Ultimate Hot Pokies
Online casino games developer EGT have already fired up the market with their series of hot pokies, and now the likes of Dazzling Hot, Supreme Hot and 20 Super Hot have been joined by the Ultimate Hot video pokie. But what makes it ‘Ultimate’? Well, the sort answer is that it’s the ultimate in simplicity, with fruits, stars and 7’s falling across 3 reels to create wins and not much else, which players will either love or hate.
In common with all EGT pokies, there’s a simple double or nothing gamble feature, plus the Jackpot Cards progressive game, but one is optional and the other is a rare event, anyone looking for a very straightforward machine won’t find one much easier to play than this.
Unlike many nostalgic pokies however, the design excellent, with a subtle 3D graphics effect to the symbols, smooth animations and a little extra treat as symbols that make up a winning line burst into virtual flames, which is another common feature of the Hot series. There’s just 5 paylines running from left to right, with 3 going horizontally across the 3 rows of symbols and the other 2 being the diagonals from top left to bottom right, and bottom left to top right.
Ultimate Hot
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Playing Ultimate Hot
A simple game means a simple set of potential bet sizes and as all 5 lines are permanently active the low limit to wager is 5 coins, rising to a maximum of 100 coins per spin, although free Ultimate Hot video pokie games can be found which give players the chance to test it out before playing for real. To get paid a prize, all 3 positions on a line will need to have the same symbol on them and a review of the pay table reveals what each is worth when this happens.
Playing 1 coin per line, cherries, lemons, oranges and plums will all pay out 40 coins when a line is filled with matching symbol, while a bunch of grapes and a golden bell are each valued at 80 coins. The most valuable piece of fruit is a tasty-looking slice of watermelon, which returns wins of 100 coins, and then next up in value is a gold star symbol which pays 200.
It’s traditional for a red 7 to be the highest value symbol in a fruit machine, and Ultimate Hot sticks with that tradition by paying out the top win of 300 coins when the 7 fills a line. There are no special features such as wild substitutions, scatter awards or free spins bonus games in this pokie, so all that happens in normal play is that symbols line up, wins are claimed, and the reels spin again. There are however, a couple of ways that this can be mixed up a little.
Other Features
After any win of less than 175 coins, players will be offered a chance to double the prize, potentially over and over in a gamble game. It’s a 50/50 risk, won by correctly predicting if a playing card is going to be a red or black as it flashes between the colours. Getting it right means that the initial win is multiplied 2x and it can either be collected or players who like a bit more risk can try to multiply the new amount again.
Clearly, it’s a risk, so getting the pick wrong at any stage will lose not just the original win but also anything gained in the gamble round so far, and as these can be quite tricky to get right more than once or twice, perhaps playing with smaller wins is advisable.
The Jackpot Cards bonus round carries no risk at all, as once awarded, the fortunate player is going to win any of the progressive jackpots that are shown above the reels. Firstly however, they need to pick from 12 paying cards that are lying face-down on a second screen, and once 3 of the same suit are found, the corresponding jackpot is won. They range in value, and therefore likelihood of being won, from the small Club prize to the much larger Spade award.
The Verdict
This mobile-optimised pokie can also be played via desktop PC’s and laptops, but however punters choose to spin the reels there’s just the simplicity of watching symbols line up and collecting any wins, with not much more to do other than perhaps gamble some of them.
The Jackpot Cards round is a great feature, but not something that a player is going to see that often, however it’s still nice to think that after any spin a progressive prize could be won.