Sale of the Century Slot Machine
There are video slots on all sorts of topics: fruit; Ancient Egypt; aliens; football; the Wild West; fictional characters… The last subject you’d expect a casino developer to explore would be, er, sales. But that’s what OpenBet have done with their slot game Sale of the Century. The 5-reel instant-play slot is basically about commerce – what we spend our money on.
Paradoxically, of course, players will be spending money to play a game that’s about spending money. But we shouldn’t be too cynical: this is, after all, a pretty decent slot game, one that has more than its fair share of special features. Its jackpot, meanwhile, is a whopping 5,000 credits.
The Saleroom
In this particular saleroom, there are all kinds of objects to feast your eyes upon. Before you do that, you’d better plug some coins into the machine. The necessary control panel is in its usual place, along the bottom of the screen, and you’ll find all the buttons you need to get started. Simply set your stake-per-line – it goes from 0.25 to 1,000 – then decide on how many paylines you wish to enact. If you play at max bet, you’ll be staking 20,000 credits per spin. Players of modest funds, of course, can play just a handful of credits on a handful of lines. The choice rests entirely with the player.
Incidentally, there’s also an Auto Spin feature, one that permits the gamer to play between zero and 50 pre-programmed spins. Keeping tabs on your finances is easy too, thanks to handy Stake and Win tabs.
Goods Galore
The reels in Sale of the Century appear against a very gaudy red background. It looks, perhaps, like a television set – but who’s to say? The 5x3 grid, which is bordered by gold, features 13 symbols, all but one of them related in some way to the sales theme. As such, we have a washing machine; a sofa; a TV; a set of golf clubs; a moped; a fur-trimmed coat; a shiny red car; a cruise liner; a pair of watches (one silver, one gold); a diamond necklace. There are also three bonus icons; more on them shortly.
Among the regular symbols, eight act as ‘of a kind’ icons. Thus, the washing machine is paired with the sofa – land three, four or five and you’ll win a pay-out. You can also mix and match with the TV and golf clubs; the fur-trimmed jacket and moped; and the items of jewellery. Because you don’t need a matching combination of the same symbol, but are allowed to mix and match, your chances of scoring wins are enhanced.
The two highest-paying base game symbols are not, alas, linked with any others. They do, however, provide pay-outs for just two matching. For instance, the cruise liner pays three for two, 25 for three, 150 for four and 1,000 credits for five. The red car pays four for two, 50 for three, 500 for four and a huge 5,000 for five. All symbols pay left to right except the scatter logo, which pays any.
As well as regular symbols, the game includes a wild, which is represented by two hands pressing down on a buzzer. The surrogate appears on the central three reels only and replaces all symbols except for the question mark and the Sale of the Century game logo. It is not, however, linked with any symbols in the pay-table.
That Sale of the Century scatter, incidentally, grants entry to the Gift Shop – or so the pay-table says, at any rate. We played the free slot mode for a while to see what this bonus involved, but we weren’t able to activate it. Presumably the Gift Shop is the usual bonus mini-game featuring cash prizes and multipliers. In any case, you’ll win modest pay-outs for finding two or more scatters; you’ll claim one for two, five for three, 20 for four and 100 for five.
Super Pick Feature
The Super Pick feature is triggered when the flashing silver question mark shows up on the reels. It appears on reels two, three and four simultaneously, and if this happens, you’ll be furnished with an instant win.
Caveat Emptor
Sale of the Century is, on the whole, a decent slot game – but not without its faults, it should be said. The gameplay is somewhat dull while the audio is repetitive. On the plus side, there are many interesting symbols, both wild and scatter symbols and a random bonus. The jackpot is also pretty high.
