Sonnenkafer Slot Review

It’s not often we ever get to say this, but Sonnenkafer is a 1-reel slot machine from Merkur. That’s right, just a single reel with which to play, making this the most uniquely laid out game we’ve come across.

Should you brush past the layout, you’re presented with a minimal paytable and a clear Egyptian theme, the graphics of which are well rounded, if not high definition. The brand’s calling card, if you will. Unlike previous games from them though, the volatility seems to be lower, allowing for a smoother ride to the finish line, whenever that may occur.

But can only 1 reel work? We know that 1 winline can, but there’s usually more symbols thrown into the mix to wider our winning capabilities, when here you can’t manoeuver about at all. We’re hoping we’re about to find out – wish us luck!

All in the Climb

There are four symbols that you’ll come across while playing, one of which has no monetary value whatsoever. The icons that do reward you – the ankh, scarab and Anubis – have a ladder effect that they activate whenever you land one of them. You can see this because a rung on the ladder glows a different colour, marking your progress.

You slowly tot those totals up to get larger prizes, or in some cases to unlock what Sonnenkafer calls the Action Spin. This feature is like a wheel of fortune, which some tasty wins up for grabs.

Coming to Get You

Real cash slots can throw up some unusual quirks, but we’ve not seen many like the angry mummy shuffling about the reel. It may sound harmless enough, but should it lock onto your game, then the results tell a different story.

We thought that such a niche title wouldn’t be able to provoke high emotions in us, but when that mummy shows up and starts to reduce our winning streaks, we begin to become emotive. Those ladders we just talked about? Well, should a mummy appear, he reduces your progress by one step. If you fear you’ll lose your money, you can partially or fully collect the cash so far, but the ladder system will reset itself.

Take the Risk

In previous slots, you’ll have been awarded gamble options after every win, but with the system of play in place here, that doesn’t happen. And so the only time you can gamble is if you collect your winnings; do that and the two usual Merkur options reveal themselves to you.

We have to admit that we were saddened to see that while the rest of the game is highly inventive, these rounds have been left the same. We’d so badly wanted change, especially with such an exclusive title. But no matter, the adaptability of familiarity is one of the few positives to follow our initial disappointment.

As always, you can collect half of the winnings to spare your feelings from further pain, should the risk possibilities pan out badly.

Spin That Wheel

The Action Spin Feature may look like a poor attempt at accommodating users, but the dynamics of it are quite impressive. Not only do the prizes increase with your bet stake, but also by how much you’ve climbed those ladders. Therefore you’ll always get more cash than what’s initially seen.

Knowing that the highest bet of 5 credits gets us up to 2,500, which can then be beefed up further, is more than enough to get us dipping into our pockets.

A Revelation

Having played Sonnenkafer for several rounds, we have to ask why other brands haven’t attempted a similar setup? It may make the game appear boring, but we found more excitement here than in most 5-reels games. The not knowing whether a mummy would snatch our winnings away, followed by the lure of the Action Spin, had us on a rollercoaster of emotions.