If you haven't had your fill of bounding about the realm, doing heroic deeds with your trusty pig, yes pig, then Knight Hot Spotz from Pragmatic Play may offer just the thing. Interestingly, it was not too long ago the studio was doing the dragons, damsels, and flowing-haired hero shtick in The Knight King, a slot which sent out mixed signals at the time. Where the previous game had a romantic fantasy angle, Knight Hot Spotz is a cartoonish adventure, light on atmosphere as well as light on features.
The game starts nicely, as players find themselves in a rather splendid scene when deciding to give Knight Hot Spotz a crack. Butterflies abound, a sword sits wedged into a stone on the left, and the two heroes huff 'n puff away on the other side of the screen. Maybe it's the butterflies, but it feels like spring is in the air, and Knight Hot Spotz kicked off the escapade with a warm greeting to its land.
Knight Hot Spotz is not the highest potential slot grizzled players are likely to tangle with – the opposite, really. However, that doesn't stop it from being a highly volatile slot machine (rated 4.5 out of 5), with a default return to player value of 96.5%. The return value can be found at lower levels, though, depending on the setting, and participants can load up a stake starting at 25 p/c, rising to $/€100 per spin. Knight Hot Spotz does not offer Ante Bet or bonus buy free spins features, so single spin betting is the way.
Taking up the bulk of the screen is a 5-reel, 4-row gaming panel which utilises 25 paylines. Winning paylines of 3 to 5 OAK must land starting from the leftmost reel onwards and hit along adjacent reels. Score a 5-of-a-kind hit with the lower value J-A symbols, and players collect a reward worth 5 times their bet, or 16 to 24 times the bet for landing 5 weapons, parchments, eggs, or pigs. Landing on all reels is Knight Hot Spotz's wild symbol. This treasure chest wild symbol can replace any regular paying symbol to help complete winning lines.
Knight Hot Spotz's base game's got nothing to cover here. Seriously, it was not until the free spins round launched that we became aware Knight Hot Spotz had more than one gear.
The knight-adorned symbol is Knight Hot Spotz's scatter, appearing on all reels. When 6 or more scatters hit, the free spins round is triggered. Players are awarded 1 free spin for each triggering scatter symbol in view on the reels
When the feature begins, the positions where triggering scatters hit are highlighted with a frame. Whenever a scatter lands on a free spin, it highlights its position with a frame if one wasn't already there. When a scatter lands in already highlighted positions, the frame is upgraded - up to 3 times. Frames remain in place until the round ends.
Then, at the end, when the free spins have finished, highlighted positions are transformed into money symbols and their total value awarded. The more upgraded the frame, the better the chance of getting a higher prize. Possible prize values are 1x-6x, 8x, 10x, 12x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 30x, 40x, 50x, 60x, 80x, 100x, 150x, or 200x the bet. On a final note, hitting 4 or more scatter symbols during the round retriggers it, awarding +1 free spin for each scatter on the triggering spin.
Knight Hot Spotz is a charming game; tough to deny that. Not everyone wants to dally about the countryside rescuing dukes or damsels in distress, slaying dragons, or fighting duels with unbeatable foes, getting their names recorded in history books while being scorched in flames or torn to shreds in the process. Some heroes may be more content, holding a sword but not having to use it while their trusty pet piggy bounds along beside them. For any players partial to the latter scenario, Knight Hot Spotz could be worth a bash.
Bash we did at the start of the review, too, which took around 500 feature-free base game spins to finally trigger the bonus round. The round went okay, though not so good that it prevented desire for a second charge to wilt, to a degree. As mentioned, the base game is dry; not much happened there, and even the charming kaleidoscope of playful butterflies wore off eventually. According to the official figures, though, we clearly lucked at the start of the session, as a bonus round frequency of 1 in 109 would suggest the waits don't have to be too long, theoretically. Once coasting in free spins, the framing positions, creating money symbols feature was alright. Those that can't get enough collecting might be onboard. Don't expect an emperor's hoard of loot compared to a lot of slots. With a max win of 2,000x the bet stashed in its gauntlet, Knight Hot Spotz isn't the biggest, beefiest, beardiest knight at the table. Though the hero does have impressive facial hair.
If you are okay flexing your moves in a more modest paying slot, then there could be a few laughs to be had playing Knight Hot Spotz. It'll never be the top dog in the kingdom, and the base game's kinda boring. However, scooping up money symbols continues to be hot in the online gambling scene, and here's another chance to do so.
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