About Mystery Motel Slot
The UK’s Hacksaw Gaming are carving a cool little niche for themselves with games like Mystery Motel, with quirky designs and simple but compelling gameplay. The location of this slot is hard to tell but could be off some lonely highway in the dead of night. It looks like a cast of Strange people work in the motel, and odd guests come to stay in it – eccentric characters and scary monsters seem to be populating the reels and when they land on a winning spin they transform into something altogether scarier!
Above all this is a fun-looking game, with a maths model that leans towards the high-risk end of the market and will appeal to big prize chasers. Base wins are triggered by landing three of a kind on a payline from left to right, but there are plenty of other ways to score big thanks to some good features, which we will come on to in a moment.
Betting starts at 20p per spin at most new slot sites.
RTP, Variance and Top Payout
This is a medium-high variance slot which means that payouts will be irregular – long lean spells aren’t uncommon, but they will be punctuated by short sharp bursts of bigger wins. Thanks to random multiplier Wilds and instant wins that can be won on the Bonus Wheel, it is possible to hit some pretty big payouts, right up to 10,000x bet.
But these will be very rare – don’t expect much over a few 100x to be honest. The 1000x wins are only ever hit after 100,000s of spins. The RTP is set at 96.3% which is fairly average for the slots market.Â
Symbols and PaytableÂ
Low value symbols are represented by playing cards 9 through to Ace, paying 0.3x for five of a kind. Premium icons are represented by the characters from the story, who turn when they land in winning lines – there are two gentlemen and two ladies. The Lady that loses her hair offers 10x bet for five of a kind whilst the Werewolf Man, the Maid, and the Man with a cutting knife deliver from 5x to 2x bet.
Look out as well for the Mystery Suitcase (an arm reaching out of a suitcase) which is the multiplier Wild which subs for all other symbols to form wins and carries a multiplier of up to 5x. There are also scatters which are required to unlock the free spins round, including a crazy-looking symbol that seems to be an octopus devouring a car!Â
Gameplay and Features Â
Base gameplay is pretty slow here so you’ll need to be triggering features to get close to the bigger wins. Here is how they work:
Wild Mystery Multipliers Feature
Every time you land a Mystery Suitcase Wild on the reels, you will see a hand reaching out from it in true hammer-horror style. It seems that someone is trapped in there. Once the Wild is a part of a winning combination, the trapped person will call for help, and also deliver a random 2x, 3x, or 5x multiplier. Multipliers can combine, so the potential max multiplier can reach as high as 625x.
Bonus Game Feature
The Octopus Monster in the car represents the Bonus Scatter in Mystery Motel. Three or more are needed on the reels at the same time for the Bonus Game feature to be triggered. Here, players get to spin a Bonus Wheel that is made up of three levels. At each level it is possible to earn instant win payouts or free spins depending on where the wheel lands. If it lands on an arrow then you progress up to the next level with enhanced prizes. Level 3 is where it is possible to land a 20x multiplier and up to 1,000x cash prize.
Free Spins Feature
There is one more way to trigger the Free Spins feature. Land three or more Bell Scatters, and you will get 8, 12, or 20 free spins, depending on the number of Scatters landed. For every three or more additional Scatters landed during the feature, players get 5 extra free spins. The Mystery Wild is set to appear more often during free spins so there is more chance of landing a good sequence of payouts boosted by combining multipliers.
Free Spins can be triggered up to 10 times over.Â
Our Verdict
Mystery Motel could become a cult classic in the same way as the b-movies that inspired it. Those who’ve played Haunted Circus will be familiar with the style and some of the features. What makes this one work in our opinion is that simple gameplay and quirky design is backed up by a good maths model – a top payout of 10,000x makes this a game that holds its own against the current crop of high variance games and the escalating features – free spins, combining multipliers and extra wilds – mean things can quickly turn from a frustratingly slow session into something much better. Just beware of course that as a high variance game Mystery Motel won’t unload its riches easily – so choose your stake carefully and enjoy the ride!
