Patrick’s Jackpot Slot
With a name like Patrick’s Jackpot, this online casino slot machine is inevitably yet another Irish-themed game, filled with leprechauns, pots of gold, rainbows and mugs of dark beer. The Patrick’s Jackpot video slot comes from Leander Games, who have taken a cautious approach and made it appeal to the many punters who like the theme and classic symbols. But they have added a few bonus features, such as expanding wilds, free spins where wins are guaranteed, a pick-a-prize round and not one, but two progressive jackpots. In a unique twist, the Celebration jackpot is only won during special events throughout the year
The Leander Games company has bringing out innovative ideas since 2008, and this linked Celebration jackpot is perhaps one of the best. It gives players a chance to land a major prize at Halloween, Christmas, Valentines’ Day, St Patricks Day, or during events like the World Cup. Leander Games is based in Argentina and their range has been made available across desktop and mobile platforms, so can be played on iPhones, iPads and Android phones or Tablets
Lucky Patrick is accompanied by his beautiful leprechaun girlfriend, and like all symbols in this game, they are presented in high quality computer generated graphics. Patrick sways a little as he stands to the left side of the reels, perhaps due to the large mug of beer that he’s holding, but on occasion, he will leap into action and add features to the reels. It’s a good-looking game that has a little Irish jig playing along in the background, just in case you hadn’t grasped the theme yet
When Irish Symbols are Smiling
A high return to player percentage of over 97% ensures that you have a good chance of at least Dublin your money when the symbols line up favourably. As with many online slot games, you will need to see 3 or more of the same type landing across a payline from the left side to win a prize, although Patrick helps out in a number of ways. It’s fully tested by independent labs to guarantee fair play and that results are randomly determined.
Symbols include the traditional high card icons 9 through to A, each of which is richly decorated in a Celtic pattern. Payouts range from 5x, 20x, and 50x the line stake when either the 9 or 10 are seen on 3, 4, or 5 reels, to 15x, 30x, or 100x when the A lands across a line. The beers are worth 20x, 70x, or 200x, while a lucky horseshoe pays up to 250x the line stake. The top-paying symbols only need to be seen on 2 reels, and Patrick is valued from 5x to 500x the line stake, while a leprechaun and giant clover symbol pays the same, while also acting as a wild icon.
This means that it’s able to act as any standard symbol to complete paylines if needed, or to stretch a win-line further across to the right side of the game. Wins with picture symbols are accompanied by little animations, such as a rainbow appearing behind the horseshoe, or the wild clover swaying in the breeze.
Presents from Patrick
That wild clover can grow into a huge plant when Patrick works his leprechaun magic and places expanded wild symbols onto random reels in any spin. This makes it more likely that a winning line will be completed, or even several at once, while any 3 or more pots of gold bonus symbols in any places on reels 2, 3 and 4, will launch a special pick-me feature.
In this round, you simply click on pots, collecting elements that get added to meters at the side of the game. Once 3 elements of the same type have been revealed, you win any prize linked to them and can carry on until either all pots have been picked, or all element meters are filled.
If the free spins symbol stops on reels 1, 2 and 3 at once, 7 bonus games are awarded, and while compared to many slot machines, that’s not many, in this game an expanded clover wild will be added each time, guaranteeing 7 winning spins. We love getting money for nothing and that’s exactly what this round provides, thanks to our friendly leprechaun.
The Jackpots
This game features a standard progressive jackpot that can be won in any spin, along with the unique Celebration prize that has to be claimed by March 17th, which as you probably know, is St Patricks Day. The jackpot then moves across to other events, although all the games in the range still offer the prize year-round.
Betting Options
You can play for real cash wagers as low as 0.20 per spin or raise the stakes to a maximum of 20.00. There’s also free Patrick’s Jackpot video slots provided by Leander games, but if you want to actually win anything, you’re going to have to dig into your own pot of gold and make real bets.
A simple Autoplay function is available, which spins the reels for up tom 100 times, but there are no options to pre-set win or loss limits, so you’re going to have to keep half an eye out on the bankroll as these games play out.
Other Irish Themed slot Games
It seems that you can move for Irish themed online casino slot machines, and it’s quite possibly he most popular subject of them all, perhaps because of the whole ‘Luck of the Irish’ thing. Here’s an interesting bit of history for you – the phrase originated in the gold rush of the American west, when Irish prospectors seemed to be the ones who found the most gold, and punters are still after some of that luck to rub off on them when they spin the reels of themed slots.
To claim your own pot of gold, how about taking a look at the Shamrock ‘n’ Roll video slot from Nektan? It’s a suitably off-beat game that’s packed with leprechaun wild symbols, while free spins are provided, giving punters the chance to claim lots more wins for no more wagers.
The Rainbow Riches slot range from Barcrest have been especially popular for a number of years, and their latest Pick and Mix game is packed with features. There’s a Road to Riches that takes you up a path to some big prizes, pots of gold spinning around a leprechaun that award instant bonuses, a mushroom picking game, up to 30 free spins and giant coins that award huge multipliers.
A Celtic Conundrum?
Fans of the Irish theme are no doubt going to want to give the Patrick’s Jackpot video slot a try, and why not? It’s an attractive game that comes with some pretty good bonus features, with the expanded wilds being a particular highlight that we found quite easy to trigger. Having 7 guaranteed winning free spins is a great reward as well, plus the pick a pot round is certain to end with some coins heading your way.
Is there anything we don’t like about this game? Not really, it’s fair, reliable, mobile optimised and has high quality graphics, making it a great addition to the vast range of slots themed around traditional Irish culture.
