Fowl Play London Slots
Welcome to the world of weird online slot machines, where an English rooster takes on the role of Britain's most iconic investigator in Fowl Play London by WMG Gaming. If you have had the unusual pleasure of trying the first and original Fowl Play slot or any of its many sequels, you’re likely to have a good idea of what this new game from WMG is all about. Built for Italian punters and promoted with a website of its own in the country, Fowl Play London takes the "historic" roosters from the Fowl Play franchise and wraps them in a UK-themed, mobile-optimized package that can be enjoyed on any phone and tablet as well as computers.
Although it was developed for the Italian market, Fowl Play London couldn't be more British. From the glorious background of the Big Ben and Parliament, through its marching band theme, and all the way to its Bobby hats, horse carriages, and beyond, this slot oozes Britishness. You see, unlike the earlier Fowl Play slots, which mostly featured chickens, roosters, and eggs, this one was inspired by the world's greatest detective – Sherlock Holmes. So prepare to see roosters wearing Sherlock's iconic hat, coat, and smoking pipe, newspapers about Moriarty, as well as signs of Baker Street while playing the game. An unconceivable mix of imagery, no doubt, but one that's nonetheless amusing.
Other than the visuals, another thing that's out of the ordinary in this 5x3 online slot is that it has a built-in option similar to the hold buttons of old mechanical slots and video poker machines. This lets you choose what you want to keep on your reels before it gives you another spin. But that's not the only thing waiting for you at this 10-payline game, as you can learn when you read our full review.
Hunt Down That Fox!
Fowl Play London lets you choose between playing with 5 paylines and playing with 10 paylines by using the "Bet" button to increase your stake. When the Bet control is reverted back to a minimum, you will be paying 0.25 credits per spin and playing 5 paylines with a line bet of 0.05 credits. Pushing the Bet button again a couple of times will take you to the max bet, which will cost you only 8 credits per spin and allow you to play the full 10 paylines with 0.80 credits per single line.
Winning combinations here are calculated from left to right only, but the pay table just lists the prizes in "points" – one point being equal to one cent of a currency. At first glance, the pay table can be a bit confusing to less-experienced players as it features six different types of payouts that correspond to the six bet sizes you can play with.
The symbols you’d want to pay the most attention to are the Faberge eggs and the fox wild symbols (representing Prof. Moriarty), which can pay 125x your payline bet with the highest possible wager for a combination of 3 symbols, and up to 1,250x your line bet for 5 matching pictures. Other available symbols are the Rooster and Dog, which pay 20-250x your line bet for 3 to 5 symbols; the Bobby hat and newspaper, which pay 10-200x payouts; as well as the Parliament, Baker Street sign, and car, which pay 10-100x your line bet. These are all payouts for the maximum stake.
Paying more may not be a bad idea after all, as Fowl Play London gives you twice the shots to collect the highest payouts by default. You see, the slot was wired to give you another spin when any of your spins don't produce a winning combination of 5 identical symbols. So, every time you don't get a payout for a 5-of-a-kind, you can enjoy a respin without spending any money. And that's not all.
The respin feature is like the "hold" feature from old mechanical fruit machines, giving you the option to “hold” certain reels during the next spin. Only here do you get to enjoy the feature more often. The slot will normally choose the reels for you as a suggestion, but you can also choose the ones you want to hold manually. And if you don't want any of the reels to be held, you can deselect all reels and just press the spin button to have a completely new spin for free!
Aside from this special feature and the standard wild symbol, you can also find a cash bonus game at this slot. The bonus game starts when 3, 4, or 5 of the bonus symbols (chicken hatching golden eggs) land on the reels. It is a 4-level game of hunting for clues that hides various cash prizes. To win some, you need to investigate rooms and pick objects to reveal "clues" plus gold and silver coins that add different cash prizes to your balance, depending on your wager. When you find a clue, you progress to the next room, no matter if you've already discovered a cash prize or not. And if you find one or more fox paws (depending on the level), you will start losing lives until the fox appears to literally shoot you and end the bonus round.
What's the Cost, Sherlock?
The Fowl Play London slot can be played either as a free demo game or for real cash through any casino that offers it. To play for real money, you will first need to create an account with a casino and deposit some cash to that account. The whole process from registration to playing takes only minutes and is entirely safe with most casinos online. However, if you're a beginner and aren't sure how to choose a casino for yourself, you might also want to follow this link to learn about the best casinos out there.
If you’re an inexperienced player, another good idea would be to first play the slot for free before you spend real cash. A free Fowl Play London slot machine is available right here, as well as at virtually any operator that will offer the game for real money. When you use a free slot, you get the same experience as when playing with money. This can come very handy when browsing for new games since it allows you to try any product before you buy.
Another Icon Turned Into a Slot
Any player that has researched a collection of online slots from WMG Gaming will find that Fowl Play London is not much more than a weird-looking clone of other games from the company. If you want another popular story turned into the same slot machine, for example, you can try the Pigs & Bricks video slot. It is based on the tale of Three Little Pigs and is exactly like Fowl Play London, from the hold function to its pay table and bonuses. A more plain-looking clone is the Yabba Dabba Dosh, which partially borrows from the Flintstones but retains most of the features you can find in the Fowl Play London slot.
Should I Put My Deerstalker On?
The Fowl Play London slot isn’t lacking in entertainment value – that’s for sure. But once the novelty wears off, it may not be as stimulating to play. One of the biggest complaints is that the only information the slot offers about the RTP rate is that it is “greater than 90%”. This doesn’t sound very comforting, especially with all the slots you can find online that are more transparent and have a much better rate. Also, as useful as the hold function can be, it can sometimes get annoying because you can't turn it off at all. There’s only one way to find out if this one’s for you – so get ready for some Fowl Play.
