Retro Reels Slot Review
Microgaming released Retro Reels in November 2010. At that time, graphics software allowed for producing high-resolution images of extremely high quality; however, this slot seems to have been rolled out some 20 years ago. The matter is that Microgaming deliberately merged old-school symbols and the same old-looking visuals with some advanced developments such as free spins and a Respin feature. What you get is a Vegas-style five-reel slot with fruit symbols, fast play and a 10,000-coin grand prize.
At the very first entry into the game you will be surprised to see a classic package of symbols implemented in a 5-reel 20-payline layout. If remove any two reels and leave everything else untouched, the slot will be perceived as a typical three-reeler with its elevated buttons, simply drawn visuals and lack of attention to graphic details. The developer of the slot has mixed two different styles to produce this Retro Reels slot that will appeal equally to those slot enthusiasts who favor good old classic and those who like more advanced solutions in slot industry.
Concerning symbols, the slot features a traditional fruit machine set including three bar variations, plums, lemons, cherries, three types of 7 and dollar signs. All symbols, except for the jackpot-paying Seven, award combos when three or more of them land on an active line left to right. Another peculiarity of the slot is that it has no wild symbol – this is a rarely found solution of not integrating wilds into modern online slots but an OK one with older slot machines.
Betting
There are three customizable betting options for reducing or increasing a total spin bet. ‘Plus’ and ‘minus’ controls are used to manipulate a coin denomination between $0.01 and $0.25, the Lines button is for selecting the number of active lines (max. 20) and the Coins control is for choosing the amount of coins per line, thus the top and lowest stakes are $0.25 and $100 per spin.
Insights into paytable
Some symbols such as bars and sevens are able to create mixed combinations; these are found at the bottom of the paytable as the lower paying combos. Any collection of bars pay up to x75 and any sevens pay up to x100. Fruits and bars award up to x250 and sevens bring you up to x500, all for five of each kind. The dollar sign is also a regular symbol – it has no special features attached to it but it pays much much higher than other symbols do. In real cash terms, the highest payouts are $50,000/$5000 (five/four dollar signs), $10,000 (five scatters) and $2500 (five red or blue sevens).
Respin feature
As soon as a spin finishes, you will see Respin buttons under each reel. This feature is not unique for Microgaming and some other slot vendors and its concept is to let the gambler spin again a needed reel in order to try to complete a coveted combination. Consider the example; you get a red Seven on reels 2 and 3. They run across a payline but one red 7 is missing on reel 1 so no winning combo is created. If you get one red 7 on the first reel – and it must be positioned on the same payline as the remaining 7s – you will receive x50. So you click the Respin button under the first reel and the reel starts spinning. When it comes to a stop, you might get a needed 7 on the right place but there’s no guarantee that you get it. Respins are not free of charge – you have to pay some money to give a respin to a specific reel and related costs are displayed next to Respin buttons.
Free spins
There is one single bonus symbol in the slot and this is the ‘5 Bonus’ picture. Two of them suffice to activate 10 free spins and every additional scatter gives five more spins. So the maximum number of bonus free spins is 25 for five scatters.
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