Guardian of the South Slots
While they might be a little more dangerous that the friendly felines that many of us keep as pets in our homes, there’s no doubt that lots of people have a fascination for big cats. Lions, tigers, and other large versions of our small furry friends are among the most feared and loved creatures in the world, and they’ve long been important icons for cultures throughout the globe.
They’re also right at the center of Guardian of the South by Bally Gaming. In this game, which you can play for real money at many live casinos, the guardian in question is a large cat that is protecting an incredible trove of valuable treasures. Players will be looking to make their way into a variety of bonus games to get their hands on a piece of this fortune, all with the help of these giant cats that appear on the reels.
Reading the Treasure Map
The Guardian of the South video slot machine is a five reel, 40 line game that can be found at many live casinos. At the moment, this game hasn’t entered the world of free online slots just yet; that means that only real money play is available, at least until it starts showing up at online casino sites as well. This is a vaguely Egyptian themed slot, with many Egyptian treasures being available on the reels for gamblers to match.
Like many other games, though, the prizes start with the lower-valued poker rank icons, ranging from jacks up to aces. However, high-paying symbols are also available. These include various valuables like bowls, bracelets, jewelry, and other treasures. In all cases, players will need to hit three or more in a row in order score a prize, with longer matches providing bigger rewards.
Sometimes, these icons can appear in stacked form. Before every spin, two different symbols are chosen to take up stacked positions on each reel. These could be any of the normal prize-winning icons, and they change every round, providing new winning possibilities each time you play.
Cats in the Cradle
However, the centerpiece of this entire machine is the guardian itself, the majestic cat. These scatter symbols can award instant prizes, but more importantly, they’re also the trigger for a variety of special features. This starts when you happen to just hit one or two on a given spin. Each time it happens, there is an opportunity to trigger the Guardian Mystery Feature, which can offer up one of six possible bonuses for players.
These can offer up various unique opportunities. For instance, you might get a pick’em game where you can either get a multiplier on your winnings, or possibly an instant prize of coins worth up to 75x your spin bet. There’s also the opportunity to turn all of the poker rank icons into a single high-paying symbol, potentially creating some very large instant wins. Finally, three of the features add wilds: either stacked wilds in place of your normal stacks, completely wild reels, or up to 17 wild symbols added at random to the screen.
The benefits get even better if you happen to hit three or more scatters on the same spin. That’s the trigger for the free spins game, in which players can choose between three different versions depending on how much volatility they desire. Players get wilds added to the reels, with the number of added substitutes increasing as the number of free spins goes down. Players can choose eight free spins with 50 wild symbols, 16 spins with 35 added wilds, or 30 free spins with just 20 substitutes added to each reel.
Guardians of the Casino Galaxy
The Guardian of the South video slot is actually one of two games, as Bally also released Guardian of the North at the same time. These two games are similar in theme and style, with the northern version featuring a protective polar bear instead. The other difference you’ll find when you compare the two is that the free spins bonus feature is different: while this one offers some choices, the North variant features just a single mode.
This is a minor change, which means that the choice of which of these two machines you may wish to play will mostly come down to personal preference. The good news is that both games are excellent additions to any collection of casino slot machines. With unique theming, fast action and a gorgeous presentation, gamblers should have a great time with these machines. If you haven’t tried them yet, with highly recommend that you play Guardian of the South if it is available at a casino near you.
