Pirates Slots
Swashbuckling, rum guzzling, booty robbing, lady stealing pirates are great fun. At least, they are great fun when you’re sitting in the safety of your own office thinking about them, using the only frames of reference available to you here in the 21st century – mostly film, literature, television and music.
For the individuals insanely unfortunate enough to come face to face with the real deal in centuries past, however, we can only assume the level of fear and horror these fearsome rogues instilled within the victims of their seaborne crimes. Despite often been depicted as the misunderstood and somewhat charming sort, we’re not sure there’s much accuracy in this.
Nonetheless, a video slots game based upon some pirates of the truly appalling and domineering variety probably wouldn’t make for the most universally accessible slot out there - so we’re probably just best appreciating that developers always go for the romantic image when including pirates as characters in their releases.
Far from being the first ever slot released to feature a pirate related theme, the aptly though somewhat unimaginatively entitled ‘Pirates’ from the team at SGS Universal, is one of the most modern and fresh faced. Billed as a slot with a whole lot of big winning potential for players who like a little danger with their slots play, Pirates had out attention from the very beginning. But how well does it live up to it’s reputation?
Ooohs and Aaarghs
In terms of structure and make-up, the Pirates video slot from SGS Universal is a pretty standard affair. With a total of 5 separate reels, players are let loose upon no less than 20 active paylines – making from some moderate chances to leave the game with more than just a head full of ‘aaarghs’ in your possession.
The max bet available here is a rather un-astounding 5.00 coins per line per spin, but when you factor in that the top base game award is that of 10,000x your line stake – you seen realise that Pirates is a game capable of kicking back some serious cash. This function is activated only when a player manages to form five Captain symbols across their active reels; with one wild being allowed as part of the combination to create the winning line.
It’s also worth noting that this award, not to mention all of the others available within the game, are capable of being double as part of the free spins bonus round. With this in mind, the true maximum pay out we’re looking at within this game is not an already 50,000 coins – but an astronomical 100,000. Awesome! The kind of money a true pirate would be extremely keen to get their grubby and dishonest hands on!
Look and Feel
The look and feel of a slots game is extremely important when working to assess the overall quality on offer. It’s far too easy for developers to reuse old templates and just cut and paste some fresh graphics on the top.
We’re happy to report that with Pirates, the SGS team have done a pretty brilliant job in making sure that the game has a look and feel of its own. This is important on many levels, but most of all in terms of ensuring that things stay fresh for the player. After all, if they find a theme compelling and original then chances are they will continue to return and play.
Last Thoughts
As a game that may not have necessarily the most original theme out there, though one which is nonetheless captivating on many different levels, Pirates is certainly an odd one – which we suppose renders it unique!
Though the symbols are rather predictable (wild: Sword, scatter: Treasure Chest) and the number of reels/paylines bog standard and basic to say the least, there’s still a lot on offer that hasn’t been seen before. This sentiment couldn’t be summed up more perfectly than by the game’s insane jackpot limit; how many other 5-reelers are there out there that offer 100,000 coins as the max payout!?
