Outback Downunder Slot Review

Let Novomatic take you to the land of plenty in one of their newest releases, the Outback Downunder video slot. It’s a 243 ways to win themed slot to see players touring the outback in search of Opals. Coober Pedy is a place that is one of the richest sources of opals in outback Australia and with a map, and trusty good looking guide, it’s easy to imagine the adventure may well start there. Find the opals, and features will open up to help swell your credit balance.

The clear blue sky of Australia is something to behold and Novomatic have designed this slot for players to get a taste of it. The trees and grass in view in the backdrop look pale from weathering by the heat of the hot sun, with eucalyptus trees and their light coloured bark. The 5 reels are framed in wood with some heavy wire to keep the wild kangaroo mobs at bay. There are 3 rows to the grid to display 15 symbols per spin. The reels are dark green and the vibrancy of the symbols contrast to make them pop and be as eye catching as possible. The use of 3D graphics of the design helps to achieve this effect.

Frill Necks and Crocs

The 243 ways to win can be altered at any time as part of placing a bet. This is done by selecting the ‘Bet Multiplier’ button to activate or deactivate the reels to make the pay ways 3, 9, 27, 81 or 243. The stakes can be as little as 0.50, rising up to a high limit of 100.00. Making an appearance on the grid for this slot are card symbols. These play to the lower prize values and are coloured as purple 9, pink 10, blue jack, green queen, red king and a sunset yellow ace. For the mid-range payouts, the Dingo and Frill Necked Lizard feature as two of the more common iconic symbols to represent Australia.

The crocodile is the next highest symbol, but making the top of the prize list is the tour guide, a young Crocodile Dundee look-a-like who will help you on your exploration to find the Opals. For lower wins, a gamble feature is available as a 50/50 chance to double them up. The map of Australia is the wild symbol which only appears on reels 2, 3 and 4 and makes substitutions to supplement payline wins in a row but won’t sub the scatters.

Follow the Sign

The Opal can be found as one of the scatter symbols and appears on 1, 3 and 5. If all 3 appear, then you get yourself 10 free spins of the reels. Any wild symbols that help to complete wins during this game feature will add a multiplier of x2, x3, or x5 to the payouts. With further retriggers possible, playing those high limit stakes will pay off well here. The other scatter for this game is a kangaroo road sign which spins on reels 1 and 2 only to trigger a bonus feature with reel respins.

When these fall together on the first 2 reels, they will lock into place, the other symbols will disappear. The other remaining reels are played one by one. If another road sign appears with x2 or x3 on reel 3, it will payout with the multiplier and unlock reel 4. If x3 or x5 appears, then it will multiply the bet and unlock reel 5, and if x10 or x15 appears on the last reel it will multiply the bet to that value.

All That Glitters

Moving across the world to America, another 243 ways to win game has players searching for gold. The pay ways are fixed in the free American Gold Rush slot by Spin Games. By setting the coin denomination and selecting the number of coins to play, the bet is between 50 and 500 to spin the reels and get prospecting. Two great features on the 5 reels help collect in as much of the prize nuggets as possible.

The free games feature is triggered by explosives to give 8, 12 or 20 free spins where a x2 multiplier is applied to any wins made. Further explosive symbols can add more spins during the feature. The Gold Panning pick bonus feature is triggered by the prospector, and opens on an additional screen for players to pick an area to pan for gold. Any value revealed is multiplied by the bet. If gold is what you seek, you may find a fortune here.

The Outback Life

Outback Downunder is a good slot game, but it feels like something is missing somehow. It does have some good cash prizes and the features provide the best of those opportunities. However, it seems a lot of hard work to get there and reducing the 243 ways to win, spoils the point of having them if forced to play with lesser paylines if the stakes are too high. The design is good and quite striking in places, but it didn’t leave us bowled over by what we saw.

This may not be one of the best games from Novomatic, but it’s worth trying out for some of the mega loot possible. No doubt this will suit high rollers as having the best chance of getting those big prizes. A welcome bonus is its mobile optimised which makes it good for going walkabout with.