Chief! Slot Machine
Chief! is a fun video slot from Inspired Gaming, that’s unique to William Hill and brings a tribe of cartoon symbols such as tepees, tomahawks, laughing buffalo and the proud Indian Chief himself to the reels. It’s a slot game that’s fully certified as fair, so spinners won’t get scalped by it, and there’s a great return to player percentage, along with some unique bonus features overseen by the various characters who populate the 5 reels. You can be awarded free spins, extra wild symbols, multipliers, mini-games and the chance to trigger these features more frequently with an optional Fortune Bet, which doubles the size of the bonus-triggering Chief symbol.
This great-looking game has 3D graphics and sets the reels against a backdrop of the Wild West, where there’s a mountain to one side, a tepee to the other and the 5x3 reel matrix taking centre stage. 20 paylines run across the game, returning wins whenever 3 or more of the same symbol land across any of them from the left side, helped by the wild symbol if needed.
While Inspired Gaming might not be the best-known casino games developer, this UK-based company has been installing thousands of slots cabinets in land-based sites worldwide for over 15 years, and now has added a string of mobile optimised and online slot games to their bow. They certainly aren’t cowboys either, being licensed and regulated by the UKGC, and trusted to run among other things, the Chinese state lottery.
Way out West
Although playing card symbols J, Q and K will only pay out small prizes when they land across a line, the payoff is that these will appear quite frequently, so you won’t be waiting long before getting a return on your wagers. Wins are multiplied by the line bet and these icons are each valued at 4x, 20x, or 200x when landing on 3, 4, or 5 reels across a payline. The ceremonial drum, crossed tomahawks, and cow skull symbols are all worth 8x, 40x, or 300x, and the tepee pays out 20x, 80x, or 400x.
Smiling buffalo are a fun symbol that’s also worth a high limit of 400x the line bet, while the Chief! game logo will only need to be seen on reels 1 and 2 for a win of 4x, with up to 500x the line bet paid when it’s right across all reels. A special Indian headdress is worth the same but is also a wild symbol that can act as any listed above if needed, helping to complete winning combos either by filling in any gaps in a line, or stretching a win across to the right for a higher prize.
There’s a number of in-reel bonuses awarded, on top of standard line wins. The Wild Winner sees the Chief add extra wild symbols to the screen at random, or you could see a Big Win filling the game with the same symbol for a prize of at least 20x the total stake. You could also see the buffalo stampeding across the game, throwing up clouds of dust and increasing the chance of entry to the main bonus rounds.
Heap big Bonus Rounds
The Chief is a bonus symbol, and if you have activated the Fortune Bet, he’s a pretty big bonus symbol. Anytime 3 or more are in view after a spin, you will be shown a picture of the Chief standing by his tepee and next to an open fire. Within the puffs of smoke coming from the fire, there’s the 4 bonus features from which you pick any of them at will.
If you choose the Buffalo Bucks round, the aim is to pack as many items as you can onto the buffalo, collecting credits with each, until he bucks, or the top level is reached. Items include such unlikely finds as trophies, golden skulls and the Mona Lisa. In the Buffalo Drops game, you need to guide your herd across the river in 2 stages, winning a prize if a single animal survives and a bonus payout if you manage to get them both to the other shore.
A special free spins bonus round can also be chosen, and during the 15 games, any wins made with the help of the wild symbol will be multiplied in value, while in the Boosted Buffalo Spins, any time 2 or more wilds are in the combination, the multipliers will be multiplied together for some fantastic coin rewards.
Betting Options
A simple scrolling sidebar takes you to whatever bet level suits your bankroll, from a low limit of just 0.20 per spin to a maximum wager of 200.00, although there’s also free Chief! video slots provided if you wanted to test things out first.
However, a high return to player ratio and wide bet range means that most players will opt to make real cash stakes and try to spin up real rewards. Those spins can be speeded up with the Auto option, where they can go for up to 100 times without any input, stopping when pre-set win or loss levels are reached.
Going wild for Western Slots
Thanks to the popularity of the topic, the best of the west can be found at online casinos worldwide, with numerous slot machines filling their reels with cowboys, Indians, gold prospectors, Mariachi bands and western belles.
The Dead or Alive video slot from NetEnt is a good example of the type and is in a great 3D effect that makes symbols stand out. A ‘Wanted’ poster is wild, with crossed pistols triggering a free spins bonus game when 3 or more appear. During the 12 free games, there’s sticky wilds and a 2x multiplier applies to each winning combo.
Beautiful gun-toting women star in Pistoleras, which is from the Microgaming stable. These lovely ladies are worth the top prizes, but there’s a bag of cash that triggers a target-shoot bonus game and should you find more Pistoleras girls behind the targets, the rewards can be huge.
Any Reservations About Chief!?
This likeable video slot has a lot in its favour, from the Wild Western theme, to the style of the symbols and even to the Native American-style drums that form the related soundtrack. It’s the multiple bonus rounds that really impress however, with the chance of a feature being triggered with each spin and some great animation to accompany each of them, from the Chief adding wilds to the reels, through to the charging buffalo and the bucking buffalo game which sees priceless objects tossed into the air.
The Inspired Gaming developer seems to live up to their name, releasing slots with inspired designs, features and rewards, with Chief! now added to an already impressive collection.
