Lucky Mai Tai Slots
If you’re feeling lucky, give Lucky Mai Tai a go. The 5-reel, non-progressive video slot from the Booming Games software suite is all about fun in the sun, set as it is on the golden shore of an unspecified island. Released in 2016, the feel-good pokie has become a favourite of many players owing to its amusing, cartoonised symbols and myriad features, including free spins, a double-or-nothing gamble component and an enticing 2-Way Pay feature.
Lucky Mai Tai offers players the chance to hit winning combinations on 15 non-adjustable pay-lines. There are ten separate symbols filling up the 5x3 grid, and players can stake between 0.03 and 3 credits per pay-line. At the top end, then, you can wager as little as 0.45 or as many as 45 credits per spin.
Welcome to Paradise
There is an array of cheerful characters populating the Lucky Mai Tai grid, which appears in front of an expanse of aquamarine water. In the near distance, you can discern the green outcrops of tropical islands, so we’re presumably sat on one ourselves. The reel grid is fashioned to resemble a beach hut, with wooden torches at each end spitting flames. Along the bottom of the hut are buttons for Autoplay, Spin, Gamble and Max Bet. The function of each button is pretty self-explanatory.
Symbols include a purple orchid, a grinning pineapple wearing a pair of sunglasses, a blue fish, a colourful parrot, a bikini-clad female with a Hawaiian lei around her neck, and two special symbols in the form of a wild and a scatter. The wild is an expressive face carved into a piece of wood while the scatter is a Mai Tai cocktail, which wears a rather blitzed expression (sleep it off, old sport).
In addition to the stars of the show, the game includes a few number icons: 7, 8 and 9, each one carved in wood and decorated with a small flower.
Combinations of every icon are linked with sums in the pay-table. The numbered icons are least valuable, though you can still net 150 for five at maximum bet. Five pineapples is 900, five flowers 240 and five of the female sunbather 1,500. The special symbols live further up the food chain. The Mai Tai scatter pays 2,250 for five, 450 for four and 225 for three; the wild pays the 15,000 grand prize for five, 1,500 for four and 150 for three.
Needless to say, the wild can replace all symbols in the game, except for the scatter. Line up three or more scatters, meanwhile, and you’ll trigger a round of free spins. Which leads me neatly to…
2-Way Pay
When you find three or more wild symbols on the reels, you’ll automatically trigger the unique 2-Way Pay feature. For the next ten spins, all wins are counted on active pay-lines from both left-to-right and right-to-left, meaning you have twice the chance of striking a win. Landing five symbols in a row is counted both ways, rewarding double winnings.
Hitting three or more scatters during 2-Way Pay immediately furnishes you with ten free spins. Your 2-Way Pay spins are suspended during these free spins; when the ten run out, they automatically resume.
Hitting three or more wilds during free spins grants you 2-Way Pay for ten spins directly after your free spins have run out.
The Gamble Option
Not all slots include a gamble function, but I’m pleased to report that Lucky Mai Tai does. Players can gamble after any regular line win. It’s a simple Double or Nothing game, whereby you must choose either a green potion or a red potion. The pineapple barman will then rattle his cocktail shaker and pour a few shots. If your liquid is poured, you win. Gamers can roll the dice up to ten times before the feature terminates. Your winnings are also capped at 10,000. Just hit Collect at any time to return to the base game.
Care for a Cocktail?
In Lucky Mai Tai, Booming Games have designed a pleasant, summery instant-play slot game. The pay-table is strong, the inclusion of wilds and scatters is to be applauded and the 2-Way Pay feature can lead to some serious wins. On the downside, it’s a shame those pay-lines are fixed at 15, though you could always play Lotus Love by this provider, which has 50.
