i know some of you like the sister site - Superslots because you want the same games, but more bonuses).  this time, i knew it was happening.  the summer is bringing a summer-long slots tournament with $700,000 in prize money!

that, is a ton of cash.  and of course it won’t all go to one person, but i’m up for just a share of it.  i don’t need the whole thing.  enough to take care of a house payment and put some lobsters on the grill would do me just fine

So . . . the “Summer Slots Series” comes in four parts.  The first part is a 20 day (June 10th – June 30th) tournament that takes place on the Prize is Right slot machine.  I have that one downloaded already, and have spent some time playing it, but i thought it would be a good time to write a review on it since it is the key to the cash during Part One of this Summer Slots Series.

the Right Prize is a video style slot that is loosely themed on a popular game show.  the features of the machine include . . .

SCATTER SYMBOLS - which isn’t really a surprise on a video slot.  the fun thing about them though is that they are the key to unlcoking a FREE SPINS session.  you’ll need to land three or more scatter symbols.  if you land two scatters, you’ll get credit for a winning combination.

WILD SYMBOL - there is a wild symbol on the reels.  it doesn’t act like a doubling wild, but it does fill in the blanks so to speak to help create winning combinations.

BONUS SYMBOL - is the fast track to unlocking a “pick’em” style bonus game.  You have the opportunity to choose a prize that is either displayed, or one hidden behind a door, depending on which version of the bonus game you unlock. 

it doesn’t really matter though, the idea is the same.  pick a prize from the screen, and you’ll find out what the value of that prize is in slot credits.  so i may pick the grandfather clock and find out it’s worth $25.  i can then try to upgrade my prize by returning it and picking a different prize from the screen.

the trick is, i may pick a prize of lesser value.  so, you really want to think about how much you “ought” to win by unlcoking the bonus game, and be willing to settle for a fair prize amount.  of course if you pick an inexpensive prize the first time out, there’s no reason to hold on to it when there’s a lot better to be had.

once you’ve chosen a prize that you’re satisfied with, keep it and return to the slot game.  it’s that simple!

Here’s a table of the Payouts for the Slot Tournament:

I’m figuring that i’m probably going to be lucky enough to land somewhere in the Top 8,000!! :)  The Summer Slots series is not a free event.  there is an entry fee, of $10.  but, considering they pay out the top 8,000 players a minimum of $10, it looks like it will be an event where everyone gets their money back.  so it’s about as close to being a freeroll as you can get!

if you’re playing at English Harbour for the Summer Slots Series, you might run into me - on the leaderboard

I found a chance to do some slot playing this afternoon, and out of habit i opened up English Harbour to see what was going on.  And this is what i found . . .

the freeroll of the day was being held on the Solomons Mines slot machine.  the fun part, there was just under $4,000 up for grabs.  I think they were paying the top several hundred spots, so it really looked like the very top winners would be getting a decent prize, and lots (and lots) of other players would be landing a little something. 

i was ok with a little something, so i signed up - and paid my $0 entrance fee. 

i didn’t already have that slot machine loaded onto my computer, so i had to back out of the tournament lobby and go the “regular” lobby of the casino to download it.  it’s not that much of a bother, but i figure if i keep mentioning it, sooner or later they’ll change that!! (probably wishful thinking).

here’s a little bit about the Solomon’s Mines online slot machine . . .

it’s a five reel video slot game.  and there are 20 paylines!

the coin size (and you can only play one coin per payline, btw) ranges from a penny to $10 per coin.  i’ll probably never be wagering $10 per line, but i’d imagine that should keep even the highest rollers happy.

i set the coin size to $.25 per line, so each spin was taking $5 out of my tournament credits (i started with $100). 

the symbols on the reels are the basic “card ranks” - Nine through Ace, plus some treasure hunter themed images.  the big ones to look for are the scatter and the wild symbols.

the scatter symbol is a treasure hunter’s Journal, and like all scatters you don’t have to land them in a row on a payline to get credit for a winning combination.

the WILD symbol is the “penelope” symbol.  It only appears on the middle reels (two, three and four), and will substitute for anything but a scatter symbol. 

the Solomon’s Mines slot is a straight forward machine.  there is no bonus game, no free spins session, no doubling wild.  there are a lot of paylines though, so you’ll be spending a lot of time racking up winners on the main screen instead of watching the bankroll drop hoping to unlock the big hit on the bonus game.

it’s a neat game.  pretty basic.  to be honest, i’d probably play other slots at the casino, but this was the tournament game, and i had a good time playing it.  i never got high enough to be in the money in the tournament, but i always had hope, lol!

Rival Gaming, who I already like, is adding to their line up of slot games that have a Progressive Jackpot attached to them. The Money Magic game is the newest slot machine to find it’s way into any of the Rival Powered casinos. And, if you’re looking for the best offer from a casino where you can test drive the Money Magic slot, “This Is Vegas” is the best I’ve found out there.

Here is a screenshot of the slot machine itself . . .

You can see from the snapshot that the slot is a 9 Line Game.  Many of the new slots that come out have more paylines, some as many as twenty-five, so it’s sometimes (well . . .  often) hard to follow the symbols and keep track of the paylines. 

The Money Magic Machine turns the “visual noise” down a notch, so I have a chance to at least try to keep track of the action.  Of course, like all slot machines, even if i don’t spot a winning combination when it lands on an active payline, the machine knows - and i’ll get credit for it!

The coin size is fixed, at a nickel.  So, yes my friends, not only can you find nickel slot machines online, they’re still making more of them!  And while I’m on the coins, you can decide to wager up to 5 coins per payline. 

In fact, if you’re hoping to win the Progressive Jackpot total, you have to be playing all five coins.  Like almost all other Progressive slot machines, the only real strategy is to make sure you unlock a chance to win the jackpot by Playing Max Coins!

The Symbols on the Reels include “magic themed” images.  There is the Magician’s Top hat, and his Lovely Assistant.   There are the usual trick props in the form of a rabbit, a pigeon, and of course a set of cards for the card tricks. 

You’ll also find a few more magical images, and two powerful symbols as well.  There is a levitating woman who is the image on the SCATTER SYMBOL.  The scatter symbol on the Money Magic slot is very simple, you can land scatter symbols anywhere on the reels to create a winning combination.  They do not have to fall on a payline. 

The Scatter on this machine does not unlock any bonus round or additional games.

The last symbol to mention is the most important one - The Jackpot Symbol.  The Jackpot symbol acts as a doubling WILD symbol on the Money Magic slot, so even if you don’t land a full row worth of them, they are powerful symbols that can really help the credits rack up quickly. 

And of course, landing five of them in a row while playing max coins will win you the Progressive Jackpot.

The Money Magic is a traditional five reel, nine payline video style slot machine.  They symbols on the reels come to life in animation when you land a winning combination, and there’s always a chance for the “Big Win” on this game.  So, if those are things you like to see in your favorite slots, visit “This Is Vegas“, or one of the other Rival Powered Casinos to test it out!