The Island Hopper slot game is another one of the machines you can find at English Harbour, or probably any of the OddsOn/Vegas Technology driven casinos, like SuperSlots, Silver Dollar, or Caribbean Gold.

There are a handful of symbols on the machine, including bars (single, double, and triple), blue 7’s, planes and “gold wings”, like those badges or medals you’d see on a pilot.

There are also a handful of symbols that aren’t involved in any winning combinations. On the first reel you’ll find the “SuperSlots” symbol, the middle reel has “English Harbour” symbols on it, and the far right reel has symbols for the “Silver Dolllar” online casino. While pretty, none of these are worth a thing. Even if you land three “casino” symbols in a row.

Speaking of landing winners, this is a classic slot, in the sense that the only place you can land a winner is right across the middle of the three reels.

You can play up to three coins at a time, and of course vary the size of those coins. i took a good look at the payouts table, and most of the payouts are completely unaffected by the number of coins you are wagering. and, that’s a lot different from most slots.

on most slot games, if you play one coins, the low payout on the game might be one or two coins. let’s say it’s 2 coins. if you wager 2 coins, the low payout would increase to 4 coins. and if you wager 3 coins, the low payout increases to six coins. pretty much the low payout is 2 times the number of coins you wager.

on the island hoppers slot, the payouts are a set number. not a set formula. so on this game, low payout is 5 coins for three “any bars” across the center. if you wager 1 coin and land the “any bars” winner, you get 5 coins as a payout. if you wager 2 coins, and hit the “any bars” winner, you get . . . 5 coins. and if you wager 3 coins and hit the “any bars” winner, you get . . . 5 coins.

that’s a big difference!

the real payoff for wagering more coins is often found in the big winning combinations, the jackpot combos. looking at the payoffs for landing the big winner, 1 coin will get you 1,000. 2 coins will get you 1,500. hmmmm, i’m wagering twice as much, but when i win, i don’t win twice as much? that’s not looking like a good deal for me!

and if you bet max, and hit the jackpot winning combo, you’re wagering 3 coins and win 2,000. that’s betting 3x as much per spin, and only winning 2 times as much when you land the jackpot. ugh!

my piece of advice on this slot game goes against my usual rule of thumb for slot machine play.

Don’t Play Max Bet on the Island Hoppers Machine !

There’s no player advantage to it. in fact, it appears to take away your money more quickly!

i’ll be honest. i’m not liking this machine too much. i’ve gotten in over 500 spins, and i think that’s enough for me. i’m sitting in the top 20 in the tournament, so i may just let this ride and see where i finish in the end. especially since there’s another slot tourney available.

if i get any more playing in today, i’m sure it’ll be in that new tournament on the Malt Shop machine.