New Game Review

by Frank Legato

Wheel of Fortune Mystery Link

IGT

IGT continues to celebrate this year’s 25th anniversary of its venerable Wheel of Fortune franchise with Mystery Link, available with the inaugural base games of Lucky Pandas and Enchanted Tigers.

The base games are five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slots. Both games are available on the manufacturer’s PeakSlant 49 with Wheel cabinet, which places the familiar bonus wheel above a 49-inch curved monitor.

The engaging, color-rich art package elevates the chance for free games, “moneyball” pointer symbols, and jackpot symbols.

The special Mystery Link feature is triggered when six or more colored pointers land on the screen with either a jackpot name on it or a color-coded question mark.

Each of the five colors relates to a pointer on the five-pointer wheel. When the mystery link is triggered, the number of pointers awarded lights up on the wheel and the player is prompted to spin it. When it stops, the question marks fill in with money values from the corresponding wheel pointer colors.

The player then begins three respins, and each time a pointer symbol lands, the respins reset to three. If all 15 reel positions are filled in at the end of the respins, the digital wheel flips over to reveal a jackpot-only wheel where players are guaranteed to win one of the five jackpots.

Manufacturer: IGT

Platform: PeakSlant 49 with Wheel

Format: Five-reel, 243ways-to-win video slot

Denomination: .01, .02, .05, .10

Max Bet: 150

Top Award: $10,000

Hit Frequency: Approximately 40%

Theoretical Hold: 4.91%-14.91%

Lucky O’Reilly

AGS

This new video slot on the AGS Orion Curve cabinet is part of the Coin Bonanza game family, which utilizes the company’s “Cash on Reels” feature, which places coin symbols bearing credit amounts as reel symbols.

The base game is a five-reel, 50-line video slot featuring a fiveby-five reel array. The main Coin Bonanza bonus is a mystery feature that can appear at the start of any spin in either the primary game or on free spins. The feature drops a random number of Cash on Reels coin symbols to the reel array, and pays the accumulated total of adjacent symbols.

Three, four or five scattered bonus symbols trigger eight, 12 or 20 free games, respectively. Free games can be retriggered.

There are three levels of progressive jackpot, each won with five jackpot symbols on a payline. The Minor progressive resets at $100; the Major, at $800; and the top Grand, $10,000.

Manufacturer: AGS

Platform: Orion Curve

Format: Five-reel, 50-line video slot

Denomination: .01, .02, .05, .10, .25, .50, 1.00

Max Bet: 750

Top Award: Progressive; $10,000 reset

Hit Frequency: 31.9%

Theoretical Hold: 3.33%-14.02%

Fortune Mint Fu Xing Gao Zhao

Konami Gaming

This latest addition to Konami’s Fortune Mint series is presented on the new Dimension 49 cabinet, featuring a 49-inch portrait screen and the improved graphics of the new KXP platform.

The base game is a five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot with a unique multiplying feature. In the primary game, any coin symbol landing on one of the three middle reels changes to a multiplier of 2X, 3X or 10X, applied to any winning combination on the spin, or to a question mark. A question mark coin transforms into either a multiplier or one of three progressive jackpots at the end of the spin.

Multiplier coins also act as wild symbols. If one forms a winning combination, the coin win is again multiplied by the number appearing on the coin. In other words, the win is increased by 4X, 6X or 1,000X.

Each of the three linked progressive jackpots is triggered by any three symbols on spin showing matching jackpot levels—Mini, Major or Maxi. The Mini jackpot resets at 10,000 credits times the denomination; the Major, at 25,000 times the denomination; the top Maxi at 200,000 times the denomination.

Three, four or five scattered drum symbols trigger 10, 15 or 25 free games, respectively. Pays for all wins during free games are doubled.

Manufacturer: Konami Gaming, Inc.

Platform: KXP

Format: Five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot Denomination: .01, .02, .05, .10

Max Bet: 340, 680

Top Award: Progressive; reset at 200,000 credits times denomination

Hit Frequency: 39.78%

Theoretical Hold: 5.93%-14.81%

Lanterns of Destiny

Everi Holdings

This new game series on Everi’s Empire Flex cabinet features frequent wild symbols in the primary game and two different bonus features that can result in multiple jackpots.

There are two inaugural base games, Floating Fortunes and Mystical Evening. Both feature colorful graphics across the Empire Flex 49-inch curved monitor.

The base game is a five-reel, 40-line video slot. Above the four-by-five reel array on the tall curved monitor are floating lanterns that figure both in the primary game and bonus features. On any given primary game spin, a mystery “Wild Lanterns” feature can add up to eight wild symbols to the reels, some with multipliers up to 5X on winning combinations.

Wild Lanterns on primary games accumulate on a meter above the reels until triggering the “Mystery Lantern Pick Bonus.” The player picks five lanterns on the top of the monitor to win credit prizes, one of two static or three progressive jackpots, or additional picks. Because of the extra picks, multiple jackpots can be won in a single feature. The static jackpots are $15 (Mini) and $40 (Minor). The progressives reset at $350 (Major), $1,500 (Grand) and $5,000 (Ultra).

The Free Spins bonus can be particularly lucrative. When the feature is triggered with three or more bonus symbols, the reel array doubles to eight rows high. During the free-spin round, which retriggers frequently, “sticky wilds” are featured—up to 30 wilds, some with multipliers up to 5X, remain in place for the remainder of the feature.

Manufacturer: Everi Holdings

Platform: Empire Flex

Format: Five-reel, 40-line video slot

Denomination: .01 (preferred) through 50.00

Max Bet: 420

Top Award: Progressive; $5,000 reset

Hit Frequency: 29%

Theoretical Hold: 3%-15%