Original Release: IGT, 2012(?)
A shaved-down version of the classic Texas Tea that features similarly low minimum bets, but not exactly the same action
Texas Tea 3×3 (2012?)
Review by: C. M0use
There’s a little 3×3 variant of Texas Tea you can find on the newer IGT multigame cabinets, along with a few other slots that aren’t worth looking at. As is so common with these things I can’t pin down a release date, but the oldest videos of it only go back to 2012 so that’s what I’m going with for now.
Texas Tea has been revived by IGT at least a couple of times now, but never in a more advantageous form than the original “vintage” game from the early ’00s was. This variant piqued my interest because the casino I found it at put a real premium on earning tier credits from this thing, like even worse than video poker, they were doing like 1 TC per $20 coin-in! You’d think it would be some grinder’s delight at those rates but after putting through $80 or so (for a loss of about $5) I didn’t feel it was any better than the original, and maybe a tad worse.
It is definitely fairly low volatility though, markedly so compared to the Huffle Puffles and Fat Gong Pots at 75 or 80 cent minimum bet that casinos increasingly want to flood their floors with. You can bet a mere 15 cents to cover all lines at this one, almost unheard of with more recent releases, so if you want to sit for a bit and maybe get a drink or whatever this is a very viable choice.
Where I noticed the big difference from the original, which I’ve now sat in front of for literal hours total, is the frequency of the bonus games. They just don’t hit as much. The dividend bonus game has also been nerfed some, it now maxes out at 20x your wager amount. I’m not sure about the oil derricks bonus but the one time it hit the max I saw was 10x your wager for an individual derrick’s total output.
The line wins seem a little more infrequent too. When they hit they tend to be larger, like often 30x to 40x your wager now. But you used to get a lot more continual smaller ones in the old game that kept things more even.
It’s a choice if you want a low-budget grinder and nothing better is around, I guess, but I’d still prefer the older game or the similar relics from its time.
Videos