Viking Pays

Introducing Viking Pays Slot

Viking Pays is the second in a series of slot from the developers at Inspired, and it shares the same set up, features and math model but instead of being set in ancient Egypt this slot is set on a Viking ship. If you have already played Egyptian Pays you will know what to expect from this game as it is only the theme that has changed. This slot centres around the all-important Re-Life bonus and this is where you are most likely to land the substantial wins.

Game Play, Bets & Statistics

Unlike the first slot in this series, the reels in Viking Pays are semi translucent therefore it is hard to make out much of the background. The game plays out over 5-reels, 3-rows, and offers 243 ways to win. When it comes to placing your bet the minimum is set at 20p per spin with the maximum bet being £20 per spin and this slot can be played on all devices giving the players the option to play whenever or wherever they are. There is not a great deal on offer in the base game however, it is complete with a regular wild. You may find that you must be patient with regards to activating the bonus rounds but when it does the patience really will have been worth it. In this slot you need to continually renew your lives to continue playing so even the tiniest of wins are significant. All wins also increase the progressive multiplier and there are pay outs of up to 12,500x your stake.

Bonus features

When it comes to bonus features there are not that many in the base game and you do need the Re-Life Spins to get anywhere in this slot. There is a Viking warrior wild symbol that will land on every reel apart from the 1st and can assist your regular symbols to create winning combinations. This wild cannot substitute for the bonus symbol and it is worth nothing on its own.
There is also a Spin Chance feature which lets you use your additional bankroll if it depletes to below your current bet level. You then get a final single spin to use your remaining funds and see whether you can stay in the game or not.

The bonus round is referred to as the Re-Life Bonus spins, and this is a really important feature possibly the most important and it is activated when you land three or more bonus scatters anywhere on your screen at the same time. There is also a progressive multiplier that is active during the bonus round, and it depends on the number of scatters you landed to where you start on the multiplier ladder. Land 3 scatters and the starting multiplier is 2x, land 4 scatters and you start with a 4x multiplier, land all 5 and you start with a 5x multiplier.

On the left-hand side of the screen is the life-meter and you begin with three full set of lives. For every losing pin one life is removed from the meter and for every winning spin the meter re-sets to three again. On the right you will see the multiplier ladder which starts from 2x and goes up to 50x, there are 11 rungs on the ladder these being 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 7x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 30x and 50x.

For every win you land you climb one rung up the multiplier ladder and the multiplier value does not re-set when you land a losing spin. When you get to having just one life left you get to benefit from the Life Saver Spin. This means that a fully stacked Viking berserker wild would land on the middle reel (your 3rd reel) and the other reels then spin as normal. This could assist you to prolong the Bonus spin round, and this is one feature that I think really lives up to its name.

How to play

When it comes to the game play there is nothing unusual and the games interface is as minimalistic as it could be and the gear symbol that sits below your spin button takes you to the various menus. The pay table can be found in the information section and there are other various slides that explain the game rules and the bonus features.

To land a win you need to land 3 – 5 of the same symbols on one of the 243 pay lines starting from the far left to right. There is the option to play with the turbo mode switched on and this will accelerate the gameplay quite dramatically. Fortunately or not depending on how you see it is the ability to turn the sound on or off however it gives you no option to turn off the music and keep the sound effects, which you will find on a lot of other competitor free slot machine games without downloading or registration.

My Viking Pays Experience

I particularly enjoyed the way that the buttons disappear on every spin and how the non-winning symbols fade whilst the winners are highlighted. Whilst these may seem like minor details it is things like this that make a slot standout and improve the whole gaming experienced. We like how all buttons in the interface disappear on each spin, and how non-winning symbols are faded out to highlight the remaining winning symbols when you land a winner. These are minor details perhaps, but things like this add up to improve the gaming experience.

There is little that I can say about the base game as there was nothing that significant to report from the spins I made, but I did activate the Re-Life Bonus Round, and this was when things got a lot more interesting. I landed the minimum of 3 shield maiden scatters and this provided me with the lowest place on the multiplier ladder which equated to 2x, after a couple of non-winning spins the Viking warrior wild provided me with the life saver that it is supposed to be and I would have finished with nothing if it was not for his bravery.

The visuals in Viking Pays are well executed and the soundtrack sets the mood for some awesome battles. Although the base game lacks excitement it could certainly have benefited from a feature just to break it up a bit. Whilst you do have the opportunity to win 4,860x your stake in the base game, it is most likely that you will see plenty of dead spins and a handful of smaller wins. This is a highly volatile slot and you need to activate the bonus round to up the excitement.
Personally, I feel that if the lifesaver stacked wild was not available the bonus feature would be over before it started, there is no denying that the feature really is a life saver. However, if you get lady luck on your side you can see wins of 12,500x your stake, and the maximum win which is a colossal £250,000.