Finnegan’s Formula

Overview Finnegan’s Formula

Kalamba Games certainly know how to push the envelope when it comes to their slot’s themes. This may be the first Irish Luck/Steampunk aesthetic ever to have been created for a slot game. At first, you wonder how these two disparate themes could ever coalesce successfully. However, somehow Kalamba has made it work and in many ways, they should be praised for their novel approach, as it is altogether too easy to just do a slightly different spin on an old theme these days.

In terms of game mechanics, Finnegan’s Formula is all about the Ways Pays system. Briefly, this means that you only need to land matching symbols on consecutive reels, you don’t need to worry about where they fall on each reel. This hopefully means more wins and more coins in the bank. You will also notice that the game starts in a 5x4 format, but with time and luck, you can expand the reels by another two vertical positions. This feature is called the K-Raise mechanic and is key to unlocking the top-end potential of this bizarre yet engrossing game.

Theme and Symbols

As we covered in the introduction, this game has rather an odd combination theme. The themes they amalgamate being the Steampunk look and that of the ubiquitous Luck of the Irish aesthetic. Starting with the background, Kalamba paints the picture of some sort of factory made from iron but set in a magical forest. Intermingling with the wide-leafed foliage and trees are dials, exhausts, interlocking gears and pistons. The dualistic theme extends to the board too, with Irish luck symbols being placed onto a board made from rusted metal covered in pipes.

The masterstroke which ties these two themes together is the use of the pistons at the top of the board. These have been designed in part to look like a Leprechaun’s hat, cementing the look in a truly inventive way.
In terms of symbols, Kalamba seems to have elected for a simpler approach, using exclusively Irish Luck-themed icons. Low-value symbols are a collection of card numbers and letters such as King, 10, Ace and Queen. The more valuable symbols comprise a traditional selection of the Irish-themed icons, such as the shamrock, smoking pipe, horseshoe, frothing beer mug and leprechaun hat (complete with Steampunk goggles).

The most valuable out of these symbols is the shamrock, paying up to 5x for five of the symbols on a pay line. The most exciting symbol however is the glass bottle symbol (the K-Cash symbol) which is the key to unlocking the other positions on the reels. The Leprechaun’ face is the wild and the pot of gold is the scatter.

Game Play

Finnegan’s Formula is played on an expandable 5-reel, 4-row board which offers between 1,024 and 7,776 pay lines to play on depending on how many of the positions that you manage to open. Because this is a Ways Pays slot game, you land wins by matching symbols on consecutive reels in any positions on the reels, starting from the left-most reel.

The betting range for Finnegan’s Formula is between 50p and £60 per spin. You can change these bet levels by clicking on the coin symbol on the right-hand side of the board. The controls for auto spins can also be found here. The full menu including the pay table is located on the bottom left-hand side screen. The return to players percentage for Finnegan’s Formula is 95.95%, ever so slightly under the average for the industry. The volatility for this slot is rated between medium and high, so wins should be slightly less frequent than average but more rewarding when they come. The top payout for Finnegan’s Formula is a substantial 68,33x your stake.

Features

Key to most of the good action in this game is the K-Raise game mechanic. As you will notice, at the start of the game, the board is 4 symbols high. The forceful compressor pump is blocking off the other two positions available for each reel. To unlock these further positions, players need to land the clear bottle symbol with the rainbow liquid inside. These are called K-cash bottles. Landing one on a reel gives you the chance to unlock one of the positions above it. Unlocking all the positions means players will get to play with the maximum 7,776 pay lines.

These unusual bottles also land on the board with a random cash prize attached to them. When a bottle lands, it opens and adds the cash value to the counter displayed at the top of each reel. There are also K-Cash bottles that contain no special rainbow liquid. This is what the game calls the cash reset symbol. These still add cash to the various totals on the board but during the spin after they land, the expanded reels will all shrink back to the base format size. This is when you collect all the various totals which have been building at the top of the reels, adding the sum straight into your current total.

In addition to the expandable reel/ cash collection dynamic, wilds are also present for this game. The Leprechaun symbol can step in for any normal symbol bar the scatter and cash bottles, helping to generate more wins.

There is also a bonus free spins round for this game which can be activated by landing 3 of the pot of gold scatter symbols anywhere on the reels. The cash meters which reside at the top of each reel now change from their cash collecting status to a 2x bonus. All of the cash that you have generated before triggering the bonus is however lost because of this. The round begins with 3 free spins, K cash bottle are available during this feature and for every expansion that you trigger, the free spins are reset to their starting total of 3 and the cash collected is added to your total. This bonus round ends when you run out of spins, after which a payout calculation will follow.

There is a feature bonus buy available for this game, however, players registered in the UK do not have access to it.

Conclusion

With a brave but ultimately entertaining theme, a big top pay-out and plenty of fun playing dynamics, Finnegan’s Formula make for an excellent slot game. The amazing number of pay lines also means that you are usually never too far from a win, which is always handy to keep your spirits up when playing these slightly more volatile slots.