Great Tiger Slot
Wildlife themed online slot machines give game designers plenty of scope to add cuddly creatures to the reels, and the Great Tiger video slot from Everi treats punters to photo-realistic images of a turtle, rabbit, monkey and of course, a majestic tiger. It’s got an unusual reel format, with 6 reels in play, while each is 4 symbols high, and winning combinations are made by any 3 or more of the same symbol landing anywhere on adjacent reels from the left side. While we haven’t taken the time to check the figures, Everi says that this equals 4,096 ways to win, so we will take their word for it.
This reel layout changes in a free spins bonus round, where extra wilds are added to the outer ones, and with up to 50 bonus games playing out, there’s hopefully going to be lots of win-lines appearing before the round is over. There’s a standard wild symbol during the base games, and a high-paying scatter coin that pays up to 300x the total stake before the free games commence.
Although the Great Tiger video slot is themed around wildlife, it’s also got a distinct Chinese influence, as the animals chosen are all symbols of good fortune in Asia, while the reels are topped off with a green pagoda roof and we can see a bamboo forest peeking out from behind the main game. Like all slots from the Everi casino games developer, it’s mobile optimised, comes with high returns, which are set at almost 96% and can be trusted to deliver fair results, all determined by Random Number Generator software.
Winning Wildlife
A review of the paytable shows you just how much each of these valuable creatures will pay out when landing on the reels, and while all other standard symbols will need to be on at least 3 adjacent reels, our friendly tiger only has to stop on reels 1 and 2 to pay out 12 coins, while seeing him across all 6 reels is worth the top prize of 240, all accompanied by a little animation of the tiger roaring in celebration.
The turtle, rabbit and monkey will each return maximum wins of 150 coins, 165, or 180 respectively, while the traditional high card symbol 9, 10, J, Q, K and A will bring in the lower-value winning combinations.
Although the firecracker symbol won’t actually pay any prizes on its own, this is the wild symbol and when it’s in the right places it will be able to substitute for all but the lucky coin scatter symbol and help to complete win-lines. If for example, you see the monkey on reels 1 and 3, it wouldn’t be worth anything, but if the wild symbol is anywhere on reel 2, it counts as another monkey and a prize is paid out.
Lucky Coins and Bonus Games
Another traditional symbol of luck in Chinese culture is the golden coin and this is used as a scatter symbol, which pays out some of the top prizes when it’s seen in any 3 or more places, while also triggering the bonus feature.
Just 3 coins are all that’s needed to get a win of 60x the total stake, along with 8 free spins, while 4 coins equals 90x and 12 free games, there’s 150x the bet paid, followed by 25 free spins when 5 coins appear at once and any 6 or more will reward you with a huge 300x, and then 50 bonus games will play out.
Before these begin, fireworks will be launched on reels 1 and 6, rising to the top and placing extra wilds on each. This now gives you 6,400 ways to win across the reels and makes it easier to land winning lines, with the wild on reel 1 being particularly useful. These bonus spins can be retriggered by more coin symbols, to an overall maximum of 99 games.
Betting Options
You can play this game for bets of between 1.00 and 10.00 per spin, and while that upper limit may not sound like much to high rollers, the high returns when you land a series of the same symbol across the reels should see some pretty impressive wins paid out.
Free Great Tiger video slots are available for players who like to get some practice spins in first, although once the 6 reels, and 4,096 ways to win layout is seen, it’s a fairly straightforward game to play.
A few other control options are provided, such as the Auto-spin function which can run for up to 500 times without any intervention needed by players, or there’s a Turbo mode which simply speeds up the reels and will hopefully bring in the wins even faster. If you are playing on an iPhone, iPad, Android or Windows device, the control buttons are re-arranged but all still function in the same ways and there’s no loss of gameplay or features.
Other Tiger-type Slots
The Tiger Treasures video slot from Bally Technologies rewards lucky spinners with bonus treats including a selection of free spins games, where random multipliers are awarded when the wild symbol helps to complete a combination, plus there’s a progressive jackpot that can be paid out after any spin. Tiger Treasures is another game where symbols only have to be seen on adjacent reels in any places, although in this case, there’s 243 ways to win across the 5 reels and 3 rows of symbols.
Jungle Spirit is a slot machine from NetEnt that features some of the best graphics we’ve seen, along with equally stunning bonus rounds. It’s got a rich variety of wild creatures turning up on the reels, including bears, elephants, crocodiles and the tiger, while it’s yet another all ways pays slot that does away with fixed paylines.
Symbols that are part of a winning line can expand across whole reels to create extra combinations, while the bear is a scatter symbol that launches a free spins feature. You can choose anything from just 4 free games, where the potential winnings are very high, through to 20 bonus spins, where there’s more chances to land smaller prizes, while having 1,024 ways to win in the bonus round can lead to extra rewards.
Does Great Tiger earn its Stripes?
There’s enough innovative design and bonus features in this game to make it stand out from the many other wildlife themed online slot games that are available. The 6-reel layout and 4,096 ways to win are obvious points of difference, but the way that extra wilds are added to the tops of the outer reels in the bonus spins is a real treat that can pay off with multiple winnings in each spin.
The Everi casino games company is far better known for their range of slots that are found at land-based sites, but with games such as Great Tiger now coming to the online and mobile casinos world, it looks like they are headed for as much success in these markets as they have had in the bricks and mortar casinos business.
