Original Release: MumboJumbo, 2006, PC
Other Releases: Mac (2007), Nintendo DS (2008), Blackberry (2009)
No gambling aspect to this one, instead you challenge 60 Slingo levels with the occasional competitive boss battle
Slingo Quest (DS, MumboJumbo, 2008)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
I’ve never seen Slingo in my many roamings of live casinos, but Wikipedia says it was at a few select locations in Vegas and Atlantic City at one point or another. It seems to have found more purchase at online casinos, but even with those I don’t think you run across it too often.
If you want to play it just for fun, I guess this is as good a choice as any. If you’re unfamiliar with the game, as the title intimates it’s a combination of bingo and slots. You get a standard 5×5 bingo card full of random numbers, but instead of the numbers being called out, each vertical column gets assigned its own slot reel. This game gives you 20 spins to clear each of its levels, which doesn’t involve clearing the entire card (often doesn’t happen); you just have to clear a certain pattern of darkened tiles to move on to the next level. There are “achievements” you can replay each level for, though, or just to score attack it.
The single-player “quest” mode offers 60 levels in total, which go through a series of “islands” in which new rules are introduced in an attempt to freshen the game up a bit. For example, on one island the final four spins cost a sizable chunk of your score, unless you’ve previously found free spins. On another, devils can randomly be uncovered that take a chunk of your points, unless you’ve previously uncovered a cherub that wards them off.
Every few levels there is also a boss battle, where you take turns spinning against the CPU to complete a card. I thought this was going to be the creative highlight of the game, but it turns out you just face the same pirate every time.
And as you’d expect from the game being a combo of slots and bingo, it’s quite random and reliant on luck. There is just a skosh of skill element as you get bonus points for moving faster, and there’s an occasional strategic decision about what number to mark off. But really, every game (including the boss battles) pretty much comes down to timely “wilds” appearing that allow you to just pick off remaining numbers of your choice.
The game is OK and decently made, just not much of a concept. Might scratch a slots or bingo itch at a low cost, but other than that I don’t see much use for it. Also has kinda annoying and repetitive music.
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