Coyote Queen Slots
Native American theming has been popular for some time in the slot machine world, particularly (and naturally) in the United States. The most famous example of this may be the legendary Wolf Run machine, but gaming is filled with such titles, even if the connection to actual indigenous culture may be vague at best.
At G2E 2015, Aristrocrat showed off a pair of new games that fit right into this category: the Coyote Queen machines. These two slots are very similar, but have slightly different presentation and gameplay, allowing them to appeal to various player types. And with some fun bonuses and the unique formatting that Aristocrat is known for, there may be plenty of players out there who are willing to give these titles a try.
The Prowl
Let’s start by looking at Coyote Queen: The Prowl. This is a six-reel game with a golden/amber color scheme and plenty of native iconography. The goal is to make lines of identical icons from left to right across the reels. Of course, players are able to match the always-present poker ranks (like jacks and kings), but there are also coyotes, fangs, wolves, and paws that can award bigger prizes. Of course, the queen herself is the biggest winner.
There are a couple special symbols and features that should be noted before you play. First, there is a wild symbol (conveniently, it says “wild” on it quite prominently) that can fill in for normal paylines. There is also a free games symbol that will take you into a special feature should you get at least three full stacks covering the reels at the end of any spin.
The great thing about this free games feature is that you have some ability to customize just what it is you get out of this bonus round. You’ll pick between five different versions, each of which gives you a different number of spins, but also comes with a special stacked symbol. For instance, you might want to stack the queen herself for just 7 spins, or you might be willing to take 14 free spins with a less valuable stack. The choice is yours!
The Hunt
In contrast, Coyote Queen: The Hunt features a colder, wintery theme. In this version, you’ll be dealing with a blue, while, and icy theme, though many of the symbols themselves are essentially the game. In fact, it would be easy to look at this title and believe that other than for the wintery theming and a color swap, you’re basically playing the same game.
However, there is at least one notable difference. Once again, you’ll need to find three full stacks of the free games symbol in order to get into the bonus round. This game, however, does not give you the options that we saw in The Prowl. Instead, you will immediately be awarded 18 free games – a higher number than in the other version, but with fewer options for customization.
Two Ways to Play One Game
Overall, though, these two versions have more in common than they do in contrast. In that way, it’s better to look at The Prowl and The Hunt as variants on the Coyote Queen game rather than two truly separate and distinct titles.
Of the two, we found the theming and customization in the special feature to be two reasons to prefer The Prowl, but that will mostly come down to taste in the end. Either way, these are attractive looking games with a pretty familiar theme. We don’t think any new ground was broken on these machines, but they are solid and fun titles that are worth a look if you’ve enjoyed similar slots in the past.
