Arcader Game Review
If you’re of an age where you remember the fun and excitement of saving up your pennies for a trip to the arcade, of standing among the flashing machines looking for your favourite game, of trying for hours to beat that high score, then Arcader is for you. Even if you’re one of the iPhone generation and gaming means firing up an app in your pocket, it’s hard not to love the retro stylings in this slot from Thunderkick that celebrates the classics.
The question is, will you be top of the leaderboard or are you all out of change? Let’s take a look in our Arcader slot game review.
Background
Your first look at Arcader will tell you what this slot is going for. The blocky pixels, neon colours and trippy space setting are all classic arcade features, and the Arcader slot game packs them all in. The low-value symbols on the reels are classic fruit symbols, but not as you know them, with their design bringing back memories of low res games like Space Invaders and Frogger. They still look great, though, with every one of their few pixels shining and lovingly rendered in 3D. The higher value symbols are also a collection you’ll recognise, from the BAR and Lucky 7 to powerups from other arcade games that function as scatters and wilds. Combined with the pumping 80s synth soundtrack, the whole thing is a really original looking blast from the past.
So how do the mechanics check out? Well despite this game’s futuristic appearance, it’s still a standard five reel and three-row offering with 15 fixed paylines, so plenty of opportunities to diversify your bet. The minimum bet is £/€/$0.20 and the maximum is £/€/$100, so there’s space here for both high and low rollers, while the RTP of 96.1% is pretty average so there’ll be no nasty surprises. This slot may look out of this world, but a closer inspection will reveal your old favourite symbols dressed up in 80s clothing: The W symbol is the wild, which substitutes for other symbols in combos. The E symbol is the Expander, which finds the symbols most likely to form combos and expands them to cover the reel, generating you more wins. Then, finally, the bonus symbol activates the free spins round.
Bonuses
There are actually two bonus rounds in this game, the main bonus round and the mystery bonus round, which offer different and interesting ways to win cash. While you’ll always get nine free spins when you land three or more bonus symbols, the size of the multiplier you play with depends on how many bonuses you pick up, up to 9x if you manage to land five. Even better, with each free spin, you make another sticky wild is added to the reels, so by the end, you could be playing with as many as nine at once, seriously boosting your kitty.
The mystery bonus round is activated in much the same way as the bonus round, requiring you to land three or more M symbols. You get multipliers here too, up to 6x if you land five Ms, but this time you must pick from a grid of mystery symbols. Each time you turn over a square you win a prize unless you turn over the X symbol that takes you back to the main game.
Casino77 Verdict
For a while, it seemed like this game was actually a fairly run of the mill slot dressed up in fine clothes, thanks to its great visuals and nostalgic theme that harks back to the days of classic arcades. Scratch the surface, though, and you get down to the exciting and inventive bonus rounds that add a great twist to the game and make it well worth playing.
