ALL ABOUT PIRATES 2: MUTINY SLOT
Cluster Pays slots are in for a shake up this summer when Big Time Gaming release their first Megaclusters™ game featuring a typically inventive twist on the standard format. In the meantime we have this little gem from Yggdrasil to keep us occupied. Pirates 2: Mutiny is the follow up to 2018’s Smugglers Paradise. It’s a low-ish variance grid game with a cartoonish feel that will appeal to a broad base of players thanks to a cascading wins mechanic and some light-hearted feature fun in the bonus round including tsunamis that clear the reels and a bunch of multipliers that can boost the wins up to a fairly tasty 4,400x.
GAME SET-UP, SYMBOLS AND GRAPHICS
Pirates are a popular theme in the online slots world because they inspire some pretty cool visuals and Yggdrasil have stepped right up to the plate here with this one. We’re looking at a shipwreck in the bay of a rocky island with dark rain clouds hovering over the scene. The ship itself houses the 5×5 grid with various pirate paraphernalia spread around – cutlasses, big padlocks, ropes and lanterns adorn the side of the reelset.
Low value symbols come in the form of the card suits, Spades, Clubs, Diamonds and Hearts. Meanwhile the premium symbols are represented by a pistol, a hook, a cutlass and a bottle containing some green liquid. There are also two female pirates, and a purple pirate. A full screen of purple pirates pays out at 25x. For the free spins round there is a scatter symbol too which you will need three of to set up the bonus round.
You’ll need to land a cluster of six of more of any identical symbols to trigger a win, and a cascade, which we will explain in a moment.
PIRATES 2: MUTINTY SLOT RTP, VARIANCE AND PAYOUTS
Unlike many recent games from the Yggdrasil studio, Pirates 2 is a low to medium variance slot. That means it will appeal to casual gamers looking for some relaxing spins rather that the hard core high risk specialists that this Swedish outfit have been pandering too. The top payout is set a 4,400x which isn’t bad for a game with this maths model, and the RTP is a reasonable 96.2%.
GAMEPLAY AND FEATURES
Cluster Pays Dropdown Wins
The standard Dropdown mechanic used in traditional cluster pays like Gonzo’s Quest has been tweaked here. When a wining cluster is formed on the reels then the symbols that form that cluster drop to the bottom of the grid. At the same time all non-winning symbols are removed and the grid is filled again. If this creates more clusters then the process repeats. This goes on until no more clusters form.
During the sequence, as winning symbols drop to the bottom of the grid they start filling it up row by row. This sets up a multiplier that increases by 1x with each row that is filled, up to a maximum of 5x if the whole grid is completed.
The multipliers reset at the end of the sequence of cascades and a new spin cycle starts.
Free Spins
If three or more scatters land on the reels then 7 spins are triggered. The reels are enhanced as one premium symbol is chosen to replace all other premiums, increasing your odds of hitting a high payout. If the chosen symbol is the purple pirate then you are in luck.
Additionally the multiplier feature is enhanced – in this case instead of increasing by 1x as each row is filled by wining symbols, the multiplier increases to 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, then 25x.
Further enhancements are made in the form of a giant 3×3 Mutiny symbol which lands and reveals 9 identical symbols to set up more wins; a Tsunami wave which arrives after a losing spin to wash away all but identical symbols on the reels before a new dropdown occurs; and a Canon Blast that blows away all low value symbols after a losing spin to set up a new dropdown with better win odds.
OUR VERDICT
This is a tidy little slot from one of our favourite game developers here at The Slot Buzz. As we said earlier in this review, it’s not a game for high variance fans, but it is a really fun title with some well-worked features that will keep you entertained as you wait for a big win. The cascading win mechanic means that the action is fairly steady and the free spins round can get pretty interesting if you can hoist that multiplier value up as high as it can go.  Enjoy, and gamble responsibly.
