Bow Wow Slots
Unlike a lot of three reel slots, Bow Wow is actually a very polished product from the off. The graphics are a nice mixture of hand-drawn and cartoon, with huge eyes on the K9s taking them into the realm of comedy-surrealism, but overall the pictures themselves really quite lovely. There are also plenty of different breeds represented, and very different breeds at that, adding to the feeling that this is as close to Crufts as gambling in your own bedroom is going to get. Probably. Definitely making a great first impression then, let’s get on with the show.
Gun Dog Round
If you’re not familiar with online slot machines, or indeed slot machines in the real world (they work in exactly the same way fundamentally), then let’s begin at the beginning. On the screen you have three reels that can be spun. The aim is to get three of the same kind of dog across the reels. Do this and you’ll win money. It really is as simple as that. Kind of.
The dogs themselves range from the Beagle to what could well be an Akita, Bull Terrier to a Rottweiler, and back again. So there are small guys, medium guys and pretty big guys all involved. These correspond to different values of winnings, with the highest value dog – the Bull Terrier – also valid on three different paylines. Match three on three on you’ll get the top payout. Although what that is exactly is up to you.
Toy Dogs
This is where it really starts to get interesting, and not because traditionally in dog shows this is the bit where you get to see dogs with such tiny legs when they walk it just looks like a blur underneath their bodies. Don’t get too excited, that’s not going to happen here, so let’s move on.
Digressions aside, you can change how much you will win, when you win, by adjusting the size of your bet. In Bow Wow Slots these are preset- 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5. The higher the value you choose the more money you pick up when you match dogs. As this is really on fixed paylines there are no options to alter how many lines are in play, but that’s actually quite a good thing, as we shall see.
Bones for Halftime
The trouble with 45-payline, 5-reel gamblers is that, sometimes, it can all just get a bit much. There’s no difference in what it feels like to play those complex machines, because you’re not remembering the individual paylines, or even what each combination of pictures means in terms of winning. You can’t, there are too many. It’s impossible.
As such, by restricting us to pretty much just the basics of what we need to play, Bow Wow Slots is actually a much stronger game. We feel more involved and, somehow, more in control. There are no bonus rounds to distract, or wilds, or scatters – this is just about lovely drawings of lovely dogs, lovely combinations of three, and lovely, lovely money once you manage to get a match. What could be better?
Woof and Ready
As you will have guessed by now, then, Bow Wow Slots is somewhat divisive. On the one hand, anyone who wishes slots would ‘just get back to being slots’ will probably love it. Yes, the pictures of dogs are cute, but the rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack and stripped back nature makes this feel like bourbon soaked Hound dog stuff, rather than a Toy Poodle.
But then this also means that people who really like games with added, or even hidden, depth, will tire pretty easily. We didn’t though – how can you, after realising that for every match you get to see the dog wag its tail!
