Flying Circus Video Slot
this the the last of the three new slots coming out from microgaming on the first of november. it is not a departure from the other tow release, being another 20 payline video slot (5 reels).
they may have figured they need to solidfy their line-up of 20 paylines, and maybe add some choices of themes for this line of slots. which is fine. i kindof like the 20 line games, and having a few extra themes means more chances for players to find something they really enjoy.
the Flying Circus slot has a free spin feature. there’s no bonus game feature, so i wonder if that unlocks a little extra in the “pay on regular winning combos” department or not. only some serious gameplay would decide that.
the payouts are on this screenshot . . .
checking out the symbols on the reels, i can almost imagine which ones will “come to life” when the slot lands a winning combo. if they don’t have some animations on the reels of this game come payout time i will definitely be disappointed.
that clown looks like bozo, but, not the bozo the clown i knew. hehe, i don’t want to say sinister, but more like “some bald guy i know with clown makeup on”. maybe that’s the ticket.
there is a wild symbol, and there is a scatter. the scatter unlock the free spins round. the free spins round seems to have been kicked up a notch. you get 25 free spins, which is a lot in my book.
i’ll be testing this one along with the others when they come out. once again, this sneak peek is compliments of roxy palace casino.
Pharaoh’s Tomb Video Slot
Here’s the overview of the upcoming Pharoah’s Tomb Video Slot that will be available from the better microgaming casinos on the first of November. i know that roxy palace will be carrying it.
this is an egyptian themed video slot, that has 5 reels, and 20 different paylines. there is a bonus feature on the slot, and i have a screenshot of that. it’s a pick’em game, involving prizes and sarcofa . . . sarcophag . . . mummy coffins.
from the press release, it looks like there are layers to the bonus game. kindof a find the key and move to the next room thing going on. i’ll undoubtedly play the game when it comes out and have a better understanding of it when i go through it first hand. in the meantime, that sounds like an interesting take for a bonus game.
here’s a look at the slot and its symbols . . .
and the paytables on the machine . . .
and here’s a quick look at the bonus screen . . .
the game has a wild symbol, and a scatter symbol, so there’s likely to be lots of action.
here is how the press release describes the bonus game . . .
“ Once the player has achieved three or more of these colorful gilded beetles across the reels the bonus feature is triggered and a quest for the hidden Pharaoh’s treasure, buried through the ages can begin.
The player moves through a series of 3 vast underground tombs carved from the living rock - each grander than the one before. Each shelters 3 sarcophagi, or massive coffins and the player must find within one of these the key to life - an ankh or key that will open the door to the next tomb.
Every time a key is found, a random reward is received, but even the unsuccessful do not go away empty handed - the trigger bet is doubled as a consolation.
The real significance of the keys lies in opening the path to greater riches in the following tomb until the lucky and successful player arrives in the most richly appointed and rewarding of them all. Here the trigger bet is multiplied by a stunning 100 x to deliver up to 100 000 coins on a maximum bet.”
looks like an interesting game, and the eygptian theme appeals to me. if it has those flashy active symbols on the reels when you land a winner, i’ll be even happier. 
Chocolate Factory Slot is Live
another of the slots that went live at the microgaming casinos recently is the Chocolate Factory slot. this willy wonka”ey” game is a 9 payline video slot (5 reels).
i’ve been test driving this slot at All Jackpots Casino. i mention that because i think that the individual casinos control the coin sizes for most of the slots they carry.
the coin sizes for this game where I’m playing it range from a nickel to $.50 per coin. you can activate all 9 lines, and bet up to 5 coins per line. so, there is a pretty wide range of betting choices per spin.
the symbols on the reels are a mix of goody loving children, and chocolate treats. there is a wild”ish” symbol, the Doctor Chocolate symbol. it will substitute for several of the symbols on the reels, but not for all of them.
there are also scatter symbols on the reels. land 2 or more of them for a winning combination.
besides the scatter and the substitute symbols, there are a pair of symbols that can be used to unlock one of two different bonus games on this slot.
there is both a bon-bon bonus (which allows you to choose chocolates from a box until you uncover the “collect” value). i, of course, hit the bon bon bonus, and uncovered the collect symbol on my very first choice. so, they gave me a consolation prize. oh well, better than nothing i suppose.
the second of the bonus games on the Chocolate Factory slot is the Dunk a Treat Bonus. despite my best efforts, i couldn’t unlock the Dunk-a-Treat game.
fallowing the lead of the latesst microgaming releases, the symbols on the Chocolate Factory slot sometimes spring to life when they are part of a landed winning combination.
while this is not quite the style of slot that strikes my fancy, i do have to say the double bonus screen action, and the livliness of the symbols on a win make it fun to play. i also had a lot of winners during my session, so i’m sure that contributed to the overall fun of the machine 
the first few “dancing symbols” slots were huge payline games, 20 payline plus. it looks like microgaming is filling in the rest of their slots line-up now, and that sounds like a good idea to me. if you enjoy the 9 payline video slots, the Chocolate Factory machine is something you should sample.
What’s Your Sign
i had received a $10 bonus from english harbour and it was sitting in my bonus money account. i know that i can’t use bonus money to pay for a slot tournament entry, i’ve tried that already. so, today, i thought i’d play with that bonus money in the regular area of the casino for a bit.
after a short while, i turned that $10 in bonus money into something around $16 in “regular cash”. i haven’t played with it enough to cash it out, but i did manage to move it over into the “cash” part of my credits from the “bonus” part. and now since it’s been moved, i can use it to enter a slots tournament. woo-hoo!
so, now that i know that little tidbit of casino playing strategy, i’ll be putting it to good use!
the tourney i entered today is called the Libra Slots Tournament. it’s being played on the “What’s Your Sign” machine.
the info on the tourney looks like this:
Entry Fee: $5
Bonus Prizes: $500
Cash Prizes: $2247 so far
Cash to the top 3 players, the lowest of which has 4,700 in credits. the leader in the tourney too the $400 in starting credits and built a $15,000 pile.
Bonus prizes go out to the top 23 players
here’s a screenshot of the What’s Your Sign slot machine . . .
the game itself is a video slot, with a bonus feature that i didn’t hit yet 
there IS a wild symbol, thank goodness. after playing the 5 reel Rags to Riches game without a wild symbol, i realize i really want a wild symbol on my slot games. (it’s the sun symbol).
the rest of the symbols on the reels are take-offs on some different zodiac symbols. at first i didn’t really like them, they were just a bit too, i don’t know, feminine. doesn’t matter though, because when you land a winner the reels come to life with little animations. and i like the animations a lot, so the symbols grew on me quickly.
after just a couple of spins, i climbed up into 12th place in the tourney, so i’m shutting it down for a while. i don’t think i’ll stay there, but i’m going to let some time pass and see where i stand tomorrow, and go from there.
oh, the paylines . . . there are 12 of them. so, it’s a step back from the 20 line machines, but there’s more going on than on the basic 9 payline video slots.
Wheel of Chance - 5 Reel
here’s a screenshot of the game . . .
the game itself is a 20 payline slot. there are, of course, five reels on this version of the slot.
the symbols are nifty, with the letters A, E, I, O, and U on the reels instead of the more common A, K, Q, J and T. hey, any step away from the herd is nice. the rest of the symbols are cars and money, and a few vacation symbols. One is a man in a beach chair with drink, a suitcase and beachball, and a cruise ship symbol.
there is a scatter symbol on the machine, which i guess i could describe as the scatter Vanna White. this symbol also unlocks the free spins function on the machine. 3 or more scatter symbols will trigger a free spin round, and the scatter wins themselves are multiplied. check out the paytable to see what i mean.
there is a wild symbol as well, the diamond symbol.
there is also a bonus round symbol, that appears on the second and fourth paylines. if you land two of them, it will unlock the bonus round, and some spins on the wheel of chance.
the game has some flashy-ness to it. when you land a winning combo, the symbols kindof come to life, like they do on the age of discovery slot machine. i really like it!
while playing the game, i did unlock the bonus screen, so i have a shot of that . . .
while playing the slot, there are a couple of things i found that i appreciate. you can bet any number of paylines by just pressing the number on the screen. the good thing about that is that i can just push the number 15, and play 15 paylines. i don’t need to press the “bet one” button fifteen times!
it also has some autoplay functions. you can do things like set the number of spins, speed up or slow down the time between spins, and set stopping points so you can savor the really nice wins.
here’s a shot of the paytable for the slot . . .
i wish they showed the paylines on the paytable page, like microgaming does, but i guess you can’t have everything.
the bonus game:
it’s a spin on the wheel of chance, which really resembles the wheel of fortune. on the first spin there is nothing but different winning amounts. when the wheel stops, you win whatever is printed on that slice of the wheel.
once you win, you get the chance to keep your winnings, or take a respin. the catch - some of the slices on the wheel have been replaced with black “bust” values, and if you land on them, you lose whatever you may have won previously.
so, there really is a game-within-a-game on this slot, and none of it requires any special knowledge. that, to me, is good fun.
i’ve been playing this game at english harbour. if you’re interested in playing, i suggest you take a spin on this wheel of chance bonus game before heading to the casino. it’ll give you a crack at some extra bonus cash.
Chocolate Factory Slot
Another of the games to be released at the end of September 2006, the Chocolate Factory slot machine is a video slot with 9 paylines. It will be available at microgaming casinos.
the interesting thing about this game is that it has not one, but two separate bonus screen games. this is besides having a wild symbol and a scatter symbol.
one bonus screen is the same kind of “bonus game” that you’ll find on the Age of Discovery slot game. you are presented with a screen of objects, and instead of just picking one, or three, or whatever set amount of them, you can continue choosing them and earning bonus credits until you choose the “stop” symbol.
the second bonus screen is a more common “choose one of the following” type of game. players get a choice between several different candies, and you dunk one in chocolate, revealing the bonus credit amount.
here is a screenshot of the paytable for the game . . .
i’m drawn to the bonus games where you continue choosing until you uncover the select symbol, so i hope to get to ttest this machine as soon as it comes out. at that time i’ll write a player review on it, and let you know more about how the machine stacks up to the rest of the microgaming slots.
in the meantime i thought i’d post this up to let you know that it’s on it’s way!
Golden 8 - Eight Liner at Slotland
the golden 8 machine is one of the first 8 liners i ever found online. playing this game today brings back some memories actually.
when i first started playing slots, the game i played was a 9 reel, 8 payline cherry master. the reels were set up like a tic tac toe board, and the 8 paylines followed suit. you can win up and down, across, or diagonal. simple enough.
but when i first started playing online, i couldn’t find any of these games. in fact, i think most casino software companies still don’t have 8-liners. on the cherry master there was a hold feature, some bonus spins, and a couple of different ways to unlock the bonuses. the golden 8 doesn’t have any of that. but, it is a game i can play from home, and it does have the same layout.
one of the unique things about this machine is that you can wager different amounts on different paylines. so, if you want to bet say, $1.50 on all of the rows, $1 on all of the columns, and nothing on the diagonals, you can!
the coins sizes are stuck in $.50 increments, and go up to $1.50 a spin.
there’s a little “play on your mobile” image that isn’t in the screenshot. i’m guessing there’s a mobile phone version of the game, but i’m clueless when it comes to these things. but, if you’re curious about these things, you might want to look into it.
there are two types of bonuses on this machine. one is the progressive jackpot bonus, and requires the player be playing max coins.
the second bonus is the blue diamonds bonus. every time you land 3 blue diamonds on the screen (doesn’t need to be on a pyaline, or even a winner), it increases the “blue diamond” counter by one. when the counter gets up to six, you get a free spin.
the free spin may be a big winner, or it may be nothing. but, that’s the blue diamond bonus.
this session, i played max bets, you know, hoping for the big winner. and i kept it up until i hit the blue diamond bonus. in the end, i was down a little, but i certainly got to play for while!
anyway, that’s the info on the Golden 8 Slot machine from Slotland.
Witch Doctor Game
this is the fourth of the four new slots that microgaming put out at the end of August. it really works a lot like the nutty squirrel machine.
here’s a quick screenshot of the game . . .
the more important symbols will do some dancing for you. nothing like a dancing witch doctor!
the witch doctor slot machine has the same type of bonus feature as the nutty squirrel. landing three or more scatter symbols unlocks a round of free spins. on the witch doctor game there are 15 free spins, and if you’re lucky enough to land some more scatters you can keep adding more free spins.
also, during the free spins session, the winners are tripled in value. i absolutely had to keep paying until i hit three chickens so i could experience the bonus round. and, it all came out to a wash in the end. the coins i spent waiting for the chickens i got back during the triple-win bonus session. heh, i can live with a 100% payback experience.
you can see from the paytable how the payout lines work for the machine. you’d think with 20 different paylines it’s impossible to not land some kind of winner, but trust me, i can do it. but, that triple-win free spin session can make up for the dry spells.
the coin sizes go down to a penny (at least they do today at All Jackpots), so you can get in five spins for a buck if you’re in test it out mode, or you can up the coin size, and coin number to wager some serious money on each spin.
the payouts in the bonus round are also affected by the number of coins you wagered when you hit the three (or four or five) chickens.
all in all, i’ll give the witch doctor slot machine game a thumbs up.
The Nutty Squirrel Game
this one kind of came out under my radar. when i logged into All Jackpots to see get my chance at playing the Age of Discovery machine, i went right to it without doing much looking around. well, today, i took some time and noticed this brand new 20 line game.
here’s a screenshot of the Nutty Squirrel machine . . .
i was up about $50 in my account (which is where i was when i tried to cash out last time. heh, that’s half a story. i hit cash out, something doesn’t quite go through. i check up on it later, and see all my money (bonus and cashable) sitting in my account, and proceed to play away the cashable part. then, i hit on the tombraider game, getting me back to good, the same $50 i bought in with) . . . . anyway . . . i’m playing pennies, just checking out the new game and these are my thoughts . . .
i like it. the nutty squirrel slot has the same kind of “flashy” graphics that the Age of Discovery machine has. the symbols on the reels sort of come to life sometimes. i like that.
there are 20 paylines on the game, and you can play for as little as a penny per payline, or $.20 a spin with all of the lines active. you can play up to 20 coins (at least where i played), so if you want you can wager some cash on each spin.
there is a wild symbol, which is the nutty squirrel himself. the rest of the symbols are jars of sugar, honey, juice or milk, some woodland creatures dressed in medievil garb, and well, check out the paytable screenshot, they’re all in there.
the big thing is that there are scatter smbols, and they are both a paying combinations when you hit two or more, and they also unlock the bonus round. the bonus round is a series of free spins. and, you can hit a bonus set of free spins, while your free spins are playing, which is what i did. it was great.
the machine came “out of the box” with a kindof slow spin cycle, but i didn’t bother trying to get into expert mode and speeding it up. i actually grew used to it, and really enjoyed it. added a bit of tension in watching the game, instead of the anxiety of trying to get through spin after spin to see if there’s a good winner in there.
i think microgaming is onto something with these new slot games.
Age of Discovery Slot Game
this is the second of the new slots coming out from Microgaming. and, this is the one i’m interested in testing.
there are 5 reels on the machine, so it’s a basic video slot as far as that goes. you’ll find 25 paylines, with a wild symbol and a scatter symbol.
the scatter symbols unlock a bonus round, and here’s where the interesting parts start happening.
instead of choosing an item, or a couple of items and then closing the bonus session, this slot works differently. you can continue to choose items until you uncover a collect symbol. so, if luck (or some psychic skill) is on your side, the bonus game can last and last.
i’ve seen this feature on some slot games before, but not many. at least not many online ones, and none of those had been from microgaming. so, it looks like microgaming is showing some more of their desire to keep improving at every turn by expanding the abilities of their machines. two thumbs up i say.
of course, the bonus screen isn’t the whole game. most of the time spent playing will be watching the reels spin, and hoping for something nice to hit the paylines. so, i’ve included a shot of the paylines for the Age of Discovery machine.
if you look at the bottom you’ll see the layout for the paylines. that’s how you fit 25 paylines into a five reel slot.
when this game goes live, i’m sure i’ll be trying it out. so, i’ll be posting up some more about it later, at the end of the month.