Boom Pirates slot comes with over 10 million Ways to Win!

There's been plenty of pirate-themed slots to play over the years, perhaps due to our seeming love of these vagabonds of the seas from yesteryear.

However, I am willing to bet that none of the other pirate slot games has potentially over 10 million ways to win, which is just one of the factors which makes the Boom Pirates slot by Foxium Gaming so unique.

Their latest release, part of their exclusive deal with Microgaming, sees the ability for the number of reels and symbols on those reels to change from a standard 5x4 reel set up to a huge 9x6 reel set up, chiefly by using the Boom Pirates feature. As the number of reels and symbols on each reel increases, so does the number of winning lines possible, from 1024 with the smallest number of reels, up to over 10 million for the largest.

Add to this a number of top-quality bonus features, a Free Spins bonus and a jackpot that could be worth as much as 190,000, and you have a game that will certainly attract a huge of amount of interest on its release.

So with that in mind, we decided to take a closer look at the game and see how it all comes together.

Overview

• Game: Boom Pirates
• Developer: Foxium (for Microgaming)
• Reels: 5x4 Expanding to 9x6
• Pay Lines: 1024 Wonderways in base game, expanding to 10,077,696 Ways to Win
• Minimum Bet: 0.10
• Maximum Bet: 30.00
• Jackpot: 190,000
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: Medium to High

Presentation

It has to be said that Foxium Games do present their offerings quite elegantly and the Boom Pirates slot is no different. This is a game that comes with a wonderful cartoon style introduction (the video introduction to the slot is almost Pixar quality) and the way the reels are animated is flawless. The sound in the game too is excellent with some rousing pirate sound effects alongside a simple and timeless soundtrack.

When the reels expand, what is nice is that the view changes to ensure that the player has the best possible view of the reels and it is this smoothness and attention to detail that really marks the Boom Pirates slot as one of the most eye-catching games of the year.

What is on the reels?

I was a little disappointed to see that Foxium had decided to use the playing card symbols, 10 through to the Ace, as the low value symbols on the slot. I would have liked to have seen something more fitting in with the theme of the game to be honest, but I suppose they feel familiarity with these symbols as the lower value pays on the slot can make it easier for players to follow.

Wins start at 3 symbols on a line and increase up to nine symbols across the line, for when the reels have been expanded to their greatest number.

There are five higher value symbols on the reels, and these include a barrel, a cannon, a parrot, a pirate carrying a cannonball and lastly, Pirate Mary herself as he highest paying of all the symbols on the reels offering 2,500 coins for 9 of these symbols anywhere across the reels.

Wild features

There is no Wild symbol on the reels in the base game, which is a bit of a disappointment, but there are a couple of randomly triggered bonus features which can help you land some of the better value wins in this part of the slot.

The Boom Pirates Feature can trigger at random in the base game and when they do, you will hear the "Boom Pirates" shout and the ship on the left of the screen will fire cannonballs at the reels, increasing the number of reels and rows available on each spin.

The other feature to note is the Mary's Swashbuckling Attack bonus round which can be triggered on any non-winning spin on the slot. When it does, Captain Mary, the fearsome female pirate, will swing from the rope across the screen and in doing so, will change some of the symbols on the reels to guarantee you a five-of-a-kind win and on occasion, you can land additional symbol changes to trigger additional wins too.

Free Spins features

The Free Spins bonus is triggered in the game by landing three of the Scatter symbols on the first, third and fifth reels. This will trigger 10 Free Spins and during Free Spins, as you expand the playing area of the slot, the additional lines will remain active for the remainder of the Free Spins bonus game, which offers you a better chance of landing a bigger value win.

You can increase your chances of triggering the Free Spins bonus in the game by having the Foxium Extra Bet active on each spin. This does increase the cost of each spin by around 50%, but also gives you a better chance of landing the Free Spins bonus round in the game.

However, if you don't want to wait until fortune favours you on the reels to trigger the Free Spins bonus round, you can elect to buy the bonus feature by betting a total of 100x your standard stake on a spin that is guaranteed to trigger the Free Spins game.

Best feature of the Boom Pirates slot

It is tempting to think that with so many innovative new features in the game, that one of these would be the most exciting aspect of the slot. After all, I don't know of any other slot game that offers you potentially 10 million ways to win across the reels. However, for me, the best part of the game are the Free Spins bonus rounds. I like the fact that you have three options on how to trigger them (although you should use the Buy the Feature bonus sparingly as it is very expensive and there's no guarantee you will win back as much as you spent and often, you won't). The Free Spins though offer good value especially when triggered naturally as part of the base game.

Conclusion

Boom Pirates is a beautiful looking slot that packs some incredible features into the game and which offers gamers a very different experience to your standard slot. The incredible scale of the slot has to be experienced to be fully appreciated and while there are some minor grumbles, chiefly about the lack of a Wild symbol and the relatively small size of the jackpot, it is still a game that is incredibly good fun to play and well worth a closer look if you fancy trying something very different to your standard Microgaming offering.

You can play Boom Pirates slot at any of the Mega Moolah casinos.