Online gaming developer Nextgen has opted for a tropical jungle setting for its digital slots game Volcano Eruption. Particular attention has been paid to vibrant colours and detailed graphics. Against a backdrop of brilliantly coloured flowers and emerald vegetation, the smouldering volcano looms. Drum-based tropical rhythms and portentous strings accompany the action.
The reel symbols do not display much animation, with the exception of the Volcano icon, which demonstrates some impressive eruption action whenever it is featured on a winning bet line or it triggers the bonus feature.
Five reels displaying three rows each are framed in the foreground, and Volcano Eruption offers 25 bet lines with 6 bet-per-line options, so the total stake wagered can be adjusted according to a player’s budget. Most of the icons require the standard three-of-a-kind combination on a bet line, beginning on Reel 1, to trigger a win, but some higher-value symbols start paying out at the two-of-a-kind level.
Ten Symbols in Basic Play
Like many other slots games, Volcano Eruption uses the poker symbols 9, 10, J, Q, K and A as its low-value symbols, but in accordance with the theme, these symbols are rendered as cracked, fiery stone blocks. A and K, Q and J and 10 and 9 are all paired off in terms of the value of wins; three 9s or 10s, for example, pay an identical 5 coins, while five Ks or As will yield a win of 150 coins.
The four higher-valued icons are all found in the tropical jungle: a branch of fruit, a monkey, a parrot and a komodo dragon. Both the parrot and the komodo dragon only require a two-of-a-kind match to deliver a win, and five komodo dragons give the best return in basic play: 500 coins.
Volcano Icon does Double Duty
As sometimes happens in Skrill pokies, the eponymous volcano of Volcano Eruption slot serves as both the Wild and the Scatter Symbol. It can substitute for any other symbol on reels 2, 3 or 4 to complete a winning combination, which gives players more chances at a win on the spin. When the volcano does feature in a winning combo, it animates in a brief eruption to celebrate.
What players really want, however, are two or three volcanoes anywhere on the three middle reels. Two volcanoes win a prize of 2X the total bet, and three are rewarded with 5X and trigger the Eruption Feature at the same time. During the Eruption Feature, a player is awarded five re-spins while the centre volcano erupts to fill the whole of Reel 3 with Wilds. The five re-spins play with the centre reel held, and the stacked volcano spews more Wilds around the screen. The Eruption Feature cannot be re-triggered during the re-spins round.
Volcano Eruption also has a gamble feature, with the standard choices of red or black, or picking a card suit. Players can double or quadruple wins up to five times, if they keep guessing right on the gamble feature. If at any point during a gamble round they guess wrong, however, they will of course forfeit their winnings from the previous spin.