Tapatio Slot

While video slots have become the de facto gaming standard, there’s still plenty of room for classic slots that use mechanical reels. These more traditional machines are still quite popular, even if they might look technologically outdated when compared to the latest releases. But what if a machine could offer both kinds of gameplay at the same time?

This appears to be the concept behind Tapatio by Aristocrat. This game uses a unique format that has two video reels along with three mechanical ones, which looks very different than anything else that we’ve seen. While the game still uses a relatively straightforward gameplay style, the format alone is enough to guarantee that this machine will get some attention from players.

Mexican Flavor

The Tapatio video slot is a five reel game that is played over 25 paylines. The name of the game is a Mexican term that refers to people who are from Guadalajara, or anything else that comes from the city – as well as a rather popular brand of hot sauce, which appears to be the direct inspiration for the machine. Unsurprisingly, then, this is a Mexican themed slot, with art and music that supports this idea.

The one bit of oddness is the fact that while the first two reels are fully produced in video, the final three reels are mechanical in nature, with only a video overlay to display payline results. 

Players are tasked with trying to make matches of various symbols from left to right across their paylines. The pay table includes a number of different symbols, including peppers, maracas, bars, sevens, and the titular hot sauce itself. The bottles of sauce offer the highest payouts of all, with five in a row earning gamblers 1,000 coins.

Too Hot to Handle

Remember those high-paying bottles? They also act as scatter symbols, particularly on the first two video reels. If two or more of them appear on the first two reels, the player will be awarded up to five free spins. During these games, any new bottles that appear on those video reels will be locked into place at wild symbols, and can trigger additional free games as well.

There is also a Nacho Bonus symbol. They can trigger a special feature known as the Nacho Pick Bonus. These only appear on the mechanical reels. Hit three or more, and you’ll start to play a pick’em style game in which you’ll have the chance to collect a number of instant coin prizes. In the first two rounds, you’ll pick until you reveal a bottle, at which point you’ll move on to the next phase of the game. In the third and fourth rounds, there's the chance to collect progressively larger rewards, but revealing a “collect” symbol will end the action immediately.

A Saucy Addition

The Tapatio video slot is definitely an oddball. The unique formatting will get it a lot of attention among players looking for something different. Although, it can be a little confusing or disorienting as well. We suspect that a lot of players will avoid it for just that reason: it’s maybe a bit too unusual for gamblers to get into, and it doesn’t have any fantastic distinguishing features that would make this particularly attractive for its gameplay. If you’re a big fan of the hot sauce, then you’ll probably want to give this machine at least one try, but for most other players, there are other Aristocrat titles that you’ll likely have more fun with.