Original Release: 2009 (Konami)
A simple 3×5 slot that emphasizes hanging in for bonus rounds and big hauls of free spins
Review by: C. M0use
Getting into the slots game in the mid-2000s, Konami quickly found a lucrative groove with their “3×5” series of machines. It’s hard to dig up chronological lists of slots by a particular manufacturer, but I’m pretty sure this was in the early wave of these games and sort of a follow-up to 2008’s China Shores (which is an extremely similar design, the two are almost identical save theming tweaks).
You sometimes see people refer to Konami’s 3×5 games as “low volatility” but that isn’t strictly true, I’d classify them as moderately volatile. They’re of the sort where you land a lot of dead spins with no action whatsoever, but can eventually catch up in one fell swoop with bonus spins that re-trigger and not-awfully-infrequent stacked reel symbols that give good payouts.
To be frank, this style of slot is designed to target the most common type of problem gambler: people who get an endorphin rush from losing nearly all of their money then suddenly reclaiming it with one big jackpot or extended series of free spins. That doesn’t mean it’s particularly predatory, as it sports a respectable payback-over-time of 96.1% in the basic version, but it’s quite possible to get in a big hole early and have to invest substantially to hit enough to climb out of it. Also telling of the demographic it’s primarily targeting is its plain presentation, lack of sound and very fast pace … in land casinos you also often see these sorts of little unassuming 3x5s sat in some corner of the gaming floor where people won’t be observed or bothered.
You get a bit of a musical flourish for bigger wins, but otherwise nothing but a simple wood block sound for spins. The bonus tiles have a little more elaborate animation in-person than for some of the online versions, but overall it’s just a very plain and straightforward presentation.
As far as the bonus spins go, you just need to land at least three special symbols (in any position) to get free spins (I believe at least eight), which can re-trigger. Or you can skip that whole process and select a “credit prize” instead, a random amount that seems to range from about 1.5x to 10x your wager amount. Obviously you COULD get more out of a free spin run, particularly if you re-trigger, but the credit prize is guaranteed.
As I said before I see this as a moderately volatile game, because it does give fairly generous bonus spins and stacked line pays but you can also quite easily drain a bunch of money fairly fast if you have a dry stretch of not hitting those (which could very well happen right when you step up). Overall I feel it’s a little plain and unrewarding for the overall cost it asks, but it’s been hanging around both online and offline casinos for 15 years now and clearly has an appeal to some players as a budget game one can sit at for a good while without massive financial risk (and that has a design that doesn’t grate on the nerves).
Wagering is also simple, with all 30 paylines automatically covered by each bet in the online versions, and not costly at a machine minimum of 30 cents per spin. It’s not one to expect to get rich quick at though, with I believe a max win of 1000x your wager for any given spin (so $300 max per spin for a 30 cent bet).
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