Triple Raven Slot Machine
Edgar Allan Poe would be very much surprised to see his poem “The Raven” serving as a theme for a video slot. The famous American writer composed the narrative poem in 1844, telling the story of a talking raven visiting a distraught man who had just been ditched by his love, Lenore. Instead of encouraging the poor soul, the raven goes on to add to the distress. The lovesick man ends the poem with: “And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted—nevermore!”
That is, in short, the story of “The Raven” which has inspired High 5 Games to take on the challenge to produce an exciting video slot. From the Celtic to the Middle Eastern and Hindu cultures, ravens are seen as a bad omen, adding another layer of complexity to the challenge. We shall see whether High 5 Games was able to turn that into good fortune.
Founded in 1995, High 5 Games is a household name on casino floors across the US mainland. The New York-based game studio has produced hit slots such as Golden Goddess, Da Vinci Diamonds and Black Widow. More recent online releases include Silver Enchantress and Lost Kingdom. A unique artistic style and thrilling gameplay with high win potential have been at the center of the developer’s game design since day one.
The Dark Raven Reels
As expected, Triple Raven is a dark affair. Heavy drapes flank the five reels, which are designed to look like the typical meshed windows from Poe’s era. A bust of the poet stands on the left of the reels. The light effects give the impression that the reels are lit by a candle, at the time the most common source of light at night. A seriously eerie soundtrack adds to the pitiful state of the main character.
Triple Raven has seven pay symbols and one special symbol. The first can appear in stacks of up to three symbols high, while the latter can appear up to five symbols high. At the low end are the usual card suits, while the distraught man and his lost love represent the high-value symbols. The raven is the special and top symbol on this game with an extra mechanic. The wild symbol is an intricate tile with the word “Wild” across it, substituting for all symbols except scatters and bonus symbols. Scatters come in the form of a poem book which appears on reels two to four only. Bonus symbols are represented by a golden key that awards players entry to the Nevermore bonus game.
The Raven Numbers and Stats
Triple Raven is a medium-variance video slot with a 3-4-5-4-3-reel format and 720 ways to win. The RTP is set at a rather low 94.90%. Bet sizes start at 0.5 coins and peak at 100 coins. Wins for a single five-of-a-kind range from 0.5x to 1.4x bet. The pays for the raven symbol go up to 50x the bet for a 15 of a kind. The top win in a single spin is well in excess of 5,000x the stake.
The excitement on Triple Raven is provided by wild substitutions, single to triple raven symbols, a free spins round and the Nevermore bonus game with five tiers. The HTML5 format allows the game to be played on desktop, mobile and tablet across all OS platforms.
The Special Raven Symbol
Naturally, the raven plays a central role in the slot. Not only can it appear super stacked up to five symbols high, but it can also land as single, double and triple symbol to award wins of up to 15 of a kind. The payouts range from 0.2x to 50x the bet for a single win combo of four to 15 of a kind. Multiple way wins are awarded when stacked symbols appear on the reels. Any wild symbol substituting for the raven will count as a triple symbol.
The Indefinite Free Spins Feature
Six free spins are triggered when scatters land on reels two, three, and four. A further three free spins are added indefinitely for each occurrence of three scatters during the round. There are no win multipliers or extra features during the free spins.
The Nevermore Bonus Game
Three golden key bonus symbols on reels two, three, and four will activate the Nevermore bonus game. The feature is a pick-and-click game offering three options with increasing volatility and coin wins.
First, players are led to a separate screen where they can select one of three doors painted green, yellow and red, with the latter being the most volatile but also potentially awarding the highest coin wins. Each option has five tiers where players can make one pick to reveal a coin win or a collect symbol. On tier one and five they can choose from three orbs, on tier two and four there are four orbs, and tier three has five orbs. Players can make only one pick on each tier, and if they reveal a coin win, they progress to the next tier.
If they have chosen the green door, they won’t see a collect symbol on tiers one, two, and three. Coin wins range from 0.5x to 50x their stake. The yellow and red door options have no collect symbols on tiers one and two only. Coin wins are now higher, ranging from 0.5x to 100x the bet and 0.5x to 200x the bet respectively.
More Crafty Raven Reels
Ravens have been rather popular on slot reels, albeit mainly as sidekick – as in Immortal Romance or Thunderstruck II, both from Microgaming. Taking a different approach, NetEnt went all out and made the raven the main attraction in Dracula.
The Final Verdict
The new slot from High 5 Games has had one definite impact. It made me read some poetry again, so that’s already a positive. Other than that, it is a video slot with the usual good quality that’s synonymous with this provider, plus graphics and a soundtrack which fit the theme perfectly. However, I am not sure about the win potential as High 5 Games did not disclose the maximum total number of ravens that can land on the reels in a single spin. A full screen of triple symbols would lead to 720 ways of 15 of a kind and a win of 36,000x the stake. I am pretty sure that is not possible, but if it is, then Triple Raven rocks. Even at a lower maximum win, it is still fun to play, especially for those who like the dark theme and eerie soundtrack.
