Bonus Island

Join the pirate crew on their quest for hidden treasures on the slot from Inspired Gaming. Bonus Island will take you to a faraway island for a highly volatile sail across six dynamic reels with cascading symbols, mystery symbols, transform cannonballs, a coin win feature and a free spins round with unlimited multipliers that can lead to wins of up to 250,000 credits.

Slot Details

Bonus Island is a cascading video slot with six reels, five rows and 15,625 ways to win. Pays are awarded for three to six matching symbols landing on adjacent reels from left to right only. You can become a reel pirate on desktop, tablet or mobile from 0.10 to 20 credits per spin. The game has high volatility with an RTP of 95.78%.

The visuals are what you can expect from a pirate-themed slot. A secluded island scene with blue skies, sandy beaches, palm trees and crystal clear waters in the background and the pirate captain as well as typical items on the reels. The wood-style design of the game area adds further to the authenticity, although it does not really provide some sort of wow-effect. A swashbuckling soundtrack coupled with reels noises and cannonball explosions provide the fitting audio to the gameplay.

The pay symbols start at the low end with the card royals from J through to A, awarding 0.40x to 0.60x your bet for a single six of a kind. They are followed by a pirate spyglass, a treasure map, a pirate sword, a medieval pistol, a ship anchor and the pirate captain himself. Hit six across the reels to win 1x to 10x your stake. A wooden plank with a white stroke is the mystery symbol while a cannonball acts as the transform symbol. The game has neither wild nor scatter symbols.

Bonus Island Slot Features

How do you build a game with dynamic reels without actually using the Megaways engine? Many have tried, and most have failed to gain traction in the player community. Inspired Gaming itself is a licensee for the popular BTG game engine which makes it all the more surprising that they have left it out of their Bonus Island slot. Instead, they use a different mechanic to create up to 15,625 ways. Reason enough to take a closer look.

The 6×5 reel set is fixed with 15,625 ways on every spin. In the base game, the dynamic effect comes from Mystery Symbols and Transform Symbols. The former are blank wooden planks with no pay value while the latter will trigger the Transform feature when it lands on the reels. Both are reducing the number of ways and depending on how many land or if they come into play, you will have initially fewer ways to win, giving the game a dynamic feel.

Having both in the game area will trigger the Transform feature. The cannonball will explode, removing all mystery blanks and replacing them with either a regular pay symbol or a coin. Razor Shark anyone? Every position with a coin will spin once to land either bronze, silver or gold coins. Each will award a coin win from 1x to 100x your total bet with the gold coin yielding the top prizes.

The second part of the game mechanic are cascading wins. Scoring any win or coins from the Transform feature will see the symbols disappear and new ones dropping into place, potentially starting a chain of winners in the same spin sequence. The process is repeated as long as new wins or Transform triggers occur after a cascade.

While watching the pirate show on the reels, keep an eye on the ladder to the left side of the game window (desktop) as it is your path to the Bonus Island feature. Each winning cascade or Transform feature trigger will illuminate one step with minimum four needed within a single spin sequence to enter the bonus feature. Any unfinished progress is reset between spins.

• Bonus: Four consecutive winning cascades, pick-me round with 20 treasure chests with coins wins and free spins prizes
• Mega Bonus: Five consecutive winning cascades, pick-me round with 20 treasure chests with enhanced coins wins and free spins prizes
• Epic! Bonus: Six or more consecutive winning cascades, pick-me round with 10 treasure chests containing free spins prizes only

Once triggered, the game will lead to the Bonus Island for the pick-me part of the feature with the respective number of treasure chests, similar to the Deal or No Deal Megaways round. Before the start, you will have to choose one chest to become your chest while a display at the bottom shows the available prizes. You can now pick three chests per round to be eliminated. After each round of three, the pirate captain will make you a Captain’s Offer, a cash prize that is based on what other prizes are still available. You can accept or decline in each round. Once you reach the last two boxes, you will have to pick one which will become your final prize.

Once the Bonus Island pick-me part has concluded, you will be led to a new screen with the Free Spins Gamble, where you can risk any won cash or free spins prize to win more free spins, up to 16. A ship wheel with four red and four green segments will appear as well as a display on either side and a bar with the available prize on top. The size of the segments reflects the true odds of winning the gamble. The Take display on the left shows the current prize which you will risk should you gamble it while the Spin display shows the prize for winning the gamble.

Reaching 16 Free Spins in the gamble or clicking on Take will automatically start the Free Spins feature with the respective number of spins. The round has a progressive win multiplier, starting at x1 and increasing by x1 after every winning cascade, no limits. Powder barrels marked with a skull are the new mystery symbols, replacing the blanks and cannonballs. They can land on all reels and any in view on a free spin will always activate to award either extra free spins or again the Coin feature with bronze, silver and gold coins, each marked with a random cash prize.

And there is one more thing. Should your balance drop below the current bet value but remains higher than zero, then the game will automatically offer you the Spin Chance. It gives you one chance to win one more spin at the current bet size. A pie chart indicates your odds to win the gamble. Click on PLAY to start the gamble and the marker will start spinning. It will be a winner if the marker ends in the green zone. You can always click on NO to return back to the game screen with the remaining balance.

Final Verdict

Well, how do you best describe Bonus Island. The slot is a mix of dynamic reels, cascading symbols, Deal or No Deal-style bonus game as well as a progressive multiplier in the free spins and the gamble for extra spins typically found on Megaways slots. Inspired Gaming seemed to have challenged themselves to include all into one without actually making it a Megaways game. In that respect, they have achieved their goal and it is rather playable with ample suspense and mega win potential.

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