Sweet Skulls Slots
One of the biggest challenges modern slot game designers face is coming up with a constant new supply of creative new game themes, there simply aren’t enough big movies or official slot tie-ins available to fill a casino on their own and people like variety.
Sweet Skulls seems to be a game borne of this conundrum, it has one of the most maddeningly confused themes we’ve ever come across, part New Orleans Mardi Gras, part candy game, part voodoo, all hosted by femme fatales, despite that, it’s seriously entertaining and somehow it all comes together as one cohesive title.
Outside of the eclectic theme the game also offers huge choice in its gameplay options, with two distinct game modes, selectable volatility in the bonus rounds and three fixed jackpots available at the hit of any spin at any time, it’s loosely the same gameplay as Aristocrats Sky Rider slot, but it feels totally different to play.
Theme & Cabinet
Housed in the Helix cabinet each of these game stations will give the player two distinct game rounds to choose from, the essential difference seems to be that one is hosted by a blonde femme fatale and the other by a brunette, with lighter and darker symbolism on each game accordingly. They aren’t your traditional seductresses mind, these ladies come to the screen decked out in the voodoo face paint of a priestess, yet wear colourful flowers and garlands, incongruous but incredibly fun.
All of the symbols on the games have as much confusing duality as the games theme themselves, you might think that skulls as a central theme would conjure up a dark theme, the truth is far from it as they are full on hippie symbols decorated with hearts and flowers, the other symbols which flesh out the reels are sweet innocent girls, a variety of candies and a sombrero wearing guitarist who also provides the backing music.
The stacks of skull symbols represent the jackpot triggers in the game whilst the wild, which can appear fixed or stacked is the games colourful logo. The only other symbol of note is the magical butterfly which when it appears will transform into a free spin triggering scatter symbol.
Gameplay & Features
As well as a choice of base game theme’s you can also choose your number of fixed paylines on the sweet skull slot game, with either 40 and a max bet of 2.00 credits or 80 and a max bet of 4.00. This doesn’t directly affect the RTP but obviously a max higher bet does grant you a bigger potential win.
Free spins are awarded between 9 and 36, depending on the number of scatters you find on the reels, you can directly affect the volatility of the game by choosing which symbol will appear stacked in the bonus game round. Choosing one of the higher value icons will reduce your amount of spins although you could always go with the mystery selection which in theory could grant you both the highest value symbol (the wild) and the maximum number of free spins.
Whilst the base gameplay is entertaining thanks to the theme and animations it is clearly the free spins round where the pay-out potential lies in this game, outside of that your only chance of a big win is likely to come if you trigger one of the games three jackpots. This is done as with many other Aristocrat titles like Sugar Hits Jackpot by lining up stacked jackpot symbols on the reels, 3, 4 or five stacks granting you each corresponding level of prize.
Summary
Sweet Skulls is fresh, fun and entertaining, it has a unique theme, great gameplay and decent pay-out potential which is a rare combination for a new casino game. Whilst the purely female character hosts may lend itself more to male players, the fun filled style should appeal to many players purely on its own merits.
