Picture hordes of fearsome Norse fighters wearing Hawaiian shirts and flowers rather than helmets and swords and you’ll get the idea of what’s on offer in Tiki Vikings. This mash up of 2 popular genres has been created by Just For The Win and Microgaming – it combines superb design with some cracking gameplay. The highlight is the lock and re-spin feature which triggers following every winning spin made up of higher value symbols. Fill the meter to bring symbol upgrades into play too. Stakes in this 5 reel, 20 payline video slot range from between 10p and £250 per spin.
Just For The Win has created a fantastic looking game here. Flanked by a pair of carved totems, the reels are set within a Hawaiian-style beach shack. Joining the lower value A to J symbols are 3 higher paying Vikings who have been given a Polynesian makeover. The best standard symbol is the Tiki Vikings logo. Land 3, 4 or 5 of these in combination and you’ll pocket an award of 2, 4 or 15 times your bet.
Land a winner that’s made up of the Viking or logo symbols and you’ll trigger the Symbol Lock Re-Spin feature. Those winning symbols from the triggering spin lock in position and the rest of the reels spin again. If you add another matching symbol to your original winning combination, it too locks and another re-spin follows. The re-spins continue until there’s one where no new matching symbol lands. A payout calculation is then made with all the locked symbols now life.
Hope to see plenty of matching symbols land during the re-spins as they can deliver symbol upgrades to further increases your winning chances – this is called the Symbol Upgrade feature. The symbol upgrade meter increases by 1 with each new symbol lock symbol that lands. Once the meter is full, the locked symbols upgrade to the next most valuable symbol.
You won’t find many better-looking video slots than Tiki Vikings. The imagery is bright, bold and colourful but also super sharp and packed full of details. The range of extras here isn’t massive but the lock and re-spin bonus is a top feature and you can expect to land it regularly. The variance here is in the medium range with top wins of just over 300 times your bet per spin or re-spin.
Hawaiians and Vikings don’t immediately spring to mind when it comes to a successful video slot combination. It all works rather well in Tiki Vikings though. If you like vikings, Yggdrasil Gaming’s Vikings Go Berzerk would be my choice – for Hawaiian adventure, Fire Opals from IGT should be played.