Jackpot Vault Slot
What do you do when you bring out a game that people just can’t get enough of? This is a question that has haunted many a developer over the decades. The answer for Bally when faced with the success of their 88 Fortunes slot seems to have been a simple one that many before them have followed. Clone it and change the theme!
Seriously though, they have and yet…. Jackpot vault just manages to have a flavour all of its own because it isn’t dominated by the massive Asian theme of the game it copies. Instead it has a very clear and simple layout full of familiar casino symbols. We don’t feel like the game math is exactly the same either, the progressives seem a little harder to hit but, as a result even the mini tends be well worth grabbing!
Theme & Cabinet
To give this game its full title it is called Jackpot Vault Fine Diamonds. There’s nothing awe inspiring about the game layout, Bally have gone for simple clean fun on the screen. The reels and all the controls are touch screen and they blend in well with the massive curving LED screen of the cabinet. It’s very easy on the eye this game, without being in your face.
There’s a 5x3 reel frame which is semi-transparent on the screen. You have no pay-lines to consider as this is a 243 ways to win game much like the reel power version of Buffalo. It has to be said the touchscreen controls on this cabinet are amongst the best we’ve ever used and the seat is comfortable enough to use at home, great for those long play sessions!
All the best slot symbols make an appearance here, dollar signs, Bells, playing card icons and the like. None offer massive rewards to be honest, much like the 88 Fortunes game the objective here is to trigger either the free spins feature or land the progressives. The base game offering is just filler.
Gameplay & Features
The base bet is 0.50 credits whilst the max is a 10x per play multiplier. That’s a decent enough bet range to suit most pockets and as you can theoretically hit a progressive from any bet, there’s value vs bet on this slot too.
The only time in the stock game you can rack up big wins is usually in combination with the wilds. Both the scatter vault icon and the diamond replace all other symbols. It’s rare to see a wild that can replace a scatter and is one in itself. The Diamonds grants free spins whilst the vaults grant a chance at the progressives in their original forms.
There’s 8,10 or 15 free games on offer for 3,4 or five diamond / vault scatter combinations. The diamonds also carry a 5x,10x and x50 multiplier of your bet which you don’t get when a vault replaces them so it is still worth getting them alone without a fault wild or scatter. During the free spins games only the higher pay icons are on offer which increases the average win value dramatically. In addition, each diamond on a spin adds in a multiplier up to x5 – five of a kind with a wild suddenly became massively valuable.
What everyone will be dreaming of is the vault round. Each time a vault wild lands on the reels in either the base game or the free spins feature it may open. If it does, you get one pick out of 6 vaults for every scatter you collected on the screen. There are four credit prizes, two small, two large and two random progressives hidden on each screen. So think about this – if you get all three of the vault scatters you can potentially pick up two progressives and a credit prize in the same pick win bonus!
The vaults are also available in the free spins games, which are re-triggerable. Sadly, any wins from the vaults are not affected by the multipliers for any spins game and we can understand that – it would get insane! The average value of a mini jackpot on something like 88 fortunes is frequently 10-20 credits, on this game – it’s generally 5x that as they are harder to get. We prefer this setup as the pay-out potential overall is bigger, though so is the variance.
Summary
Essentially this is a better version of the 88 Fortunes slot with bigger progressives, higher variance and minus the big traditional Asian slots theme. We can see why this is quickly developing a fan following. Although, the higher variance can make it a little more brutal on the bankroll than the game it is based on if you run a cold streak!
