Jaguar Mist Slot
When you hear the word Jaguar, it’s tempting to think of the car. It is after all one of the most glamorous (and sadly expensive) ones out there. But there is the jungle kind too. So has Jaguar Mist in a forest of its own or has it missed out?
Welcome to a Very Unusual Jungle
This isn’t your usual jungle. While the background is of a rainforest, with trees and plants of all kinds, plus a little river, the animals within the reels aren’t your usual ones. That’s what you’ll notice straight away. While a leopard, parrot and toad are likely animals to find there, it’s illogical to have a dolphin and an eagle. You’ll struggle to see a pattern. Presumably, part of the game’s charm.
The peculiarity continues with the sound effects. Rather than have a babbling brook, bird calls or a roar of different animals, you instead have the noises of what would appear to be from a pub. There’s unintelligible chatter, a raised voice and the noises of different betting machines. Rather odd. You can mute these ‘ambient sounds’ rather easily by unticking a box.
There are 5 reels and 4 images. As it’s opaque you won’t be able to see any of the background. Either side of the reels is a purple and black X that says xtra Reel Power. The symbol is at the same whatever power you decide to play on. While the name of the game isn’t displayed, the firm behind the game, Aristocrat, is mentioned twice outside of the main design.
Kings, (Aces and Animals Etc) of the Jungle
The buttons for changing are within the main picture and at the bottom of the screen. The Reel Cost starts off at x1, but goes up to x5, x10, x20 and x40. As you increase the cost, the lighting of the reels continues. This is what the xtra Reel Power refers to and is further explained within the Reel Power section. If you only do x1, the first reel lights up, but if you do more than the other reels start to light up. It’s subtle but persuasive. Who wants to be in the dark?
The Bet per Reel starts off at 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00. The currency throughout is in dollars. You can also decide to play automatically on 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 spins. Rather unusually, there isn’t a maximum bet but as there are no options to change paylines and only several possibilities for betting, it maybe isn’t too surprising. The Total Bet amount goes red when you’ve betting at maximum capacity. It’s the same colour when you’ve reached your credit limit.
The Paytable is one of 5 different categories within the ‘?’ box. The ranking of the symbols is rather squashed. Unsurprisingly the jaguar is the top-ranked ordinary card, worth 300 credits for 5 of a kind. As the hierarchy is so cramped, you need to pay attention to find that the eagle and dolphin have a maximum equal value of 150 credits, and that the parrot and toad are worth a joint highest amount of 120 credits. The differences in value within the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10 and 9 are made clearer.
Mist Opportunities with the Bonuses
The orchid is the Wildcard and replaces everything except for the Scatter. It doesn’t offer any credits itself, and only appears on reels 2, 3 and 4. However, during a free game if an orchid appears it will either double or treble your score.
The Scatter is a symbolic medal that offers 2, 10 or 20 credits, and 8, 15 or 20 extra spins, depending on whether you get 3,4 or 5 of them. They are played at the same betting level and offer up to x27 the total win. During these bonus spins, the free spins can occur again. You can also get 5 free games if you get 2 medals during free spins.
While there are plenty of ways to get free spins, there aren’t any bonus games which is a shame. It is also annoying how the bonuses are explained over two pages. It would have been easier to have included all the details about the Wildcard and Scatter within the Feature page.
Love it, or Hate it
This game’s quirkiness will either charm or annoy you. The way the reel cost is designed is good as are the various opportunities for free spins, but the lack of a bigger jackpot, bonus game or more innovative gameplay will feel limiting. It could do with a few minor changes. As it stands, you’re unlikely to get jungle fever by playing Jaguar Mist.
