Twin Winner Slot Machine
If you’re reading this and you’ve never heard of Novomatic and their games - where have you been living, under a rock? Seriously, this brand feels like it’s been in existence since the Stone Age, delivering retro slot machines that all can appreciate. Twin Winner is one of their vintage slots, and boy oh boy is it vintage. There are no features and literally no glamour. Think of it as the Plain Jane of the slots community.
From what you’ve read, it probably sounds like the picture is bleak, but we promise you that this isn’t the case. Although you’re not getting a high quality game in a visual sense, you’re getting a simplistic experience that can deliver lots of cash, to the right player. Emphasis on the player because Novomatic are renowned for making their games more enjoyable for those that can afford to splash out.
Two for One
You probably didn’t need us to state this, but Twin Winner is a two sets of reels slot machine; when you load it you’ll see two sets of paytables, two lots of controls and two grids. Each grid has 5 paylines and 5 reels, meaning that you get double the trouble and fun for your money. However, there’s something we think you should know, and that’s that you don’t need to play with both reels unless you really want to.
Even though we can see the appeal of having two lots of grids and therefore two lots of chances, it also means you spend more money, and that you can lose more money. That isn’t what we’re a fan of when it comes to online gaming – we like to win or play it safe and try the demo.
Old School Looks
Twin Winner is designed to look like a slot machine that you’d see inside a real life casino, which means that any aspect of a novelty theme has been completely removed from the interface. For us, we like the change, having played so many titles that try and out do one another with the next popular thing. However, for those of you that enjoy seeing how creative a brand can get, you’re going to feel like you’ve been duped. A word of advice: don’t play a Novomatic slot machine if you want flashy graphics, as 9 times out of 10 they don’t provide them.
R&R: Restricted Reels
As we’ve already mentioned, you get two sets of grids here, but what you don’t realise at first is that you only get 4 of the 5-reels rather than the full set. This is because the level of your bet isn’t set high enough, a factor you’ll become aware of if you take a closer look at the paytables. Although they’re crammed together, with some of the images hard to see, the values of each should be readable for most users. There you’ll see that the bet is linked to the reels; you don’t get all of them until you bet at least 10 coins on each grid.
This isn’t an issue as such, but once again it shows that the brand is more in favour of high rollers than they are the average player; 1 coin is valued at 40 credits, and so two lots of 10 coins is going to cost you quite a bit. It shouldn’t break your bank, but most of us won’t want to payout that much, especially when we’re aware of how challenging Novomatic can be. The maximum bet is 800 coins.
When Twinning Isn't Winning
We hate to be party poopers, but it’s likely that you’re going to get tired of playing for minor returns. Having foreseen this happening, we went on the search for other retro themed slot machines, which wasn’t as tough as you might have thought - old games are making a comeback. And when we say comeback, we mean it in a BIG way: you can’t move for all the old school gaming.
If you’re liking the aesthetic of this slot machine, we’d say that you’re bound to like the design of Bell of Fortune, created by Play’N Go, another brand that’s been around for some time. They too know exactly what retro stylings entail, and so they go that extra mile to make it all about the gameplay rather than the graphics. That being said, there’s clear contrasts between the two, with Bell of Fortune having only 3-reels and just one set of them rather than two. Then you have a much smaller paytable, with less impressive payouts.
Too Much Trouble
In our humble opinion, Twin Winner is more trouble than it’s worth. Despite the fact that there’s fun to be had with two lots of symbols, we found the interface wasn’t friendly, nor was it easy to navigate; we don’t like being confused when we game. This is one for die hard fans out there, and so if you’re just browsing, we’d say go for a brand that lives more in the now, like Microgaming.
