Wild Chapo

Overview Wild Chapo slot

Wild Chapo is the latest slot from the developers at Relax Gaming and Chapo is a Spanish name that translates to Shorty and perhaps the most famous Chapo was the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán who was one of the world's most powerful drug traffickers. The star of this slot is a far more amiable fellow whose interest seems to be blowing things up with dynamite. This is excellent news for those playing Wild Chapo, as every time explosions or flames turn up it indicates that the features such as the re-spins, expanding Wilds, or free spins, are about to come into play.

Theme & Symbols

Wild Chapo takes place in a hot and sunny climate where the 5-reel, 15 pay line reel set can be seen inside of a wooden structure in the middle of a dusty desert. There are cacti shimmering in a haze of heat, whilst the rock formations that can be seen in the distance are complete with skulls, old waggon wheels in this very warm part of the world. The soundtrack is sultry suggesting that the slot is in Mexico, and this is confirmed by the bottle that you will see in the right-hand corner of your screen which I can only assume, and hope is a bottle of tequila. Wild Chapo has a cartoonish quality that Relax Gaming uses well to both lighten the atmosphere and provide tension at the right moments.

There are eight pay symbols in this slot, four lower value card suits: diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades and these have been designed in bright vibrant coloured patterns. The higher value symbols are represented by chihuahuas, wise old owls that wear neckerchiefs, grumpy donkeys, and the main man himself Chapo who is poised and ready with his stick of dynamite.

Game Play

When it comes to the gameplay the explosive antics can be seen and played on any device and there is a bet range from 10p per spin to £100 pounds per spin which will appeal to a wide range of players. The math model is highly volatile however it will provide players with notable wins when the right conditions are in play. Thanks to the feature buy function, the return to player comes in two lots. The first is the standard which is 96.36% and average, but this rises to 97% when the but in feature is in play.
If you land a combination of five of the same premium symbols on a line you will be rewarded with a pay-out of 10 times to 25 times your stake. The explosive Wilds are worth more and will reward you with 40x your bet for a line of five, and the Wilds can also replace other pay symbols to complete winning combinations and sometimes can be seen landing in 4x4 sized blocks.

Features

There are three features of note in Wild Chapo, and these consists of the re-spins, free spins, and expanding Wilds. The expanding Wilds will only show up in the base game and are activated when a TNT crate symbol lands. When it is all in place the crates explode upwards and create extra wild symbols on the respective reels.

The re-spin feature becomes active when two bonus symbols land during the base game. These bonus symbols will turn into sticky Wilds and you will be rewarded with a re-spin. If you land new Wilds in this re-spin these will also turn sticky, and you will be rewarded with another re-spin. The re-spins will repeat until there are no new wild symbol symbols landed.

If you land three or more scatter symbols the free spins are activated, and you will be rewarded with 7, 9, or 11, free spins for landing 3, 4, or 5, scatter symbols anywhere in view. Alternatively, you can activate the free spins by paying 60x your bet and hitting the bonus buy button. When the feature begins, the triggering bonus symbols will leave a small bomb overlay symbol on their position and this will remain in place for the rest of the round. When a bonus symbol lands it will leave one of the bomb symbols on its position and when three or more scatter symbols land on the same spin an additional three free spins will be awarded.

On your final free spin, all the positions that have the overlay bomb symbols will be converted into Wilds and have a win multiplier corresponding to the number of bombs. The multipliers can get as high as 5x and having more than one multiplier on the same win line will see the multipliers multiply their values to provide the win.

Conclusion

The Wild Chapo bonus round is unlike slots that use regular free spin rules, and it is not one you usually watch win climbing steadily before receiving the final reward. As there is a relatively low number of pay lines, the bonus games generally hang on the final spin, and hopefully you land the big spin. There is not a lot that happens on the other free spins and at times this can be absolutely nothing. The primary job of the free spins is to facilitate the bomb symbol collection process.
Due to the way the dynamics work the free spins can be nerve wracking in two ways. Firstly, if you are sitting through a bonus round that only drops a small number of extra bomb symbols, the final spin can turn out to be a real let down, particularly if you have paid for the bonus feature. On a more positive note, when a bunch of bomb overlays gather on your reels, there is a high level of anticipation for that last spin then you will be hoping the higher value symbols appear to fill in the gaps between the Wilds. If you get lucky the wins can be as high as 10,000 times your stake and this is very possible. Landing retriggers or multiple Wilds can make a huge difference between a disappointing result and a totally amazing one.

Although Wild Chapo is not as strong as some of the slots from the developers at Relax Gaming it can still provide players with a rough ride. This slot may not suit those who are unwilling to risk everything on what often boils down to one free spin. The dynamic is exciting, and the Wild Chapo bonus game style will certainly appeal to those who like to go all in and see what happens on the final throw of the dice.

I enjoyed playing Wild Chapo immensely, admittedly I am an all or nothing kind of player and therefore the dynamic suited me well. The features are excellent as are the wins that you can land, and I would rate this lot as a solid 8.5/10 and recommend all players give it at least a spin or two.