Family Fortunes Slot Review

Not content with one Family Fortunes slot machine, Fremantle decided to create two: one of an immersive quality and the other so poor it made us weep. This activity isn’t the latter outcome, and so you can rest easy when you load up a playthrough of this cult classic title. We’re not about to pretend that this experience is all bells and whistles, but it’s more polished than its All Stars counterpart.

Just like the other slot with a similar name, this one has 5-reels in which to play, only here you have an easy to navigate interface, a kind on eyes aesthetic, and a well integrated set of controls. Although the controls don’t blend into the grid so as to create a continued xperience throughout, their graphics make them feel more at home than the monstrous ‘Bet 0.01 x 25’ widgets seen in some of their other games.

From One Family to Another

Before we get started, we’d like to point out that you don’t have to stop your gameshow experience here – there’s plenty of other slots out there that’ll give you what you need. Like Openbet. Their developers have also created a Family Fortunes named slot machine, only theirs has just 5 winlines instead of the 20 we see here.

Despite them being about the same TV show, there’s a lot of differences between the two, both visually and throughout the gameplay, which means that you won’t become bored from all the sameness. Of course, if you’re completely fed up with Family Fortunes you can always play another of Fremantle’s titles instead, like Blockbusters.

In the Money

You’ll have probably seen it for yourselves, but on the paytable there’s a symbol titled BIG MONEY, with its angry capitals screaming out at you. Although rather in your face, it serves the purpose of informing you that this is where your windfall could finally land. There’s no promise that you’ll even trigger it, for the symbol is hard to come by in the correct grouping. However, if you get it you’re sure to be a happy player tonight.

Three of these icons are what you need, and they can land anywhere on the 20 paylines of the matrix. The money they gift you is based on the bet you put down to begin with, so if you’ve been holding back the funds, you might end up being less happy than you first thought. Also, bear in mind that you can’t get this feature inside the free games, which again ups the ante of the difficulty even further.

Doubling Up

That Big Money tile isn’t the only scatter out there, for there’s the Double Money one as well, only this one can’t land anywhere other than reels 3, 4 and 5. Furthermore, it’ll deliver a series of extra spins rather than gift an instant monetary amount. One aspect that it does share in common with its sister scatter is that it can’t be triggered once the free games are in effect.

As the tile suggests, all the wins you make during this time will be doubled in value, meaning that your win of 15 credits just morphed into 30. However, it isn’t all plain sailing because there’s an explosive looking cross symbol that’s out to ruin your playthrough. When you find three of these on the reels, the game will end. We’re not sure whether they have to land on a winning line or whether their appearance alone is enough, we just know that they’re bad news.

Happy Families

Family Fortunes pleasantly surprised us, an experience we don’t get to savour very often. It didn’t impress us to the point where we’re transferring money from one account to the next just to be able to play. But it did show us that gameshow slots can be extremely enjoyable, once you find the right formula that works for you. All in all, we’d say that Fremantle have demonstrated a good knowledge of his industry, a feat even more impressive when considering this isn’t their first line of expertise.