HOT NEW SLOTS
Cashnado
EVERI HOLDINGS
SLOT TYPE
Five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot; free games with expanding reels; multi-level progressive jackpot; .01, .02, .05 and .10 denominations (multi-denom available)
PAYBACK % RANGE
86%–98%
AVERAGE HIT FREQUENCY
32%
TOP JACKPOT
Progressive; $10,000 reset
This game series is on Flex Fusion, Everi’s banked product that features community-style bonuses across multiple machines.
Cashnado base games Flash Fire and Super Strike are both 243-ways-to-win video slots. During the primary game, landing “Key Pays” symbols on reels one or five awards the player the value of all Key Pays scatter symbols on the screen, which can include 1,000 credits times the bet multiplier, bonus credits and any of five jackpots, which include three static prizes and two progressives, resetting at $1,000 and $10,000.
There also are two separate free-spin features, Flash Fire and Super Strike. Both award six free games, with Super Strike expanding the reels to a 3-5-5-5-3 array for 1,125 ways to win on each spin.
But what makes the game special is a mystery bonus that occurs across the entire bank. The system will flash a “Cashnado Alert” across all machines to heighten anticipation for the coming bonus, called “Cash Grab.” A timer appears counting down the seconds to the community bonus.
The bonus is just what the name says. A tornado of swirling cash flies across the monitors of all machines in the bank, and players touch bills for a credit award or a progressive symbol, which reveals one of the five jackpots.
Lightning Link, Class II
ARISTOCRAT GAMING
SLOT TYPE
Five-reel, five-, 25- or 50-line, or 243-ways-to-win video slot; “Hold & Spin” free-spin bonus event; .01 through 2.00 denominations
PAYBACK % RANGE
89.31%–96.64%
AVERAGE HIT FREQUENCY
Approximately 30%
TOP JACKPOT
Progressive; $10,000 reset
Aristocrat has made Lightning Link, the groundbreaking game that first introduced the popular “Hold & Spin” mechanic that is now ubiquitous among video slots, available for the first time in a Class II version.
Class II is technically electronic bingo, for Native American casinos located where traditional casino slots, designated Class III, are not legal. Many jurisdictions, including California and Oklahoma, offer both styles (tribes don’t have to share income on Class II with the state), because the sophisticated technology makes these games play exactly the same as the Class III versions. Now, the mega-hit Lightning Link is available in Class II-only states.
The Class II version of Lightning Link, featured on the MarsX Upright cabinet, was created by the same Aristocrat studio that developed the original Lightning Link. The new Class II edition launches with Aristocrat’s player-favorite titles Heart Throb, High Stakes, Magic Pearl and Tiki Fire.
As with the original game, at its heart is a quick-hitting four-level progressive feature, triggered every 100 spins on average. It can be triggered from the base game or a free spin. The goal of the feature is to fill the screen with as many cash-on-reels coin symbols as possible. After an initial six-spin sequence, the free-spin meter returns to three with each subsequent coin landed. Filling the screen with the coins returns the Grand jackpot, a progressive resetting at $10,000.
While the game functionality is the same, this new Class II version adds $1 and $2 denominations, and there is an increased max bet of $50—options that are not available in the Class III version.
Lucky Hot 7s Free Games Deluxe
IGT
SLOT TYPE
Three-reel, 20-line mechanical reel-spinning slot; wild symbols; free-spin bonus event; .01 denomination
PAYBACK % RANGE
85%–97%
AVERAGE HIT FREQUENCY
Approximately 30%
TOP JACKPOT
65,800 Credits
This new game on IGT’s S3000 Classic mechanical-reel cabinet reminds us all that one of the supplier’s greatest strengths remains its ability to reinvent the classic reel-spinning genre by adding certain modern elements. In this case, the addition is a bonus that gives the player a choice of playing out the event on spinning reels or a second video reel display.
The base game is a three-reel game incorporating 20 paylines. As the game’s name suggests, the main pay table combinations consist of a multitude of “7” combinations, a formula IGT began more than two decades ago with the game Red, White and Blue.
The winning combinations come from blue 7s, red 7s and the special “Lucky Hot 7s” symbols in blue or red, along with various combinations of each. While the game is available in other denominations, it is being promoted as a penny game with the top jackpot for three Lucky Hot 7s on the 20th payline at $400 times the line bet.
There also are “Fiery Wild” symbols in the mix, adding to the hit frequency.
The game’s free-spin event is triggered when three scattered bonus symbols appear in any active position. Once triggered, players can pick their volatility in the free games bonus where they choose between a lower-volatility 20 games at 20 paylines on the traditional mechanical reels or a mystery four to 24 free games on a video five-reel configuration for the “Deluxe Free Games” experience.
Monopoly Lunar New Year
SCIENTIFIC GAMES
SLOT TYPE
Five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot; bonus-pot event with multipliers; progressive free-spin bonus; multi-site progressive jackpot; .01, .02 and .05 denominations
PAYBACK % RANGE
86.84%–89.64%
AVERAGE HIT FREQUENCY
33.5%
TOP JACKPOT
Progressive; $250,000 reset
This video slot, featured on Scientific Games’ new Kascada cabinet, offers a slot-machine reproduction of Hasbro’s recently released Asian version of the legendary board game Monopoly, themed around the Chinese Lunar New Year.
Scientific Games has used all the symbols and Monopoly board properties from the Lunar New Year board game as reel symbols and bonus icons for the slot machine, adding one tiger symbol to the mix in honor of the Lunar New Year that launches the Year of the Tiger February 1. The board-game icons are tokens of good fortune including a lion head, tangerines, gold ingot, lanterns, firecrackers and a bull.
The base game is a five-reel, 243-ways-to-win slot, but one of the bonus features is an expanding reel feature which, at a maximum six rows of symbols, yields 7,776 ways to win on each spin.
There are three main bonus features, represented by bonus pots above the reel set. Every time a coin lands on the reel array, it can launch any of the three bonus events. A green coin can trigger the Wild Multiplier feature, multiplying wins from 3X to 8X. The blue coin can trigger the expanding-reels free-games feature, in which the reels expand on each of at least six free spins. Every blue coin that lands can extend the free spins by one or two, or grant a credit award. As free games are extended, the reel rows expand and multiply the ways to win.
The red coin can trigger the Jackpot Bonus and a chance to win static jackpots—the Mini at $10, the Minor at $30—or two progressives, the Major starting at $100 and the Grand resetting at $1,000. There is a top multi-site “Lunar Progressive” jackpot won when the “Red Coin M” symbol lands, resetting at $250,000.
In the Jackpot Bonus, each of the four lower jackpot meters displays a collection of four of the eight property deeds from the board game needed to win the prize, for 10 free spins. The static prizes can be won more than once during this feature.
There also is a Triple Bonus feature that triggers a free spin round in which all three bonus features are active.
