Chocolates slot from BTG set for special early release at Microgaming casinos

Could Microgaming be ready to tie up another supply deal with another major slots development company? That is the buzz in the industry at the moment after a press release at the end of September which announced some exciting news for Microgaming slots fans.

That news saw the announcement that a brand new Big Time Gaming slot game, "Chocolates", was set to be released exclusively in Microgaming Casinos on the 12^th October 2020, a full two weeks before the game would be offered to other casinos part of the Big Time Gaming network on a more general release.

We have of course seen this offer work the other way, with Microgaming offering some games for early release to a select few of their partners before the game was more generally released. Games such as Miami Glow and the Mega Moolah progressive jackpot slot Atlantean Treasures, as well as the original Wowpot progressive slot Wheel of Wishes are just three games that Microgaming have made available to a limited selection of suppliers, before they were released generally.

However, it is an intriguing prospect for it to be Microgaming gaining the benefit of another big company's release and it means that customers will be given a chance to sample the rather sweet new game for two weeks before it hits other casinos.

What is the Chocolates slot about?

According to the Microgaming press release about the impending new arrival in October, the Chocolates slot is based on the premise that a legendary chocolatier, named Jose Cavadore, has decided to give away some golden tickets, which could offer the lucky finder a chance to earn a large amount of cash.

Now admittedly, you can already tell that we are heading in the direction of the famous Roald Dahl story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with this information, but that is no bad thing given that the Dahl story is one of the most beloved of children's stories and has been made into at least two very successful feature films, the first in the 1970s starring Gene Wilder as Mr Wonka the Chocolate Factory owner and again in 2005 when Johnny Depp took on the same role in Tim Burton's adaptation of the story.

In the new Chocolates slot though, the story unfolds chiefly by means of some of the main features of the slot which includes Golden Ticket Wild symbols in alongside the standard Wild, which can offer substitutions for all the standard symbols in the game.

Best of all, land a Golden Ticket Wild in one of your wins and the size of your win will be hugely increased thanks to the incorporation of a 6x multiplier on all Golden Ticket Wild wins.

However, one of the most innovative features in the game could well be the Chocolate Box symbols. Land these on the reels and the box will open and reveal up to four Chocolate Symbols which not only give you a chance to win, but also increase the number of ways you can win across the reels, allowing you a chance to rack up a sizeable multi-symbol win.

A Sweet Free Spins Bonus

Once you trigger the Free Spins bonus feature in the Chocolates slots, then the game really does kick into overdrive. Not only does one or more of the triggering Scatter symbols in the game turn into Sticky Boxes of Chocolates, but any time you land a Chocolate Box symbol, it too will become a Sticky Box and remain on the screen for the duration of your Free Spins.

If you can stack the Sticky Boxes on a reel and land four of those symbols on a reel during the bonus round, then you will also be granted three extra Free Spins on top of those you already have landed and you could even land an extra dozen Free Spins as part of this bonus.

Best of all, the number of ways you can win on the reels increases during the Free Spins round meaning that on each spin there is a potential up to 65,536 ways to win across the reels during the bonus! That is certainly the largest amount of Ways to Win I have seen on any slot game.

Hit lucky and you could also be in for a sweet surprise too as if you land the top jackpot prize in the game, then there is the chance to win more than 30,000x your bet size as the top prize. That is certainly going to be enough to get you a few of your favourite chocolate bars!

Special Big Time Gaming/Microgaming Webinar on Tuesday 6^th October

What is unusual about this game release is the profile that both Big Time Gaming and Microgaming are giving the game and part of that is the news that on Tuesday morning between 10.00am and 11.0am BST, Microgaming's Commercial Director Leon Thomas will join forces with Big Time Gaming's Chief Executive Officer Nik Robinson for a special webinar to run through what the new Chocolates slot will have to offer.

Many industry insiders are wondering if the duo will also use the platform to announce another partnership deal between the two companies and what form that partnership may take. Whether it is an exclusive content agreement between Microgaming and Big Time Gaming (as Microgaming have with a number of studios) seems unlikely, but another deal to supply content to be access on the Microgaming platform is more likely. Similarly, Microgaming could also announce their slots are also going to be carried now on existing Big Time Gaming sites too.

Both of Mr Robinson and Mr Thomas were keen to express their excitement for the forthcoming release ahead of the webinar.

Mr Robinson stated: "Chocolates is one of my favourite games yet and it's got all the hallmarks of a hit. We work hard to make each release more engaging and exciting than the last, and fans will love this vibrant new offering."

Similarly, Mr Thomas echoed those sentiments commenting: "Big Time Gaming slots are always fresh, innovative and popular with players, and we are delighted to collaborate with Nik and his team on this exclusive launch. Chocolates is another great game from a company that keeps on delivering, and we look forward to treating our customers and their players with exclusive early access to this exciting, feature-rich title."

Microgaming have released a couple of chocolate/sweet themed games previously including the likes of Chocolate Factory (released in September 2006), So Much Candy (September 2014) and Fruit Vs Candy (February 2017) among the games on a similar theme.