If you play or analyze online slots for long enough, you will begin to notice trends, recurring elements, player preferences, etc. So much so that, depending on your frame of mind, you may find yourself thinking, “Oh great, another one,” when something like a pirate-themed slot machine crosses your path. However, some slot designers have the guts to flip on the creative switch when they can or want to, and ELK Studios’ Pirots isn’t your average high seas adventure. The ‘Pi + rots’ in the title comes from the fact that, unlike in most other pirate games, the pirates in this one aren’t human but rather parrots. What follows is an innovative slot machine with features to match its fresh take on the subject matter. Sorry, arrr!
Creating an exotic and romantic setting for the game is undeniably appealing, and this is something that can be taken advantage of when employing a pirate theme. Pirots sets out to prove the rule by transporting the player to a tropical paradise resembling the Caribbean, complete with lush foliage, towering mountains, and dazzling sunscapes. One advantage of living out one’s swashbuckling dreams from the safety of one’s armchair is that one need not worry about contracting scurvy, being hungry, having a rat infestation, getting sunburned, or evading pirate hunters. Instead, players of Pirots may kick back and take in the scenery while also considering which of the nearby islands might make a good hiding place for their spoils.
You need to get your hands on some of the loot before you can bury it. Or, if you’re playing Pirots, beaks; the game may be played in a number of different ways depending on the options available in the X-iter menu. No matter how you play Pirots, the theoretical return to player value is 94% across the board, from a minimum of 20 p/c up to £/€100 a spin in base bets. The mathematical volatility is somewhere in the middle to upper range, and the action takes place on an enlargable grid matrix with a preset initial size of five reels and five rows.
Every time the reels stop spinning, or “drop,” as locals say, four colorful birds land among the standard gemstones and any bonus icons. The birds fly about the grid, picking up jewels and feature symbols of the same color as themselves, which may be found next to any other in any of the four cardinal directions (up, down, left, and right). The four jewels are blue, green, purple, and red, and their default worth in the game is one victory, however it may be increased by upgrades. Gems earned at the lowest level of play are valued between 0.05% and 0.25% of the wager, while those earned at the highest level are worth between 3% and 15% of the wager.
Slot Machines With Pirots
The Birds fly about gathering identical jewels and feature symbols that qualify for them. The Birds will gather any sign on the grid, with the exception of the bonus symbol, and add it to a meter. When the gauge is full, a bonus function is unlocked. When no more symbols can be obtained, 3 diamonds transform into feature symbols. It is possible to earn and activate multiple feature awards simultaneously. When there are no more wins but one may be created by moving birds about, the birds next to each other may switch places.
Highlighting Symbols
Wild, Transform, Upgrade, Coin, Bomb, and Bonus Symbols are the six types of special icons in Pirots. What they do is as follows:
The wild card can be used in place of any other gem to increase your chances of winning.
A cluster of gems adjacent to the transform sign will change color to match the collecting bird or become additional feature symbols.
White upgrade symbols improve the same collecting bird’s gem. A other gem will be improved upon if this one has reached its greatest potential. The various colored upgrade icons improve all gems. Once you reach level 5, there are no more attainable advancements.
Prize values are indicated in coins.
When there are no more possible victories, any gathered explosives will detonate. When a feature sign is dropped, all neighboring symbols are erased. During the redrop, the birds disappear, but they return in other locations afterward. Additionally, an 8×8 grid is possible.
Drops for Free
When you get three bonus symbols, you enter the bonus round and get five free drops. The current grid size is maintained in free drops, as are the number of symbols collected and the number of gems won. The round’s bonus drops can be increased by collecting three bonus symbols.
X-iter
Players can choose from five different play modes by clicking the X-iter feature purchase button.
Bonus Hunt offers three times as much return for a single investment and four times as many opportunities to win extra cash.
The Feature Bonanza pays out 10 times the wager for a single drop that guarantees a full set of feature symbols.
At the highest grid size, a single drop will cost you 25 times your original wager.
The bonus game can pay out up to 100 times the initial wager.
When playing on the largest possible grid, the Super Bonus is activated, and all gems receive an upgrade worth 500 times the stake.
The Case for the Slots
In some respects, Pirots may be thought of as a cluster-paying slot with a unique Pac-Man twist. If a company were thinking of making a new Pac-Man slot machine, they could take a cue from Pirots’ bird characters as they chow down on jewels and feature symbols as they fly around the board. Maybe if you included ghosts and Ms. Pac-Man it would be fun. To return to Pirots, I thought it was fine as well. It takes a few drops to get the hang of the game. There isn’t much of a learning curve to Pirots, but the combination of the winning symbol collection, the feature meter, and the many feature symbols gives it its own feel. One where it could take more time than with a more “standard” slot to become used to all of its quirks.
Even while Pirots wasn’t quite as complicated as, say, Sumo Sumo, it still seemed like it fit into a similar category. Pirots isn’t a traditional slot machine game in which players press the play button repeatedly in the hopes of creating a winning combination of symbols or a simple cluster-paying slot. Given the subject matter, it’s ironic that ELK Studios has taken a different path in developing Pirots. Not quite at the level of Night Trax, but getting there. Pirots is interesting enough on its own merits to warrant a look, but the low RTP may deter some players, as it has with most of what ELK Studios has published recently. Having an RTP of less than 95% could be about as entertaining as having a parrot dirty your shoulder, and I have no idea why the company keeps doing this to the gamers. Someone must be eating them up, though, since ELK Studios keeps dishing them out. Casual gamblers presumably don’t give a second thought to this.
Pirots’ maximum win is 10,000 times the wager, which is a very encouraging statistic. Despite the difficulties, there are prizes to be had for those who have the correct treasure map or an abundance of good fortune. While there are some drawbacks to Pirots, the positives outweigh them if you’re interested in exploring new gaming strategies.