Fruit Fortune Slot Machine
As the name tells, Fruit Fortune is one more fruity video slot from the leading service provider in the land-based casino market, Novomatic. It seems to be another game in the Novomatic fruity series starring the samejolly joker from Grand Jesterand Jolly Fruits slots. He is back to cause mayhem on the reels with plenty of stacked symbols, Wilds, free spins and a progressive jackpot. Hopefully, he won’t keep all the diamonds to himself! It is playable for free or real money across desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
Theme & Icons
The jester themed online fruit machine is all very traditionally set up and loaded with your standard fruit symbols on plain black reels; lucky red sevens, green, blue and red bars, and two sets of fruits and bells (which are separated as they carry different values).The icons on this slot are stacked, meaning that plenty of them fill up the reels – sometimes even packing the whole screen – making it far easier to make winning combinations of 3, 4 or 5-of-a-kind. The Wild is that mischievous jolly who is also the highest paying symbol (five in a row gives 16,000x your bet) andis also the key to winning the jackpot. He replaces all symbols except for the Scatter and is the only icon who pays out on 2, 3, 4, and 5 of a kind. The other symbols all pay out on 3, 4 and 5. The Scatter is the jester’s precious diamond. It is the second highest paying icon (five of which gets 8000x your bet) and the trigger to the bonus feature.
Gameplay & Features
The free and real money slot has the very popular 5x3 reel layout which is common on most slots today. It’s classified as medium variance, meaning you’ll have winnings every now and then and the amounts will reflect it. The slot has 10 adjustablepay-lines and a rather low RTP 95.00% (how much the slot pays back). I always recommend that you play on all pay-lines for maximum action. It is playable for as little as 4 credits per line and as much as1,000 credits (the credit range may vary from casino to casino). You can adjust your bet to see the value of each symbol in the pay-table.
The online video slot’s bonus feature is activated by three or more diamond Scatters anywhere on the reels. You are awarded 10 free games and plenty of Stacked Wilds (much more than were present in the base game), along with a chance to break the jackpot. Retriggers are also possible if you hit another three or more Scatters, taking your total up to 20 free spins!
Like in Grand Jester, this slot also has a progressive jackpot. The jackpot prize can be yours by filling all 15 positions with Wilds. If you play the maximum bet you will win the entire jackpot. However, the lower the size of your bet, the smaller the size of the jackpot, as it is calculated proportionally.
The gamble feature is also traditional in style with a set of gold steps. It’s a win/lose situation, except on the last gamble-step. Upon clicking the ‘Gamble’ button, your fate is decided. Win and your prize is doubled, lose and you get zilch.
The video slot bears a very close resemblance to the Grand Jester slot; the symbols and gameplay are similar. The difference lies in the games’ Wilds; three Scatters in Grand Jester trigger Wilds which hold for one spin and expand to fill all three positions on the reels. In Fruit Fortune, the symbols in both the base and bonus games are stacked. Furthermore, during the free spins feature, the jolly Wilds are stacked in order to unlock the jackpot.
Summary
It’s another slot with a simple design and straightforward gameplay from the Novomatic team. It’s also quite volatile – at one point I ran out of credits before I could trigger the bonus feature. That said, the bonus feature can be quite lucrative with all those stacked symbols and Wilds. Not to mention, it can easily be retriggered. If you like this kind of gameplay, Novomatic’s classic Book of Ra Deluxe comes close, except it has better graphics and Expanding Wilds in the bonus feature rather than stacked Wilds.
