Why hasn’t this been done before? A delightful slot machine game based on the year’s most anticipated holiday. The folks at ELK Studio have it figured out: every day is somebody’s birthday, and that’s a great reason to have a party. What better way to do this than with a video slot machine? The game is called Birthday! and features many of your favorite ELK characters as they assemble in the bar to throw a surprise party for all of you who are celebrating your birthday today. As the game loads, you’ll see that the party is ready to begin, and more famous people have been invited. The presents include re-spins with the Happy Spins feature, free games, walking wilds, and sticky wilds, with a maximum payout of 250,000 coins.
In-Game Icons
An Anniversary! As a nod to the birthday party custom, ELK Studios’ slot features familiar faces from previous games like the Camel, Matador, Wild Toro, Electric Sam, Anne Bonny (the pirate) from Wild Seas, Maggie, and the Soundtech Blooper, but they avoid the custom of introducing eight new base game symbols. There are only 6 total, with 3 common icons and 3 rare ones. Symbols with little value are balloons, with a red heart-shaped balloon and blue and green balloons in more traditional light bulb shapes. High-status symbols are denoted by a birthday cake. Suggesting a toast with a red rose and a pair of glasses.
The standard Wild symbol is a celebratory birthday cake, however there are other types of Wilds as well. During the bonus round, two additional Wilds appear; these can either be Sticky Wilds or Walking Wilds. The Soundtech Blooper hands these out, and they resemble either a gift with protruding springs or a present with a winding key.
Gameplay
The Birthday! slot machine is a mobile- and desktop-friendly game with 178 ways to win over 5 reels and 4 rows using so-called connected paylines. Due to the inclusion of betting strategy levels in ELK games, the ‘how to play’ process may feel a little more involved than it is in standard slots. There are four distinct betting patterns available, including Optimizer, Jumper, Leveller, and Booster, which may be accessed by clicking the ‘Coin Stack’ button.
Auto Spin is also an option for Birthday. Either clicking the designated button or holding the Spin button will activate the feature. There will always be many different automated spins to pick from, however each casino may have somewhat different options according on local laws.
Additional Value
The festivities have reached their climax, and it’s time to dig into a spread of extras. The most important bonuses and extra features of the Birthday! video slot are summarized below. The game’s three primary features are the Happy Spins, the Free Spins, and the Blooper Wilds, all of which are named after types of bread.
There are five distinct presents, or “sub-features,” available during Happy Spins, and they are all announced by the doorbell. When the Camel appears, the player receives a free spin that can be retriggered up to a certain number of times (often between 3 and 5). Mr. Lake’s respin ability keeps going until a flush is achieved. Electric Sam bestows a reroll with a charged, sticky icon as a present. The Matador’s respin will keep going until he hits a winning combination with his chosen symbol, and Anne Bonny’s will keep going until she wins 15 times your wager or more.
Maggie brings ten retriggerable free spins with her when she joins the party.
In Happy Spins and/or Free Spins, the Soundtech Blooper may randomly appear and award Sticky Wilds or Walking Wilds. There is a chance of receiving up to three Sticky Wilds, all of which will remain in place until the end of the feature. With each spin, Walking Wilds advance to the left by one reel, and the Soundtech Blooper never awards more than three Wilds.
Payouts
Playable coin sizes range from 0.10 up to 50 for Birthday!, with a maximum payoff of 5,000x the wager. The Birthday! slot machine is a high-variance game, scoring a 7 on the developer’s variance scale. If you’re on a roll, you may count on winning 500–1,000 times your original bet. Birthday! has a theoretical RTP of 96.3%, which is about average for a game of this type.
Verdict
Designed to feel like one big celebration, Birthday! is unlike any other slot machine out there. It’s exciting because of its dynamism, volatility, color, and abundance of surprises. The polished mobile release is more proof that ELK Studio can turn out high-quality mobile video slots. At the at least, Birtday! will bring a smile to someone’s face every day; at beast, that smile will come in the form of a massive 250,000 coin prize.