Future star In order to power their third game, Martian Miner Infinity Reels, BB Games licensed ReelPlay’s Infinity Reels mechanism. BB Games has, up until now, used very generic themes, thus the introduction of Martian Miner Infinity Reels is all the more of a shock. However, BB likes to handle things in their own unique way, as seen by the presence of nonstandard elements like double grids in their games. When it comes to Martian Miner Infinity Reels, this is undeniably the case. There is a swarm of Infinity Reels slots now in development, but none of them are as innovative as this one.
You may be forgiven for mistaking this for a PG Soft Infinity Reels game at first sight. This is because a futuristic drilling gear has been superimposed over the game, reducing the default 3-reel, 4-row grid to a small region in the center of the screen. The rest of the scene shows a Mars base camp, complete with bubble-shaped tents and reddish rocks illuminated by a faraway sun. Although physically unimpressive, the scene is rather unique and not one typically seen in slot machines.
You may participate in the dig by placing a wager anywhere between 20 pence and £/€100 every spin. The volatility is medium to high, and the payout is conditional on whether you play regularly or use the bonus purchase feature. Free spins have a base rate of 96.06%, which increases to 96.18% if you pay for the 20 free spins bonus.
In Martian Miner, a winning combination consists of 5 identical symbols in any position from the top reel down. If adding a fourth reel increases the payout by any amount, another reel will be added. The grid will keep adding reels until there is no way to increase the win, at which point it will reset. Despite the name, there is a limit of 76 reels.
The 15 pay symbols on the board are as many as the reels themselves; five of them are the standard 10-A royals, while the other ten are various stones and metals (including iron, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and marsonite). The amount of a win is determined by the number of active symbols multiplied by the payout table. Five marsonite symbols, for instance, are worth 15 times the entire wager. Remember that gems only show up during bonus rounds and not the main game. Last but not least, the spaceman tile serves as a wild, replacing any pay symbol except for the scatter. Extra wilds are added to the reels of the base game after a streak of five infinite wins.
Slot Functions, Infinite Reels, and a Martian Mine
The primary feature of Martian Miner is a set of free spins, which are supplemented with a purchase bonus and a teleporting reel modifier. In the original game, the Teleport Reel Modifier appears at random. Players are transferred to a randomly chosen depth when the trigger is pulled. High-paying gem symbols substitute for metal ones throughout the spin.
When 10 or more reels are used, the player is awarded a number of free spins. During this process, fuel cell symbols might appear, and the total amount of these symbols determines the number of bonus spins awarded. After a set number of free spins have been played (every 10 more reels), higher paying symbols become available and replace lower earning ones. In addition, free spins have three more symbols:
Instant cash can be won from treasure chests.
Free games can be re-triggered by finding fossils.
Ankhs boost a bonus to payouts.
If the option is present, you can buy spins instead of waiting for free ones. Free games can be purchased for 12, 16, or 20 times the initial wager (50x, 75x, or 100x).
The Final Say on the Infinite Reel Slot, “Martian Miner”
Well, it’s different, and the exploratory extraterrestrial experience may be just what some players are looking for. In a field where many companies recycle old ideas, it’s important to stand out with something truly novel. It’s possible that Martian Miner is so far ahead of the curve that his statements are unfathomable. One potential issue is that it may take some getting used to for gamers accustomed to reels rotating vertically. It seems natural that a mining tool would dig in an upwards and downwards motion, as this is the direction in which such a tool would normally operate. But it’s an acquired taste that may either excite or make you queasy.
It’s pleasant. BB is branching out, but unfortunately, not everything about Martian Miner works. One problem is that the grid appears cramped. A large portion of the screen real estate is taken up by a wallpaper-like backdrop picture that first serves to establish the mood but subsequently does nothing else. The bonus game symbols, for example, don’t seem to go in with the overall weirdness of the game. Where does Mars come into play with Ankhs? Is BB implying that the Egyptians made interstellar voyages, leaving behind cryptic clues about their whereabouts? Perhaps the crew simply found the visual appealing.
Moving on to the gameplay, Martian Miner has the same merits and problems as other Infinity Reels games, failing to win over critics and turn off fans of the mechanism. The bonus game makes fantastic use of the Infinity Reels idea by emphasizing the mining motif as the machine tunnels into the surface of Mars. Ankh symbols that activate multipliers can be the difference between a bad round and a good one.
A demo of Martian Miner Infinity Reels is required to gain a firm view about the game because of its uniqueness. Maybe this is the one game you’ve been looking for your whole life. Or, it’s just a weird nuisance that has to be sent to Mars on the next expedition so it can freeze to death.