We got another new Microgaming partner slot. This time it is made by Buck Stakes. This brand new provider has just started its journey into the world of slots. Their first release is 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways. Although the name doesn’t really roll off the tongue, it is an interesting approach for the debut, especially because the very first slot for Buck Stakes comes with Megaways. Highly ambitious to start off that way, but you know what they say “go big or go home”.
From one plunderer to another, we are back on the deck, searching for treasures, living the pirate life. We’ve never seen Buck Stakes slots in action before, so we are surely in for a lot of surprises. Having a partnership with Microgaming will definitely help Buck Stakes to receive more spotlight, but that doesn’t guarantee that 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways will be a great game. That is yet to be seen. The name itself seems to be inspired by Jolly Roger, the most famous pirate flag and the name that identifies pirate flags in general. Back in the day, the Caribbean Sea was full of ships stacked with riches, so hopefully, 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways can reflect some of that.
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Slot Review
Game Layout: 6 Reels x 2-7 Rows yes (3) Firepot, Bonus Wheel, Free Spins
Bonus features: yes (3) Firepot, Bonus Wheel, Free Spins Release date: 22nd of April 2021 Gameplay and Payouts
This is a debut release, so our expectations aren’t as high as for some big providers which have already made their name. 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways tells a story about a women pirate crew. The backdrop of the game is a sea and a distant island. The 6 reel layout looks a bit basic so this is not the prettiest game, but it’s not horrible either. The music provides that lusty pirate atmosphere, which fills your mind with thoughts of plunder and riches. Within time, it will be interesting to see if Buck Stakes keep this visual style as their trademark or the next game is going to be something completely different.
Like on all Megaways slots, the winning symbols disappear and are then replaced by new ones, this is called Rolling Reels. Speaking of some symbols, let us meet the crew. We got 5 ladies, dressed in pirate garments. These symbols are the high-value symbols, meanwhile, the typical 10 – A makes up the low-value symbols. From the quality standpoint, these symbols are okay, nothing too impressive. With help of Megaways 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger got up to 117,649 paylines. Besides the regular symbols, the Mystery symbol is a chest that contains one symbol of the same type. This is just a little addition that makes the game more exciting, other than that the symbol doesn’t have much of a purpose.
For their first game, Buck Stakes have gone with some decent payout stats. 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways RTP is on the high side being 96.86%. Usually, Megaways have the mightiest max wins, but for 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger, it is not that spectacular. Mind you, we are comparing it with other Megaways slots, on its own 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger has a great max potential, 6000x definitely isn’t a bad win to have. Unsurprisingly, the volatility setting is high. 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways bet range is 0.20 – 20 EUR/GBP.
Bonus Features
A unique feature on 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways is the Firepot bonus feature. Sounds fancy, but it is very simple. You’re are required to collect 3 or more Firepot symbols. Combination of these symbols grants a cash payout. Reward for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 symbols is 1.5x, 5x, 20x, 100x, 300x and 2000x respectively. In a way, this is a renamed version of Jackpot.
The first step to get the large plunder on 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways is to score at least 4 scatters to get Free Spins. Each additional scatters grants +2 spins. The total amount of Free Spins will be determined with the Bonus Wheel. The Bonus Wheel consists of an inner and outer circle. One provides a multiplier of 1x – 3x, while the other determinates your Free Spin amount, starting from 10 – 30 Free Spins. After your fate is decided, the Free Spins bonus begins. For every new 3 scatters 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways awards 4 additional spins.
Conclusion
So, the very first slot for Buck Stakes is here. Has it been a good debut? Mostly yes, because Buck Stakes has provided a lot that’s capable of providing some fun bonus features. The visual presentation is not the prettiest, so most likely we will see some improvements within time. You can see that they tried to make 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways more immersive, especially with the sound clips when you score a Firepot win. If they build on this idea, the road for success can extend further. 8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger Megaways is nothing that we haven’t seen before, but once again, as a debut slot, it is proper decent.
