Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar slot: Microgaming keeps Tarzan alive

Microgaming scored a major coup in 2016 by securing a license with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. for use of the Tarzan name and story. The result was a fantastic video slot that has been played by millions in the years since. Now, Microgaming is proud to announce they are keeping the Tarzan name alive in a brand-new slot slated to be released in the very near future.

Microgaming was able to announce the new game only after reaching another agreement with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. The company, named after the famous author of the Tarzan series, owns all the rights to Burroughs' novels and their characters. Over the years they have licensed Tarzan for more than four dozen films along with television series, live stage productions and countless print publications and merchandising items.

For release this year

Microgaming first announced plans for the new Tarzan game at ICE London 2020. The game is one of more than 100 slated for release throughout this year. It is being produced in conjunction with one of Microgaming's independent studio partners, Fortune Factory Studios.

Established by a team of proven game developers with a history of successful titles under their belts, Fortune Factory Studios develops games exclusively for Microgaming. Their past titles include Tiki Mania, Long Mu Fortunes, Village People: Macho Moves, Showdown Saloon, Romanov Riches, and Holly Jolly Penguins.

The studio markets itself as developing 'product with personality'. It will be interesting to see how they incorporate the concept with the new Tarzan game. Tarzan already has a larger-than-life personality thanks to the writing skills and character development Edgar Rice Burroughs is known for. Can Fortune Factory Studios enhance Burroughs' already impressive work? Time will tell.

The good news is that we will not have to wait long. Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar should be ready to go any day now. Once it hits, you can expect quite a bit of fanfare from Microgaming. Then it is a matter of waiting until your favorite Microgaming-licensed casino brings it online.

Keeping a great brand alive

Scoring a new license agreement with Edgar Rice Burroughs is a pretty significant accomplishment for Microgaming. More importantly though, they are keeping an excellent brand alive. Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar picks up where the original Tarzan slot left off. The story continues with an entirely new game built around an exciting new adventure.

For Microgaming and Fortune Factory Studios, it is all about coming up with an entertaining video slot that stays true to the Tarzan brand. That is not necessarily as easy as it sounds. Classic stories like Tarzan hold a special place in the hearts of fans who have grown up with the chronicles. You can push too far and ruin everything if you are not careful.

Those of us who follow Microgaming are fairly confident they can pull it off with the help of Fortune Factory Studios. Microgaming has a proven track record of showing respect to established brands while simultaneously enhancing those brands with great casino games.

A look at the past

Perhaps you've never played the original Tarzan game from Microgaming. As such, you don't know what all the fuss is about. Well, let us remedy that by talking a little bit about the past. When Microgaming secured the license for their original Tarzan game, they certainly weren't the first game developer to have done so.

There had been other Tarzan games on the market for some time. Some were licensed, others were knockoffs that played on the Tarzan theme without actually capitalizing on the brand. Then Microgaming came along and changed the game.

Microgaming's Tarzan brought 3D graphics and a 5x4 reel configuration to the table. The game also featured 40 paylines with a minimum wager of 0.40 coins and a maximum wager of 40. Coin value were adjustable with a range from 0.01 to 0.10.

The look and feel

Right off the bat, Tarzan invites you to join the legendary jungle hero in his lush rainforest home. The backdrop for this slot features a dense jungle forest complete with towering trees and thick undergrowth. As for the intrepid hero, he doesn't quite look like a guy who has been out in the jungle for years without a razor or soap.

Be that as it may, Microgaming's graphical rendering of Tarzan is quite engaging. The character looks like someone you would be willing to follow through the jungle and beyond. As for gameplay, it is quite smooth and engaging.

You are sure to appreciate the game symbols featuring a variety of fruits and some of the main characters from the Tarzan stories: the chimpanzee, the leopard and, of course, both Jane and Tarzan. You also get wild symbols and scatters that double as a bonus symbols.

Tarzan bonus features

A video slot is only as good as its bonus features, right? That being the case, Tarzan delivers. Let's start with the game's stacked wilds feature. Stacked wilds are wild symbols that appear in multiple, consecutive positions on a single real. Stacked wilds increase your chances of landing a winning combination by giving you more wild symbols to work with on any given span.

Scatter symbols pay out whenever you land two or more of the reels during a standard spin. Land three or more and you can trigger:

• Free Spins - You get 12 free spins enhanced with rolling reels and progressively larger stacks of wild symbols.

• Pick-A-Potamus - This is a picking game that lets you choose from among 12 hippopotami to win cash prizes.

• Other Prizes - Landing three or more scatter symbols might also score you straight cash prizes or the game's Jackpot prize. The latter can be anything from 200x to 1,000x your original wager. It is all about how many scatter symbols you actually land.

Tarzan has been criticized in the past for game-play that seems a little slow. Hopefully Fortune Factory Studios has taken the criticisms to heart. Here's hoping their game offers a little faster pace for more exciting play.

Plenty of places to go

We don't know a whole lot about Microgaming's new Tarzan game because they have been holding things close to the vest for now. That is understandable. Microgaming wants to build enough anticipation to get people to flock to the game upon its release. With that said, there is plenty of room for imagination.

Burroughs wrote a total of 24 stories for his beloved character. Within those stories are dozens of characters with unique personalities and agendas. Each one adds to the Tarzan legend in a different way. Moreover, developing so many wonderful characters in a variety of different storylines gives other people the opportunity to build on Burroughs' work. And that they do.

There are plenty of places Fortune Factory Studios could take the story. We are already intrigued by the title that they have chosen. It leads us to believe that the intrepid Tarzan is on a quest to find some mysterious treasure that only he has only heard about before. Sounds like the perfect combination, doesn't it?

Licensing agreements are important

As we prepare to close this post, you might be wondering why Microgaming would go to the effort of securing license agreements for the Tarzan name. First of all, license agreements are important if you want to use someone else's property. You cannot just take what doesn't belong to you. Neither can Microgaming.

Beyond the legal ramifications, there are particularly good reasons for securing brands like Tarzan. It is all about reaching out to online gamblers with something new and interesting. Brands like Tarzan do just that.

Back in the days of 3-reel, single pay line mechanical games, there wasn't a whole lot of variation. A mechanical slot you played in Las Vegas would be nearly identical to another game in Atlantic City. The lack of variety made it too easy for gamblers to get bored and walk away.

Things started to change when mechanical slots transitioned to the video world in the late 1970s. In a video environment, you can change things up without having to invest a ton of money. Video slots also allow you to do more in terms of animation and graphic presentation. This opened the door to exploring other ways to design slot games.

By the 1980s, it had become apparent to game developers that they could incorporate video slots with pop-culture trends. Thus, the idea of branding new games after popular films, music, etc. was born. The rest is history.

Companies like Microgaming go to the trouble of securing license agreements because they know that developing games based on pop-culture reaches a lot more people. Stories like Tarzan are part of the culture. They are stories that several generations of kids have grown up with; stories that warm the heart and spark the imagination.

Tarzan is one of those characters with an undeniably enduring nature. People identify with him even if they have never read the original stories. Microgaming has scored big by licensing the brand for two video slots. There is no reason to believe they have any regrets. As for you and me, we can't wait to play Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar.