Laredo Slot Machine
I am the type of gambler who goes into casinos just to scope out the new video slots that are being offered. Over the years of doing this I have developed a list of my favorite developers, which consists of Bally Technologies, International Game Technology (IGT), and WMS Gaming. Of all of these developers, WMS appears to have come along the furthest in my eyes, as they have grown from releasing more simplistic video slots in the mid-2000s to more complex games now that include high definition graphics, excellent themes, and game features that are constantly evolving and becoming more advanced.
The Laredo slot by WMS Gaming first debuted a few years back and has proven to be extremely popular among players. The game is a 5 reel, 20 payline video slot that uses WMS’ Bluebird2 and Bluebird xD platforms for land use, bringing with it a cashless system, two high definition monitors, and a touch screen feature. I myself have played this game a few times, and found that the cowboy theme is a lot of fun.
The Laredo slot game features a cowboy, horses, locomotives, a town sheriff, a sack of cash, outlaws, damsels, six shooters, holsters, and poker card symbols (clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds) that so many slots seem to carry nowadays. The game’s theme itself is very enticing to me, and I found that the game’s music really gives me something a bit different when I am traversing the floors in my local land casino.
The game’s features include Wild Symbols that can expand, Win Multipliers, and Free Spins. The game’s Free Spins round is set off in the following ways: Punters can reveal 3 Scatter Bonus Symbols for 8 Free Spins; punters can unveil 4 Scatter Symbols for 20 Free Spins; or punters can unveil 5 Scatter Symbols for a whopping 40 Free Spins on the reels. During these Free Spin modes punters can really cash in, as a 10x Wild symbol is available. I have seen firsthand how this feature pays off, as one time I ended up setting off the “Big Win” screen that WMS is famous for. A $2 bet ended up paying off very nicely for me, as I walked away with more than $250. Of course this was years ago, and I had a crummy video camera on my phone, and I was unable to capture this huge win.
While I am a huge fan of WMS video slots, I have to say that games like Laredo remind me a bit of games such as Neptunes Quest, Great Zeus, and Sun Warrior. This seems to be a bit of a skin on a basic backbone platform for WMS, and while I would prefer to see a completely new style of game, I understand the batch mentality that WMS adopted to release a new series of games for their casino clients. While WMS has moved on to more advanced games, titles like the Laredo video slot definitely have their place and stand the test of time.
