Fruit Bonanza Slot Machine Review
If you enjoy simple slots, then Fruit Bonanza from Play N Go is a great example of a video slot mimicking a mechanical one. The theme is bright, with fruit (it has been a long time since I played a slot with a pineapple as a symbol) and 4-leaf clovers on the reels. There are 4 jackpots, including a super-jackpot – which can grow large (this will depend on your casino). For me there is more to this slot than just some mechanical game type nostalgia. Even without the break out bonus games and interruptions which other slots have, this is an entertaining and playable game.
Play N Go has done a great job of recreating the mechanical slots of old. This includes the curve of the reels, and clicks / clunks of the reels stopping and even the shadows at the top of the reels. The shading and colours of the symbols themselves also recreate the mechanical feel. The cheerful electronic music is a little on the irritating side, though this only goes on while the reels are spinning. If you hit the fruit basket symbols (which trigger the jackpots) on the first reels, the others reels speed up and you get the music goes up an octave.
There are no break-out features. This slot does have 4 jackpots and a scatter symbol too. You’ll need to play max coins (5 per line) to win the jackpots, if you play smaller coins you’ll win smaller fixed prizes instead.
Setup and Play for Fruit Bonanza
This is a 9 line slot, and you can choose any number you wish. Note that the super-jackpot involves lining up all the symbols on line 9, so it does make sense to choose them all. The coin value was fixed at 10c on the version I played, with up to 5 coins possible and 9 lines. This make the spin costs range from 50c to $4.50c. You can select auto-play, which lets you choose spins and configure options on when to stop them.
Of the regular symbols, the blue 7 pays the best. This is worth 3500 coins for 5 and 350 for 4 on a line. Next is the bell (2000 coins for 5), horse shoe (1500), clover (1000) and pineapple (800). The strawberry, orange and cherries make up the smaller wins.
Scatters are in play, and let you win a multiple of your total bet. This is up to 400x for 5 anywhere on the reels. The remaining symbol is the basket of fruit (it looks a little like a pipe with fruit bursting out of the end). This is the jackpot symbol and can win you one of the progressives (if you choose max coins), or a big prize if now. To win the super jackpot, you’ll need to line up all 5 of these on the 9th win line. The ‘Bonanza Jackpot’ is for 5 on any line with the smaller jackpots for 4 and 3 on any line.
The cat is the scatter symbol, and can bring you a windfall of 300x your total spin amount if you get 5 anywhere on the reels. 4 will bring a respectable 30x your total bet. 3 or more cats bring you the free spins feature. The final symbol says ‘bonus’, 3 of these will trigger the fortune teller pick-em game.
Fruit Bonanza – Conclusion
This is one for the purists, with only the jackpots really appealing. While I appreciate the careful reproduction of a mechanical slot, it is not really a game that I return to on that basis alone. The chance of a big win and solid lower intensity game-play are the only factors that appeal. If you’d like to see just how well Play N Go recreated a mechanical game, then why not check this game out for yourself.
