The Ninja Slot Review

Ninjas don’t get nearly enough credit as they should, for it always feels like pirates are stealing the show. Well here to put a stop to that is The Ninja, a mundane titled slot machine that is anything but dull; you have free spins, wilds and high animation. This is the stuff that mobile slots are made of, and it’s all from the makers at Endorphina.

The setup you’re engaging with here is very typical of the genre, with many Japanese decorations lining the matrix. As a result, the experience you get here is very stereotypical iconography, which doesn’t exactly inspire us to play. However, the fact that Endorphina have managed to create such a game and we still want to play it, even despite the expected visuals, is something in and of itself. And so we’ll give The Ninja a chance.

Dressed in Black

When we think of ninjas we think of them dressed in all black, their bodies hidden in the dead of the night. They’re swift and true in their aims. This is what the black ninja tile of this slot machine embodies, and is probably the reason behind why he’s the scatter icon of the paytable. In order to unlock his true potential, you need between three and five of the icons.

This is good enough alone, at least for most of us, but then Endorphina decided to break out their killer ninja moves, and so the black ninja kicks at the second, third, fourth and fifth reels. When this happens, he can turn icons into wilds, which in turn increase the Wild Accumulator found at the bottom of the grid.

Increased Wilds

So, we mentioned the Wild Accumulator and you probably had no clue what we were on about, so allow us to backtrack a little and explain. Under the third reel of the slot, found just beneath the grid, is a number next to the eyes of the black ninja – this is the feature we speak of. Subtle in its actions, it is every bit a ninja as the grid of The Ninja itself.

Every time a wild appears, the total of that display goes up. What is most interesting though is that the meter is linked to what you bet, with you increasing your wager causing the accumulator to lower its number of wilds. How odd, you actually do better to bet lower in this game than the other way round, at least for this feature anyway. If you wish to know more, have a thorough read of the paytable.

Tough Training

We don’t know whether it was just us, but the volatility here seems rather high for an Endorphina slot machine. Usually we experience a couple of wins every few spins, but here it felt like we played for forever and still got nothing back. All we can assume is that the brand wanted to show us how difficult the life of a ninja truly is. That’s cool, but they could have warned us about the tactic first…!

If the toughness of the grid bothers you, we’d suggest trying to play with as small a bet as possible, to help lessen the pain of losing. The smallest fee you can stake is 20 credits, while the most is 200. As always though, Endorphina have connected their betting system to the paytable, and so you will lose out on high value wins when playing it safe.

Danger Danger

The Ninja might hold your interest for a while, but only if you like sneaking around and stealthing your way through life. If, like us, you savour going in for the kill as bluntly as possible, Dangerous Beauty by High 5 Games is the one for you. Not to mention it includes attractive women to look at rather than muscular men.

What you get with this alternative title is free games plus stacked reels, which can result in some pretty hefty wins. The only downside we can see is that the aesthetic isn’t as visually stimulating; it has beautiful women, but they’re not as stunning as they could be. However, if you can look past the less than polished finish, you’ll discover a solid online experience.

Silent but Not Deadly

All in all we’ve enjoyed The Ninja, but we feel that Endorphina could have upped the ante by having more of a varied paytable for us to engage with. Unfortunately for fans of their slots, the lack of diversity is all too common, for their titles tend to be on the bland side of the features spectrum.