Speakeasy Boost

Overview Speakeasy Boost

For this online slot game, Kalamba Games transport players back to roaring 20s America, when prohibition was pushing the population into establishments called ‘speakeasys’ to get their booze kick. This is the classic decade of Al Capone, Bugs Moran and Charley Chaplin, where Art Deco was sweeping the nation and martinis were flowing in underground bars. This all informs the look and feel of Speakeasy Boost, which is set in what looks to be a New York Jazz club, populated by starlets, singers and lots of ‘moolah’.

The ‘boost’ part of the title is in part a reference to the action of ‘boosting’ alcohol from establishments to sell it at a higher price on the black market. Kalamba Games aren’t suggesting that players are encouraged to take part in criminal activity, it just sounds right for the title, considering the era they are focusing on.

When it comes to the nuts and bolts of this slot, there are a few features that come mainly in the form of 3 bonus free spins rounds. There are also wilds, multipliers and an amazing top payout of 52,520x your current stake. All in all, this slot has the glamourous look of an expensive nightclub with a risk to reward ratio that the great Al Capone would enjoy.

Theme and Symbols

The main inspiration for this slot, besides the 1920s, looks to be the smash 1988 hit film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, a kid’s film starring Bob Hoskins. The main icon for this game looks exactly like the Jessica Rabbit character who was the deadly femme fatale in this movie. Interwoven with these two themes you also have the strong accents of Jazz.

The background for Speakeasy Boost is a classy Jazz club complete with red velvet drapes, potted ferns, and a darkened ambience like the one you presumably enter when walking into a speakeasy. The board on the other hand takes more inspiration from golden-era Hollywood, with exposed lightbulbs, Roman columns and dramatic red curtains fringing the playing window. This all quietly adds to the classic 20s feel of the slot which the creators are trying to engender in this game. The audio also matches the aesthetic, as the backing track for the game is a bouncy Jazz track.

When it comes to symbols, Speakeasy Boost’s low-paying symbols are a collection of numbers and letters which reflect playing cards. Each of these is playfully decorated to look like silver Art Deco lettering that you might find on the signs of famous establishments during the 1920s. Middle and high paying symbols are a range of Jazz associated instruments such as the saxophone, piano, cello symbols and drums. There is also a golden microphone. The red-haired singer who looks like Jessica Rabbit is the wild, whereas the members of the Jazz band are the bonus scatters. The sax and the microphone are the most valuable non-special symbols.

Game Play

Speakeasy Boost is played on a 5-reel, 3-row board with 243 pay lines available. To create wins, players must land a minimum of 3 matching symbols across the reels, starting at reel 1. The betting range for Speakeasy Boost is 5p to £60 per spin. You can change your current stake by clicking on the coin icon on the bottom right-hand side of the screen. All the other customisation settings, including the paytable, can be accessed by clicking the three stripes menu icon on the left-hand side of the reels.

The return to payer percentage for this game is above average at 97.49%. The hit frequency is 28.68. The volatility for this slot has been rated as very high. The maximum payout that a player can receive from one spin for this game is 5,520x your current stake.

Features

The first special thing that you may notice about this slot is that all the regular symbols in this game can land as double or triple versions of themselves (x2, x3 etc).
The second thing that you will probably notice is that there are 3 meters on this board located at the top of the paying window.

These are the special free spins accumulator meters. Each one represents a different free spins round that you can enter as well as how many spins you will have when you trigger the feature. These can range from 7 to 25 free spins.
To trigger the various free spins bonus rounds, you have to fill the meters to capacity and then land 3 bonus symbols on the reels simultaneously. Each of the meters as explained represents a different level of free spins.

The x1 multiplier bonus round comes with 7 free spins plus one extra spin for every 15 paid spins. The x2 multiplier bonus round comes with 7 free spins plus one extra spin for every 33 paid spins. The x3 multiplier bonus round comes with 7 free spins plus one extra spin for every 50 paid spins

Triggering round 1, 2 or 3 depends on the triggering scatter that you land and the respective round that they represent. The multiple symbols can also appear in the free spins rounds.
It is also possible to buy your way into activating the bonus rounds using the game’s HyperBonus feature. Each one comes with its own RTP, an allotted number of free spins and associated multipliers.

Conclusion

As far as visual and audio appeal, this game rates very highly. A lot of credit must go to Kalamba Games for creating a partially original theme, as it is always difficult to come up with something new in the highly congested realm of online slot games. It also has an appealing collection of bonus features that add to the gaming experience value. In addition, the top payout makes the volatility worthwhile if you are prepared to stick it out a bit.