Carnival of Venice Slots
Slots from Octopus Gaming often include one winning combination from regular play which is huge compared to the others. In Carnival of Venice, they have gone even bigger in this respect. Instead of the usual 10,000 coin top prize, this one goes to 15,000 coins. If that is not enough on its own, there is also a bonus game where you pick from masked revellers, and a free spins round on top. The theme is the famous Venice carnival, which makes for a bright (even gaudy) slot. The smooth Octopus Gaming game-play and relaxing classical music combined to make this a slot which is worth checking out.
My first impressions of the reels were that they are very crowded. There is a lot of detail in the masks and clashing colours of some of them - though you will quickly tune in to the winning combinations. There are some nice small touches in the background, for example streamers flying past and fireworks exploding when wilds are involved in wins on the reels. Most of the symbols are masks or masked people. These are classic images which you’ll quickly recognize; some are a little sinister for me, reminding me of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. There is also a clown, jester and Venice sky-line.
Between spins, you get relaxing classical music, with a bell and often firework sounds when you hit wins. There are some animations during regular play, though the bonus games are where Octopus Gaming’s animation skills really come into their own.
The main bonus is essentially a random pick-em type game, which is very much on the carnival theme. The free spins round can be retriggered, though is not otherwise unusual.
Choose Your Coins and Lines
There are a maximum of 20 win lines available, with coins ranging from 1c up to $5. This gives a 20c to $100 range for your spins, assuming the full 20 lines. If the classical music is not to your taste, then this and the animations can be toggled on and off using the ‘game settings’ button at the top of the screen. Auto-play is available.
The 15,000 coin top prize requires 5 of the feathered masks with the yellow front on a win-line. This also pays 1000 coins for 4, 100 for 3 and 10 for just 2. There is a big jump from the next prize, which is the white mask with the red ribbons at 2000 coins for 5. The blue full-face mask, purple mask and blue mask with the beak like nose come next at 500, 400 and 300 coins for 5 respectively. After that the revellers make up the smaller wins. I am happy to see the traditional French type mime / clown with the smallest win!
You’ll find 3 special symbols on the reels. These are the wild symbol – which is the Venice Skyline – the bonus symbol and the scatter. Wilds substitute for all of the regular symbols, though not the other special ones to make up wins. Bonus symbols trigger the ‘unmask the revellers’ bonus with 3 or more and the scatter wins you up to 30 free spins.
Unmasking the Bonus Game
Unmask the revellers is a break out bonus game, where you get to select from 5 masked and cloaked revellers at the carnival. The prizes available depend on how many shield (bonus) symbols you got to trigger this, and can go as high as 6100 coins. You simply click on a reveller, their mask and cloak fall off, and a coin prize is awarded. 2 of the 5 simply contain yellow stars; once you hit both of those then your game ends. After you finish a curtain comes down like at the end of an opera to show your total prize.
You can win up to 30 free spins with 5 of the scatter symbols, and will get 15 for 4 and 7 for 3. There is nothing different in the game, other than a countdown of your remaining spins. You can retrigger with 3+ scatters.
Join the Party
Despite the garish and bright theme, I ended up enjoying this slot that is available at many of the top US friendly online casinos. Just that chance of a 15,000 coin win dropping in at any time made a difference for me (for the record, I have yet to hit it!). Having a break out bonus and a free spins round together keeps the slot from getting stale. On top of it all the classical music makes the game feel relaxing too. Even if Venetian carnivals are not your thing, I recommend you take a look at this slot; you might surprise yourself and enjoy it as much as I did.
