Jurassic Jackpot Pokie
Unlike the subject matter of Jurassic Jackpot, basic 3-reel pokies are far from extinct and this is a classic example of why players keep coming back to the simple pleasures of spinning the reels and seeing what winning combinations land in place for them.
It may not have loads of dinosaurs prancing around the reels, or much in the way of bonus features, but it’s still satisfying to pick up some frequent prizes and the jackpot of the title is a nice 800x the value of a coin, so let’s pick over the bones of this Microgaming pokie and see how it all works.
Digging up Jurassic Jackpot
The layout of this pokie is somewhat different from traditional 3-reel, single payline games. Rather than having all the information on a single screen, players can click between the reels and the paytable, so although the theme is ancient, the design is fairly up to date.
There’s a nice background of mountains at sunset, with the odd palm tree and the game logo with a Tyrannosaurus Rex silhouetted against it looking very much like the logo for a certain series of dinosaur-themed movies that I could mention. There’s even a simple animation of a flying dinosaur flapping its way across the screen just to complete the picture. Any time a winning combination is spun, there’s another little animation as the T-Rex of the logo will turn around and roar in celebration.
Below the game we find the control buttons which can be used to set the bet size from as little as 0.25 per spin, while simple + and – buttons can be used to adjust the value of a coin to 0.50, 1.00, 2.00, 5.00, 10.00, 20.00, 25.00 or 50.00. Players can also choose to activate 1 coin or 2, for a maximum wager of 100.00 per spin, although the ratio of winnings to stake is unchanged however many coins are in play.
Jurassic Jackpot
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There’s no Autoplay option, so those players who can’t take the strain of having to click each time they want to spin the reels, rather than let them run automatically are going to have to suffer at this pokie.
Clicking through to the paytable we see a red flower taking up the lower-value positions, with a single one stopping on the payline being worth 2x the value of the coins, while 2 of them on the line pays 5x coins and a full line of 3 is 10x the coin value
The traditional bar symbols are here, subtly designed to look like they are made from stone, and any combination of them filling the line is worth 5x the amount per coin. The single bar is valued at 10x when it runs right across the line, while doubles are worth 25x and triples pay 40x coins.
The highest value regular symbol is the skull of out T-Rex, which pays 80x the value of a coin when it stops across the line.
By far the most valuable symbol however is the T-Rex who has managed to stay alive and acts as the logo for this pokie. It’s also a wild symbol, acting as any other if that will complete a combination. Should a single wild and 2 examples of another symbol land on the line, the base value is doubled, while 2 wilds and a single example of another symbol will pay 4x the base value. So for example, 2 single bars and the wild will pay 20x the amount of a coin rather than 10, while 2 wilds and the single bar will pay 40x.
Landing a full line of the logo symbol is what players will really want, as this is the jackpot combination and pays 800x the amount wagered on each coin. At maximum bet, that equals a beast of a win, with 40,000.00 paid out.
A Roaring Success or a Fossil?
Jurassic Jackpot certainly won’t impress players looking for an all-action game based on a film, although Microgaming also have the licensed Jurassic Park pokie in their range. It will, however, appeal to those who like to sit back with the chance of landing some nice wins, and because of the wild multipliers, it’s not totally devoid of bonus features.
Of course the real highlight is always going to be that 800x jackpot, but even if the perfect combination isn’t landed, this game still has a lot going for it.