Internet Slot Machine
Oh, internet. Oh Portomaso Gaming. Those left field purveyors of oddball video slots have done it again, coming up with a game that looks like nothing else out there.
OK, so that’s perhaps a slight exaggeration: you’ve certainly seen 5-reel slots that look suspiciously like this effort, but thematically, make no mistake, this one’s a real curveball.
Instead of dredging the historical archives in search of heroes to resurrect through the medium of video slots, Portomaso Gaming’s designers appear to have closed their eyes, spun in circles and then built a slot based upon the first object they saw when the room came back into view. That object was a computer and the result is Internet, a 5-reel, 25 line slot that pays homage to the technology that made video slots – plus a myriad of other online activities – possible.
More than Meets the Eye
How to condense something as vast as the internet into a simple online slot? If you’re expecting the icons of social media giants, lolcats, Anonymous and exploitable memes, you’re in for a disappointment.
For licensing and practical purposes, none of the foregoing are represented here. Instead you’ll find a series of symbols that are loosely connected to the internet. It’s a little underwhelming if truth be told, but thankfully there’s more to Internet than meets the eye…
Digital Dosh
With a minimum bet of 0.1 and a maximum of 50, Internet is a flexible game, one that should attract serious and casual players alike. You can make your credits go a long way here or you can go for broke in your quest for a bumper payday.
The game boasts the usual smattering of special symbols that are par for the course in most video slots these days, including wild, scatter and bonus. Before we delve into the symbols to watch out for though, let’s take a moment to appraise the aesthetics of Internet. In truth, it’s something of a mixed bag.
Some symbols, such as Bluetooth and wild, which comes in the form of a WiFi icon, are pretty cool. Others are less slick, lending the game a look that’s reminiscent of the internet terminals you still find at some airports. There’s a whiff of AskJeeves and Beebo about this slot; it’s as if Portomaso Gaming couldn’t decide whether to pay homage to the internet of now or the internet of yore.
The scatter comes in the form of a shopping trolley icon, while the bonus symbol is a slightly clunky looking laptop. The playing card symbols, such as the K, have a pointer overlaid, as if the player is about to click on it using the mouse. There’s also a power button symbol, an @ symbol and a cloud, which presumably represents – yep – the cloud. The reels are laid out against a background of binary 1s and 0s and a series of intertwined cables. This is the backbone of the internet.
Playing Internet on the Internet
The biggest takeaway from Internet is that gaming companies can literally base a slot around anything and people will still play it and review it. Home baking? Transgender rights? Mongolian stamp collecting? No topic is too esoteric, niche or whacky for an enterprising video slots designer to tackle.
Whether you elect to play the game out of curiosity or an itching desire to win some money is your call. Whatever your reasons for playing, rest assured there’s enough here to keep you entertained and remunerated in equal measure.
Portomaso Gaming’s Internet, like the wider internet, can be a rabbit hole at times. You log on looking to while away a spare half an hour and next time you look at your phone it’s 3am and you’re surrounded by empty cans and pizza boxes. What happened? Who knows, but if the multitude of coins sitting in your account are anything to go by, you had a blast.
The sound effects are pretty basic, much like the graphics, but Internet has enough quirks and features about it to keep you coming back for more. Score 3, 4 or 5 symbols in a line, using the wild symbol to help you out when required. Depending on the symbols you’ve matched, the payout can be anywhere from 2 to 250 coins. Land 3, 4 or 5 scatter symbols anywhere in view to activate free spins.
Select max bet if you’re a reckless daredevil, or select the minimum bet and play cautiously. It’s your Internet: use and abuse it as you see fit.
