Sky Rider: Silver Treasures Slot
The Sky Rider: Silver Treasures slot forms part of a dual release from Australian-based slot developer Aristocrat together with Sky Rider: Golden Amulet. It is a 5-reel, 100-payline title and is the first slot to be released under the Max Stacks series of machines. If you know your Aristocrat video slots, you'll know they have come to form a key part of the Aussie developer's portfolio.
SR: ST was released under the E*Series of slots by Aristocrat with a range of other titles including Wonder Wings, The Romance of Fire and Rain, and Pearl Warriors. The game is in great company, therefore, and fans of those "pokies" will know what to expect from this release.
Sky Rider does hold a lot of similarities to its sibling. If you have experience of playing Sky Rider: Golden Amulet you will have a very good idea of what to expect. The theme is identical with just a few changes and the whole feel of the game plays almost exactly the same. Indeed, it almost seems a bit meaningless that they made it a dual release.
Theme
Sky Rider: Silver Treasures takes players into the world of fantasy with dragons and their riders as the focal point. At a time when Game of Thrones is capturing the imagination of television viewers around the world it is easy to see why developers are tapping into this modern obsession. In Sky Rider: Silver Treasures the game revolves around the brunette-haired dragon rider and her purple dragon.
Slot machine developer IGT had huge success with the Dungeons and Dragons titles. It can easily be seen by Aristocrat as a wise move to try and get involved in that market.
The reels are packed full of fantasy imagery with varying coloured dragons, golden compasses, and magic books representing the various symbols on each reel. The Sky Rider symbol represents the Wild and this has the power to substitute for all other symbols, except for the Scatters, to complete any potential winning combinations.
The Scatters come in the form of the dragon medallion and it is those symbols that are the key to unlocking the free games on this slot. The inclusion of the Max Stacks feature means that you will want to keep a close eye on those appearing. There are also the regular 10 through to Ace regular symbols filling up the reels.
Features
As part of a dual release, it is sometimes a bit hit-and-miss as to how different the bonus features are. Some dual-release slot machines might have completely different features which can be a real treat. Sadly, Aristocrat look like they couldn't be bothered and have basically put a different wallpaper on the wall of the bonus features. In Sky Rider: Silver Treasures, you'll find these delights...
Max Stacks – this is the main feature of this slot game and is an innovative feature that has gone on to be included in a number of other titles from Aristocrat. It adds some frenetic action to the base game which is a positive note but it feels a bit of a tease because they do not produce the wins as emphatically as you might expect. Still, if it's a choice between Max Stacks and no Max Stacks then we know what we would rather opt for!
Free Games Feature – this bonus feature can be triggered by hitting three or more Stacks of the dragon medallion Scatters across the reels.
Now, with the Max Stacks feature you might think this would be incredibly simple to do but you are sadly mistaken. This is an Aristocrat slot and the joy is not always that easy to behold. There is the potential for some big wins if luck comes your way but those massive wins are very few and far between.
Once this feature is triggered, you will be taken to a second screen that offers you the opportunity to pick a number of free spins and the symbol you want to make a Max Stacks symbol for the duration of those free spins.
In this version of the Sky Rider game, you can get the Sky Rider logo which comes Stacked for 16 free games, the brunette-haired dragon rider Stacked for 48 free spins, the yellow dragon for 60 free games, the purple dragon for 72 free spins, or a random symbol Stacked for a random number of spins. These are the maximum potential if you hit five Stacks of Scatters to trigger the bonus game.
Summary
Sky Rider: Silver Treasures is a hard slot machine to judge. On its own merit, there is no denying that the game paved the way for future slot machines from Aristocrat that came under the Max Stacks label.
Max Stacks is a cool feature that has worked in its various guises for other developers and this slot does a fair job of creating entertainment to a degree. It could also be argued that Silver Treasures is technically a super-powered version of Golden Amulet: the bumper paylines, a more flexible free games feature, and the feeling that the big wins are easier to come by than in Golden Amulet.
It makes you start to wonder who the hell would want to play Golden Amulet when you can play Silver Treasures!
