Ali Baba Online Slot Review
The Ali Baba slot from Leander is based around the famous story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from the Tales of the Arabian Knights. The story has transformed over the years to become a feature of both movies and pantomimes and Leander have done a fine job of making this famous story into the subject of a slot.
All of the action on the reels takes place on a backdrop featuring a desert setting with a doored cave, where presumably Ali Baba says the magical words ‘Open Sesame’ to enter. The symbols are drawn in an animated cartoon style, giving the slot an element of humour. All of the symbols are relevant to the theme and include a snake emerging from a basket, a camel, a golden beetle and a crooked dagger – you’ll also find Ali Baba, a belly dancer and one of the forty thieves (the other 39 are presumably out and about taking various items from other people’s houses). The accompanying sound transports you nicely to the desert to enhance the theme of the game.
This slot has two distinct bonus features – one is a free spins round, the other being an original pick me bonus feature.
Set up and Play for Ali Baba Slot
Ali Baba and his accompanying symbols live their life on five reels, these reels having a maximum of 20 win lines, although you can choose to play any number between 1 and 20.
To win at this slot you’ll need to land consecutive symbols from left to right on a win line starting from the leftmost reel, the top symbols in the game requiring just two in a row, the others requiring three. Ali Baba is the top paying symbol on the slot, with a pay-out of 2,500x the coin amount when landing 5 in a row. The thief pays 800x and the other symbols in order of pay out are the monkey, the camel, the snake, the beetle, the ring, the dagger, the flute and the drum.
Options at the game include an auto play button where you can choose for the slot to play itself for up to 100 spins and a mute button should the medieval soundtrack become too much.
The wild symbol in the game is the belly dancer and when she appears she expands to take up the entire reel, which obviously leads to additional wins. The game also has three scatter symbols. The first is a treasure chest which simply pays a cash win when landing 3, 4 or 5 symbols. The others lead to features – the ‘bonus’ symbol taking you to the ‘Gold or Bandit’ bonus round, the ‘free spins’ symbol giving you…. free spins!
Ali Baba Slot – Features
The free spins bonus round starts in a cave where you’ll start off by picking how risky you want to be in the round (high variance with the chance of a big win or small one, or steadier though more moderate wins). You’ll then pick a number of chests - each one giving you a multiplier and extra spins which will fill a meter. However if you go over the maximum you’ll find yourself with the minimum 10 spins and no multiplier. One added advantage to this round is the fact that the belly dancer populates the first reel during the free spins – both great for the wilds and the fact that for a cartoon she looks good!
The Gold or Bandit round sees you select a vase and you’ll be randomly awarded protection by Ali 1, 2 or 3 times. Every time you find a vase with cash it’s yours but find one containing a monkey and the thief appears. If you still have Ali protection left, he’ll see off the thief, if not you won’t claim the prize. The round comes to an end after you have selected your 6th vase and the total winnings from the round will be added up.
Ali Baba – Conclusion
This slot by Leander is certainly hits the mark. The standard gameplay is good but it’s the features that really get the game going, which are more interactive than found at many games. This is particularly evident during the free spins round where you’ll choose how much risk you want to take – get too greedy and the round could be a big let-down!
This is a slot that will appeal to many players – especially those who enjoy a fun, low variance slot. I recommend you check it out for yourself soon.