Bounty Showdown

Overview Bounty Showdown

Created by the new kids on the block Fantasma, Bounty Showdown is a game that takes us to the tumultuous edges of society in the pioneering days of the Wild West. The backstory for this game is that a group of gunslinging gangsters have invaded a town looking for a mysterious vigilante who lynched one of their buddies. In the search for revenge, the cohort of dangerous criminals creates anarchy in the town, destroying property and shooting law-abiding citizens for fun. It is into this exciting and haywire atmosphere that players are thrust into, looking for any loot that might be available from the town’s sacking.

Features for Bounty Showdown include a double re-spin bonus which is triggered by landing 2 bonus wild symbols anywhere on the reels. Doing so will freeze those reels and re-spin the others to land that elusive 3rd wild and trigger the free spins round. The free spins round for this game is layered and involves the spinning of a bonus wheel before the bonus begins to determine the size of the multiplier that wilds will have in the round. In some countries and territories, this game also comes with a bonus buy option that lets you effectively purchase access to the bonus rounds.

Theme and Symbols

As we have already mentioned briefly, the backstory for this game is one of revenge. The gang of criminals have come in search of the killer of their friend and want to achieve retribution for his murder. Said gunslinging bounty hunter goes by the name Mr Joe Boneson. The name might have something to do with the character looking like he is a reanimated skeleton with fire for eyes. All the typical Wild West tropes are on display here from the old wooden church to the cowboys and sheriff badges.

The background for Bounty Showdown looks like the centre strip on an old western town. The main feature of this landscape that players will notice is the rickety old church made of faded wood. This structure sits just to the left of the reels. To the right are a couple of the outlaw gangsters on horseback surveying the town, looking for the crazy skeleton killer. Fantasma has given the background a little more drama in terms of colour by setting the slot at dusk where the large cloud overhead is tinted with the light orange of a fading sun.

The board on the other hand has a far simpler design, with the reels taking the shape of five planks of wood. Depending on your perspective you could say that the interior of this wooden box represents the inside of a crate of whiskey or a wooden coffin.

Symbols for this slot follow the typical breakdown for most slot games. This means a selection of low-paying symbols, some high-paying symbols and a few special symbols. The lowest value symbols in this game are the A to J in card royals. The higher paying symbols are represented by the various outlaw characters. The most valuable of these is the bounty hunter Mr Joe Boneson. Landing 5 of this symbol on a pay line results in a payout of 100x your stake. The bonus wild for this game is the gold coin with a skull imprinted on it. This symbol has different abilities depending on the number that you land per spin.

Game Play

Bounty Showdown is played on a 5-reel, 3-row game board with 10 fixed pay lines available. To achieve wins on this slot, players must match 3 of a kind on a pay line or use the special symbols to make combinations. Each combination made must start on reel 1. The betting range for Bounty Showdown is 10p to £100 per spin.

To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stake up and down using the coins tool located to the right-hand side of the reels. Information about the slot, including the paytable and the auto spins options, can be found via the menu button on the very right-hand corner of the reels.

Volatility for Bounty Showdown is rated at the high end of the spectrum. The return to player percentage for Bounty Showdown is 96.16%, which is about average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 4,761 x your total stake.

Features

The first feature in this game is the Double Bonus Re-spin feature. To trigger this feature, players must land 2 of the Bonus Wild symbols anywhere on the board on the same spin. The reels that contain the two wilds are then frozen whilst the rest of the reels re-spin to give you the chance of landing that third bonus wild that will trigger the free spins feature.

To activate the free spins feature, players must land 3 or more of the special bonus wilds on the reels at the same time. The more scatters that you trigger the bonus with, the better the free spins round you are offered is. The various iterations are explained below:

3 Bonus Wilds = 10 free spins
4 Bonus Wilds = 15 free spins
5 Bonus Wilds = 20 free spins

However, before you begin the free spins round a bonus wheel comes into view on the screen. This wheel is comprised of 16 sections. Each section has a number from 2 to 100. Players are given 3 spins of the reel. The total number that comes from adding the number landed on each spin will be the size of the multiplier that is attached to any wilds that fall within the free spins game.
Landing a combination with the multiplier wild in it will multiply that win by the respective multiplier. You can also add to your free spin tally by landing additional scatters from within the free spins game. There is no upper limit to the number of free spins that you can accrue in this way.

There is also a bonus buy option for this game, however, it is not available in the UK.

Conclusion

Slot games with a backstory always tend to feel a bit thematically stronger than those that don’t. It is easy to make a Wild West slot, but this game feels that much better because there is a narrative at play. This in addition to the game’s simple yet very satisfying gaming dynamics, makes for a great overall product from the Fantasma studio.