Babushkas Slot Review
If you have never been to Russia and know nothing about that country, you have certainly heard of a matryoshka doll, which is the most famous Russian toy consisting of a set of dolls, each embedded in another. The Babushkas 5-reel slot is inspired by matryoshkas that will grant you many goodies such as a $10,000 jackpot and a wonderful Easter egg decorated with traditional Christian patterns. A very funny and entertaining bear is going to pop up from inside the egg and give you one of three mystery features. This Russian-styled slot provides real fun and lots of wins.
The slot’s design is spectacular. The reels are borderless and are not separated from each – symbols are placed on a knitted pattern that looks like a portion of a handmade sweater. Symbols in a combination are highlighted in an elegant way – stitches around each contributing symbol become flashing in yellow, blue or other color, staying in tune with the overall design.
All regular symbols are matryoshkas of different colors, looks and dimensions. An original Russian matryoshka set consists of several dolls of decreasing size. In this slot, the smaller the matryoshka, the higher it pays out. To help you differentiate between them easier, small dots are drawn on each, with the largest doll having six dots and the innermost one featuring no dots.
The slot has an unusual number of 17 fixed paylines and a total bet ranges from $0.10 to $100 per spin. Payouts for hitting any single combination comprising 3 or more like symbols, are fairly low. Surprisingly, rewards for most five-of-a-kind combos are less than a total bet – the most generous non-feature prize is just x2 times a bet or $200 at max. But you can expect a host of low-value wins that occur on almost every reel spin, plus there are many feature wins that should not be underestimated.
Wild Mystery feature
The Easter egg with an ornamented letter “W” is a wild symbol that appears on the middle reel and subs for all symbols. If there is a star on the wild egg, it will separate like a matryoshka doll and reveal one of three mystery features:
- A scare bear inside the egg will make lowest-valued matryoshkas upgrade one, two or three levels up depending on how large the beer is. The upgrade means that a lower-valued matryoshka will turn into a more valuable one
- A charm bear wearing a Russian fur cap, called an ushanka, will make all symbols upgrade one level
- A dance beer playing the Russian garmon awards 7 free spins. During the feature, a wild egg appears in every spin, giving you a chance to activate a wild mystery feature again.
Winning symbol upgrade
Suppose you get three lowest-valued matryoshkas on a payline and qualify for a respective award. To the right of those three symbols there’s a matryoshka at one level higher. If so, the initial three symbols will upgrade to the next higher valued matryoshka, when this extends or creates a new winning line. When all the 15 symbols on the reels become of the same value after the upgrades, they will upgrade once again.
$10,000 jackpot
Logically, the highest-valued matryoshkas cannot upgrade any more but if the entire screen becomes covered with those symbols, they would turn into the ghost symbol and you get a special award of $10,000 (or x100 times a total bet).
Summary
Babushkas is an impressive five-reel slot based on innovative concepts and devoted to Russian traditions. It has some interesting game aspects like Symbols Upgrade, three mystery features and free spins.