Fortune Bowl Slot
Online casino slot machine players are always hoping for good fortune to be with them, and games developer Vela Gaming have hopefully come up with just the game to answer their prayers, with their Chinese-themed Fortune Bowl video slot being filled with lucky charms, beads and coins, as well as the all-important golden bowl.
It’s a traditionally-styled 5-reel game, that comes with 4 rows of symbols, and instead of conventional paylines, there’s 1,204 ways to win when players line up matching symbol combinations. Symbols can be in any positions on the reels, but as long as there’s a continuous run of a type across 3 or more adjacent reels from the left side, spinners get paid out for a win.
It’s not a new concept, and it tends to bring in frequent winning spins, although consequently the relative value of each is on the low side. There’s still the potential for some reliable and high-value payouts when the right symbols appear however, and it’s a game with a high return to player percentage, plus a couple of bonus features to help maintain interest as the reels spin.
Dipping into the Fortune Bowl
There’s a nice view of a dramatic mountain range looming large behind the game, and a simple red frame surrounds the grey-hued reels themselves. Symbols are in a fairly plain style, but they are clear and colourful.
A bet range that runs from a low limit of just 0.25 per spin right up to a maximum of 250.00 is offered, along with free Fortune Bowl video slots for practicing on. What’s unusual though is the way that players can choose how many reels are fully active and can disable all but the centre of reels 2 to 5, which reduces the stake per spin, along with the chance of lining symbols across adjacent reels. Like all games from Vela Gaming, it’s fully mobile-optimised for use across smartphones and tablet computers.
Simple high card icons 9, 10, J, Q, K and A will pay a range of prizes, from 4x, 20x and 40x the coin value when the 9 lands on 3, 4 or 5 adjacent reels from the left, to 20x, 60x or 120x when the A appears. The unique picture symbols will all pay more, with the lucky coins valued at 40x, 80x or 120x, then there’s a beaded bracelet, apparently called an Agate, some jumping fish and a peach-coloured charm. This is worth 40 coins when landing on just reels 1 and 2, while 3, 4 or 5 of them will pay out 120, 200 or the top award of 400x.
Striking Lucky with Wilds and Scatters
The golden bowl that gives this slot game its name makes an appearance as the wild symbol and while not being worth anything on its own, this is able to act as all but the scatter and help punters to get extra winning lines. It only turns up on the middle 3 reels, but if there’s a gap in a run of matching symbols and the wild is on the right reel, it will complete the sequence and players get paid out for a win.
A green frog statue can stop in any places to pay some big coin wins and also start a free spins bonus game. If 3 frogs are in view, the win will be for 80x the coin value, while 4 or 5 at once will be worth 400x or the best prize of 800x, and once paid for the wins, players are treated to the free games.
It’s no ordinary round though, as any time the wild symbol becomes part of a winning combination, it will multiply the prize by the number of times it appears across the reels. It’s by no means certain that wild substitutions will occur before the bonus games are done though, or if just a single wild appeared, the win is still paid at the basic rate.
The Verdict
While images of good luck are popular topics across many online casino slot machines, Vela Gaming haven’t really exploited the theme. Playing card symbols fill much of the reels, with the picture symbols creating fewer win-lines, but there’s still some moderately interesting twists to the game that make it worth a closer look.
Having 1,024 ways to win across the game makes it easy to land a prize, and while the extra features in the free spins games may be quite limited, at least there’s the chance to grab some decent payouts in this round.
The Fortune Bowl video slot isn’t particularly innovative or unique, but punters who like the theme may want to give it a few spins.
