Bat Family Slots
Bat Family has nothing to do with Bruce Wayne and his loaded dynasty, oh no. This 5-reel video slot is, rather, about a bunch of chalk-white vampires living in a huge gothic castle on the side of a mountain. Developed by the Fuga Gaming Technologies software platform, in association with Fuga Gaming Technologies, Bat Family’s fun horror theme is, paradoxically, a breath of fresh air in a market that’s crowded with slot games themed on Ancient Egypt.
Available on mobile and tablet devices, as well as on desktop, Bat Family lures players in with the promise of action for just 0.40 per spin. With 30 paylines in play, there are plenty of opportunities to win cash and have fun. There’s also a brace of bonus features to enjoy. The game, which was released in 2014, boasts a jackpot of 5,000.
A Familiar Family
If you’re a fan of The Addams Family or The Munsters, this game will look more than a tad familiar. It contains a welcome blend of comedy and horror, just like those two classics. The reels are superimposed against the background of a gothic castle, perhaps in Transylvania. The sky is darkening and the Bat Family is preparing for another night-in: but what do vampires do of an evening? Put their feet up and watch the box? Toast marshmallows in the coal fire? Hang upside down from the loft rafters? It’s anyone’s guess; all we can say for sure is what function each character performs in the slot game.
Symbols occupying the reels include a red rose, a wooden casket, a skull bearing a melting candle, a clove of garlic, a spell book, a green potion, a mirror, a red-eyed bat gargoyle and a family crest. There’s also an Elixir Bonus and several character symbols. Vampires include the head of the family tree, a wizened old man in an elegant jacket; his handsome progeny, sporting a bowtie; and his daughter, sallow-skinned like the rest and wearing a red top. We think the developers missed a trick by not including an icon of a victim – you know, some terrified teenager who stumbles on the mansion only to be set upon by the Bat Family, her neck a bloody red gash. Oh, well.
Venturing into the Castle
The object of the game is simple: land matching combinations to trigger pay-out wins. After every win, any of the three main characters is liable to float into the screen and award a multiplier of x2, x3 or x4 for that particular pay-out. This feature is known as the Mystery Bonus, and it is triggered entirely at random.
Further nifty features concern the Elixir Bonus. Land five to trigger the bonus round, where you’ll be asked to open chests to win prizes. When three garlic symbols appear, the bonus game will end; three Elixirs, meanwhile, awards a super prize and also ends the game. You can win up to 450x your stake during this round.
As well as a bonus symbol, there’s also a wild, which is that of the red-eyed gargoyle. This substitutes for all symbols in the game except the Bonus and Free Games icons. Use the wild to help you form winning combinations.
The Free Games symbol is the scatter. Three or more of these appearing anywhere on the reels triggers free spins. You can win between five and 50 free spins, and during the feature, all wilds remain frozen until a winning combo occurs. A random multiplier of x5 can also be attached, and the feature is able to re-trigger.
No shortage of bonuses, then, but what about the base game? Well, you can hardly sniff at the regular pay-table. The lowest-paying symbols are the garlic, rose and mirror, none of which pays more than 250 for five-in-a-line. Better still is the casket, which pays 500 for five, or the female family member, who pays 1,000. Thousands of years of male patriarchy continues, though, as the male characters pay more than the female: 1,500 for five of the young male, 2,000 for five of the patriarch. The best-paying symbol in the game is that of the crest, which yields 5,000 for five-in-a-line. It also pays 1,000 for four or 250 for three.
Bat’s your Lot!
Bat Family is a terrific slot game: fun, fast-paced, quirky, well-designed. You’ll certainly get a kick out of the amusing symbols, and the re-triggering bonuses are sure to help enhance the gameplay.
