Play Summertime for Free

The aesthetic of the title is quite mixed in truth, for the background translates one set of imagery while the pay table does another. Going off of the background alone, you’d expect to see animated surfers and crashing waves showing up on that matrix, but instead you get fruits, sun and bells. It’s a mix and match theme.

As a result, the overall feel of the game is unpolished and rough around the edges; it’s painful to say, but Merkur doesn’t have an obvious knack for flare. They tend to make playable titles, but often overlook how important the graphics can be. Nonetheless, for those looking to make a few quick bucks, you could do a lot worse than Summertime.

Those familiar with the brand will know the drill by now, but just in case you don’t: there’s always gamble options after the wins. We’ve yet to have seen a Merkur slot that doesn’t offer the card and ladder double or nothings. These extras allow you to increase your volume of cash, but sadly not without extreme difficulty - these rounds may have a so called 50/50 win rate, but you’ll find yourself losing more than winning.

Regardless of whether it’ll have you pulling your hair out or not (we’re now bald), you’ll be able to adapt to the mini rounds with ease, for it’s likely you’ll have come across a similar setup before. Gamers either attempt to guess the colour or suit of a hidden card, or they try to land a higher value on the ladder to the one first chosen.

What is more, there’s also a collect half option that nervous users can take swift advantage of, essentially saving some of their winnings should they unfortunately lose.

Going from the pay table alone, you’ll have no clue about the bonus round other than needing 9 symbols to trigger it, and then the instructions help no further, and so it’s up to us to lend a hand.

The Rewin Feature is a little on the basic side, but as far as a Merkur slot goes, it’s highly creative; rarely do they deviate from free spin bonuses. Gamers will be given the chance to win their winnings again if a Rewin icon is landed, however if you should reveal a Reset button instead, you’ll be given an additional spin in the hope of experiencing the same result. Should you get the Stop widget and the round will end, as we’re sure you’ll have guessed.

There’s not much room to maneuver about with this one, and as such we can’t help but feel that this attempt to create a stronger variance has actually backfired. This round is fun for the first couple of tries, but then it become stale.

This slot machine should be scorching hot to the touch, but instead it’s lukewarm and often wet from occasional showers; Summertime isn’t the summer loving fun we had expected. Not even the Rewin Feature, a bonus that forms a love/hate relationship with players, can save this slot machine from being amateur at best.