Branded slot games bring much loved characters and concepts from well known movies, TV shows and other cultural phenomena into the casino. The Ted slot, the Downton Abbey slot, the Ozzy Osborne slot and BTG’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire slot are just some of the branded slots that have been wildly popular in recent years.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is the latest release from Big Time Gaming, the creators of Bonanza and of the Megaways system. Big Time Gaming are known for the extreme high volatility of their slot games and thrilling bonus rounds – and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire has by far the most insane and ridiculous bonus round yet seen.
The base game plays very much like Big Time Gaming’s earlier release Extra Chilli, and the bonus round builds on a concept first seen in Extra Chilli – the ability to gamble the bonus round in the hope of getting a better one. In Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the entire point is to gamble the bonus round and just as in the TV show, the player has to choose correctly from four options at each step to increase the number of free spins. Win at every step and the 8 spins initially awarded can go all the way up to 50 spins. As in the TV show, there are three lifelines and there’s also safety nets at 10 spins and 20 spins ensuring that once you get past the risky first step you can’t lose the entire bonus round. As the free spins are played with a multiplier that increases with every win, every extra spin won can make a huge difference to potential winnings.
Just in time for the release of the new Bill & Ted film featuring a much older Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, comes a 20 line slot game from IGT themed on the classic original Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. As well as the iconic duo of Bill and Ted themselves, lots of other characters from and references to the film are included; for example, the scatter symbol that triggers the bonus round is the time travelling phone booth and during the (uncommon) Lock & Respin bonus round, the aim is to collect all 8 historical characters as well as locking all 15 positions on the reels. There’s a couple of other fun features – Wild Stallyns which has the Bill and Ted symbols combining to create wilds and No Way! Yes Way! which gives the player a respin of reel 5 to try and collect an elusive third scatter. If you are a fan of the film, you’ll certainly enjoy all the character animations -possibly more than you enjoy the game itself!
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure can be played from 10p a spin and has a rather less than excellent RTP – in a range from 92.55% to 96.25%, so check before you play.
* New customers only, min deposit £10, wagering 40x, max bet £5 with bonus funds. Max bonus is 100% up to £123. No max cash out on deposit offers. Welcome bonus excluded for players depositing with Skrill or Neteller. Cashback is cash with no restriction. Full T&C’s apply. #AD *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Downton Abbey is a slot game by the Skywind Group, based on the wildly popular TV series and film. It has three progressive jackpots and is designed for play on a mobile phone screen. The base game is 40 line and there is an additional 243 way play area which is activated when the special bell symbol lands in the top position on reel 3. There’s three different scatter symbols triggering three different free spins bonus rounds, a pick-me game which can award a jackpot or free spins, and other features that add extra wilds to the game. With all the potential interactions between all these different features, there’s a lot of entertainment value to be had.
Downton Abbey has RTP of 96% including the jackpots and 90% without. The minimum spin value is £1.
* New customers only resident in UK&ROI. 100% bonus up to a max of £300 on your first deposit. Min deposit £10· You must wager 50 times the “BONUS + DEPOSIT” amount before withdrawal. · Wagering is with real money first and must be completed within 30 days. Bonus must be accepted within 72 hours and is valid for 30 days. Bonus amount can't be withdrawn. Not all games contribute equally to wagering requirements· Deposits with Skrill and Neteller are not valid for this promotion. Real money balance can always be withdrawn. Play responsibly. 18+ Begambleaware.org. Full T&C apply. *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Gremlins, is the inspiration for one of WMS’s latest online slots. Praise be. It’s a five-reeler with 20 pay-lines and a raft of bonus features. Billy’s bedroom serves as a backdrop for the colourful reels, decorated with the kind of imagery you might expect such as Gremlin eggs, 3D glasses and popcorn (the movie theatre scene) as well as a microwave (don’t ask).
The obligatory playing card lettering represents the lower value symbols. The more lucrative symbols include the Gremlin’s logo and the Gremlin character which is the wild. The former pays out 25 times your stake when it appears in combination. However, you’ll get double the amount should you land five of the latter on a pay-line.
Bolted on to the base game are four bonus features: Stripe Wilds, Bonus Entry, Freebie Bonus and the Bonus Selector. The Stripe wilds feature is activated when water is randomly poured onto the Gremlin symbol which spawns more wilds, thereby increasing your chances of winning.
The Freebie Bonus is triggered (on occasion) when one or two Gizmo symbols land across the reels. All bonus symbols can then multiply to activate the bonus selector – this can also be accessed via the Bonus Entry mechanic in which all gremlin wilds turn into Gizmo bonus features.
The Bonus selector side-game takes place in a movie theater and awards one of five bonus features: splashing wild free spins, gremlin link free spins, sun free spins, a Gizmo box hunt pick-and-click game and most notably, the ‘no more cash after midnight’ trail bonus round which offers a top prize of 100x your stake. And if you manage to fill the reels with Gremlin wilds, your stake will be multiplied 1000 times.
RTP: 96.47%, 0.20 Minimum Stake
* First deposit only. 50 Free Spins on the Book of Dead slot. Min deposit £10. Excl. new players in N.I. Each Free Spin valued at 10p. OJO’s Rewards and Game Play policy applies. *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
TED Jackpot King by Blueprint Gaming brings everyone’s favourite naughty teddy bear into the very popular Jackpot King progressive jackpot system. Jackpot King is an operator specific jackpot and can be much larger at some sites than others, in some places a mere 6 figures and in others exceeding £2 million. The Jackpot King bonus game can be triggered on any spin and apart from that the game is the same old TED we know and love, with its 6 bonus features and 5 bonus rounds.
TED Jackpot King has RTP of 93.02% excluding the jackpot contribution and can be played from 10p a spin.
* 18+. New players only. Min £5 deposit & wager. £20 Bonus valid on Bingo only. 4x wagering req. 14 days to meet wagering. Offer expires in 14 days. T&Cs apply. Please play responsibly *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Sausage Party by Blueprint is a tie-in with the decidedly X-rated animated film from 2016. Played on a classic 5 x 3 reels array with 20 paylines, it is very much in the mould of that earlier slot based on an adult themed animation, TED.
Sausage Party has a plethora of bonus features. There’s 6 different modifiers that can be triggered randomly on any spin in the base game, and 6 versions of the bonus round; when three or more bonus symbols are spun a giant spinner determines which version of the bonus round is played and there’s an option to gamble to get a better version, all the way up to the most lucrative one, The Even Greater Beyond. All of this will be very familiar to anyone who’s played TED or other Blueprint games such as Paws of Fury. With all of these bonus features it comes as no surprise that wins in the base game are a bit thin on the ground but never fear, there’s an additional bonus feature not mentioned in the paytable that randomly turns a loss into a win.
Sausage Party has RTP of 95.95% and can be played from 10p a spin.
* Min. 1st dep. of £20-£50. Max bonus £50 on selected slots; 50x wagering on the sum of deposit & bonus applies. Max convertible to real is 5x bonus amount received. T&C's Apply. 18+ *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Beavis & Butthead by Blueprint is a 20 line slot based on the cult MTV cartoon series from the 1990s. It is very much in the tradition of classic Blueprint slots such as TED in that it has 6 different bonus rounds (some free spins and some pick-mes), triggered by getting three or more bonus symbols and then spinning the wheel to see which one you get. As in TED, there’s then the possibility of gambling the bonus round in the hope of getting a better bonus round. Beavis & Butthead also has several randomly triggered features that modify the reels, for example adding extra wilds or bonus symbols.
Beavis & Butthead has RTP of 95.49% and can be played from 10p a spin.
Lara Croft Temples and Tombs by Triple Edge for Microgaming gives a fresh outing (with very impressive graphics) to a much loved video game character. It is a 243 way slot with Rolling Reels and a multiplier trail (similar to the Avalanche feature in Gonzo’s Quest) and is one of those high variance slots where it’s mostly about the bonus round. This is triggered in the usual way by getting three or more of the free spins symbol (the Lara Croft book) but in this game, wilds can substitute and the bonus round consists of 8 free spins for each combo of free spins symbols on the first three reels. During the free spins, all multipliers are increased x3 and the free spins can be retriggered multiple times.
To make things more interesting while you’re waiting for the bonus round the game also has a fixed Grand Jackpot of 5000x stake plus two much smaller Major and Minor prizes. During each spin, any wilds that are collected go to fill the jackpot meter and the fuller it is at the end of the spin, the more likely the jackpot game is to be triggered for a guaranteed win of one of the three prizes.
Lara Croft Temples and Tombs has RTP of 96.05%.
* New players only, min deposit £10, £8 max win per 10 spins, max bonus conversion equal to lifetime deposits (up to £250), 65x wagering requirements and full T&Cs apply. *18+ Only. Please play responsibly. Begambleaware.org *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Saxon is one of the latest five reel slots from Play N’ Go, featuring 10 pay-lines, a free spins bonus round and an unlimited win multiplier.
The game is officially licensed by English heavy metal band, Saxon which was rather popular in the 1980s, especially in Europe. As one might expect, the game is replete with the kind of imagery that is usually appreciated by people who use the sign of the horns salutation. And we’re not talking unicorns or Irish leprechauns. No.
In addition to playing card symbols, the symbols include a leather jacket, an eagle crest and a Saxon helmet. The game pays out for landing at least three symbol combinations from left to right across one of the requisite 10 pay-lines.
The jacket symbol is the most lucrative and can pay up to 30 times your stake, provided that five appear in combination. The band logo serves as the wild and can appear stacked. Typically, it substitutes every other symbol apart from the singer and bicycle scatters. Land five of these and you’ receive 50 times your stake.
There are two bonus features: the free spins round and a win multiplier. The latter kicks in when a reel is fully-stacked and increases by one for each stacked reel. The free spins round is activated by the singer and motorcycle scatters. You’ll be awarded between five and fifteen spins depending on how many appear. The win multiplier is also in play here and is fixed for each spin.
And if two or more scatters appear during the free spins round, you’ll be given another 5 to 15 extra spins. This can be retriggered which means that you could potentially activate unlimited free spins. Good luck with that. Rock on.
RTP: 94.22%, Minimum Stake: 0.10
* New customers only, min deposit £10, wagering 40x, max bet £5 with bonus funds. Max bonus is 100% up to £123. No max cash out on deposit offers. Welcome bonus excluded for players depositing with Skrill or Neteller. Cashback is cash with no restriction. Full T&C’s apply. #AD *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
It was only a matter of time before everyone’s favourite potty mouthed teddy bear got the Megaways treatment, and Ted Megaways from Blueprint is true to form for a Megaways release, with the trademark horizontal belt above reels 2-5, cascading wins and up to 117,649 ways to win.
What Ted Megaways doesn’t have is the massive range of different bonus features of the original. There’s just one randomly triggered modifier, Mystery Ted, which adds up to 100 mystery symbols to the reels and there’s just two bonus round options – a straightforward 12 free spins or gamble on the Thunder Wheel to be awarded a combination of a minimum number of free spins with a minimum guaranteed number of Megaways. During the free spins, there’s the classic Megaways increasing multiplier (it goes up by one with every cascade). Collect 3 Super Ted symbols during free spins to add two extra free spins and increase the minimum guaranteed number of Megaways.
If you liked the original Ted slot for the theme and are a Megaways fan you’ll like this slot even though the main thrill, the Mystery Bonus Bet button which would allow a spin of the Thunder Wheel to be purchased for 150x stake, has been disabled at all UK licensed sites. If you liked it for the fun of all the different bonus features, you’ll be disappointed with Ted Megaways and will find more entertainment in sticking to the original.
Ted Megaways has RTP of 96.03% (which is slightly better than the 95.8% of the original) and can be played from 10p a spin.
* UK only. Win up to 500 Free Spins from Mega Wheel on 1st deposit. 24-hour expiry. Max bet £2.50, max spins win £8 per 10 spins, max Bonus win £150, selected games & 65x wagering on winnings. No Neteller/Skrill. Full T&Cs apply *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Evolution Gaming have done it again! First there was Dream Catcher, then there was Monopoly Live…is it a slot, is it a live casino game or is it something new entirely?
Monopoly Live is basically the live wheel of fortune style game Dream Catcher on steroids. A live presenter spins the wheel for you as in the earlier game (which won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, of course) – but some of the spaces on the wheel will transport you to an immersive 3D Monopoly board to play a bonus round which has to be seen to be believed.
Village People Macho Moves is a fun 15 line slot from Microgaming featuring cartoon versions of the iconic disco group, periodically breaking into a dance routine. Village People hits play in the background.
Each of the 6 group members has his own “Macho Move” modifier for the spins bonus round – all versions of which are triggered through play by collecting 5 VP Wild symbols from one of the reels. Although the bonus round is just 5 free spins, the modifiers are capable of creating some very sizeable wins.
The RTP of Village People Macho Moves is 96% and the minimum spin value is 20p.
* Min. 1st dep. of £20-£50. Max bonus £50 on selected slots; 50x wagering on the sum of deposit & bonus applies. Max convertible to real is 5x bonus amount received. T&C's Apply. 18+ *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Mars Attacks! is a Jackpot King progressive jackpot slot by Blueprint Gaming, themed on the 1996 spoof science fiction film. In the tradition of Blueprint’s other comedy film themed slot Ted it has 5 different bonus rounds and 5 randomly Mars Attacks modifiers that can appear on any spin – so plenty to discover and enjoy.
The bonus rounds of Mars Attacks! are nice and varied – two are pick-mes, two are free spins with an extra wild feature and the top bonus round is enhanced free spins. Perhaps the most interesting of the modifiers is Mega Shrink Ray: this shrinks the reels to accommodate 5 symbols rather than three and they are then scored as 3125 ways to win rather than on the usual 20 paylines.
Mars Attacks! can be played from just 10p a spin and the Big Money boost in the bonus rounds can pay up to 1000x bet.
* First Deposit Only. Min. deposit: £10, max. Bonus £50. Game: Book of Dead, Spin Value: £0.1. WR of 30x Deposit + Bonus amount and 60x Free Spin winnings amount (only Slots count) within 30 days. Max bet is 10% (min £0.10) of the free spin winnings and bonus amount or £5 (lowest amount applies). Free Spins must be used before deposited funds. First Deposit/Welcome Bonus can only be claimed once every 72 hours across all Casinos. *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Monopoly Megaways is one of the latest slots to be powered by Big Time Gaming’s revolutionary Megaways engine. Its central feature is a random reel modifier that adjusts the number of symbols that appear for each spin.
With a six-reel format, you’ve therefore got potentially thousands of ways to win. The core game, which is based on the Reel Adventures mechanic, requires you to move Mr Monopoly around a virtual board with the squares in which he lands having a direct impact on your progress.
For instance, landing on GO will trigger the biggest number of Megaways spins possible while landing on street squares populates them with houses. Collect at least five and you’ll unlock the Free Spins feature which rewards you with 8 free spins – however these increase according to the number of houses you own. It’s not really possible to do this feature-laden game full justice here. Suffice to say though, that it takes Monopoly to a completely different dimension.
Monopoly Megaways features upwards of 110,000 pay-lines and can be played for 10p. The game features an RTP of 96.39%
* New customer must deposit and spend £10 on bingo within 7 days. £30 bingo bonus (5x wagering) £20 slot bonus on Reel King Mega (20x wagering) and £10 of club vouchers. T&C apply. *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Everyone’s favourite naughty plushie TED is back in a brand new game from Blueprint Gaming which can be played from 10p a spin. The 5 reel, 5 line slot is modelled on a fruit machine with a feature panel above the reels (hence the name) and this works particularly well on mobile (in portrait mode). Trigger the bonus game and the feature panel expands upwards revealing a complex set of bonus features; as in the original game, the aim is to reach the Big Money bonus and there’s certainly plenty of entertainment value to be had trying. The RTP is 96.57% if best strategy is followed.
* New customer must deposit and spend £10 on bingo within 7 days. £30 bingo bonus (5x wagering) £20 slot bonus on Reel King Mega (20x wagering) and £10 of club vouchers. T&C apply. *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Vikings is NetEnt’s flagship new release slot game for November 2018, themed on the Netflix show of the same name. It is a 243 way slot with several bonus features. The Hotspot feature is activated when a stacked Viking symbol covers reel 3; it changes all other Viking symbols in the play area to that one and pays out using the Scatter Pays section of the paytable (which goes all the way up to 200,000 coins for 27 Vikings!). The Shield Wall is randomly activated on a non winning spin in the base game – it changes a 3×2 or 5×2 cluster of symbols to Vikings.
The bonus round in Vikings is called Raid Spins and has the potential to be very exciting indeed. It is just 7 spins, but with every other feature massively enhanced. The play area expands to 7 x 5 giving 78125 ways to win, the Shield Wall can be bigger, there are Hotspots on three reels rather than one and Hotspot wins pay on ways to win as well as Scatter Pays.
Monopoly Big Event is a five reel slot with twenty pay-lines. It is the first from Barcrest to be based on the iconic board game and includes a ‘big event’ pick-and-win round, free spins and a big bet bonus buy game.
The reels are adorned with renderings of famous silver pieces such as a car, a battleship, dog and cat. Mr Monopoly is the most valuable, paying out 2000x your stake when five appear. Typically, the wild symbol substitutes all others apart from the Big Event icon and ‘in-jail’ icon.
The Big Event is a pick-and-win round where you can choose community or chance cards to earn extra spins and guaranteed wins. The round is triggered by landing the related symbol on reels one three and five. If you activate the round with two stacked symbols, you’ll enter the round with a House Sneak Preview. Land three and you’ll activate the Hotel Sneak Preview.
These previews reveal chance card positions for the house and hotels respectively, giving you the chance to either activate wild reels or fix wild symbols in place during the free spins round.
The Big Bet round comprises a £20 or £30 game. Each one features an improved RTP as well as the chance to win up to 250,000 credits.
The £20 round is progressive, with multipliers added to wins for each spin. For the £30 game you’ll be presented with a spinning wheel that will eventually reveal either a progressive win multiplier where up to 5x are added to each spin.
There’s also a ‘persisting wild big event’ in which the big event symbol becomes wild and locks in place for the five free spins. If three or more of these symbols remain visible at the end, you’ll be rewarded with the big event bonus.
RTP: 96.01%, 99% (Big Bet Game), Minimum Stake: 0.20
* 18+. New online customers only. Min 1st deposit & spend £10 on Bingo tickets = £30 Bingo bonus. Wagering reqs apply: 4x bingo bonus; Bonus valid for 1 week after credit. Payment restrictions & T&Cs apply. *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Ascot Sporting Legends is the latest release in Playtech’s Sporting Legends suite of progressive jackpot games. The theming of this 5 reel, 25 line slot is based on that jewel of the British sporting and social calendar, Royal Ascot, and the symbols include some impeccably dressed racegoers. The game features bronze, silver and gold Ascot Cup wilds; bronze are regular wilds, silvers expand to fill the reel they are on and gold expand to fill the reel they are on and apply a 2x multiplier. There’s also a free spins bonus round with extra wilds.
As well as the Sporting Legends Mega Jackpot, must-drop weekly and daily progressive jackpots are attached to these games. The jackpot game can be randomly triggered on any spin (the higher the stake, the better the chance) and entering it guarantees a win of one of the jackpots. Ascot Sporting Legends has RTP ranging from 93.27% to 94.96%.
* Winnings from free spins paid as cash. Free spins expire 7 days after acceptance. New Casino players from UK & Ireland only. SMS verification required. T&Cs apply. By taking part in this promotion, you agree with our Terms & Conditions. *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Aquaman is a 2018 slot game in the series of DC Comics themed slots by Playtech and is connected to the DC Super Heroes progressive jackpot. If you were hoping to see some clips of Jason Momoa, you’re in for a disappointment as despite its release being timed nicely to coincide with that of the live action film, it is very firmly based on the original comics. It is a 243 way slot with two bonus features in the base game – Trident Wild Respins and Ocean Rush Respins – and a free spins bonus round.
Aquaman has a fixed bet of 25 coins and can be played at anything from 25p to £50 a spin. It has an RTP of 95% excluding the jackpot.
* New customers only resident in UK&ROI. 100% bonus up to a max of £300 on your first deposit. Min deposit £10· You must wager 50 times the “BONUS + DEPOSIT” amount before withdrawal. · Wagering is with real money first and must be completed within 30 days. Bonus must be accepted within 72 hours and is valid for 30 days. Bonus amount can't be withdrawn. Not all games contribute equally to wagering requirements· Deposits with Skrill and Neteller are not valid for this promotion. Real money balance can always be withdrawn. Play responsibly. 18+ Begambleaware.org. Full T&C apply. *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Rick and Morty Wubba Lubba Dub Dub is Blueprint’s second release of 2020 tying in with the adult oriented Cartoon Network animated series and arguably it has a lot more to offer than the Megaways version which came out back in March.
Rick and Morty Megaways had a mere 4 bonus rounds; Wubba Lubba Dub Dub, which has 20 lines, has a massive 6 different bonus rounds plus 7 different modifiers and if you think this sounds familiar, you’d be right – it’s very reminiscent of other Blueprint “adult cartoon” titles such as Sausage Party and TED and there’s certainly lots of entertainment value to be had if you want to try out all those features.
Rick and Morty Wubba Lubba Dub Dub has RTP of 96.14% (albeit slightly worse than the Megaways version) and can be played from 10p a spin.
* New customers only. Min spend £10 on qualifying games. Certain deposit types excluded. £50 Bonus on selected games subject to 40x wager req. Must accept within 14 days, valid for 30 days. Player restrictions and T&Cs apply. *18+ BeGambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Branded slots are officially licensed games that are based on TV programmes, blockbuster movies, popular bands, superheroes and cartoons. Some are even inspired by board games.
In contrast to online slots themed on, say, Ancient Greece, players tend to identify more with branded titles because their subject matter usually features far more prominently in the media. Such a ready-made audience can of course spell big bucks for the game creators.
Developers like to create branded slots because the subject matter will usually be very familiar to their player base. Regardless of the industry, customers are often dubious about trying a new product. So serving them a game with which they can strongly relate gets around the problem. Being associated with established global brands, whether movie franchises, popular bands or hit console games, is also of immense marketing value to branded slot game developers.
Branded online slots can be traced all the way back to 2004, with the release of Microgaming’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Developed in conjunction with Square Enix, it was closely based on the video game/movie franchise and proved so popular that a sequel was soon commissioned. The success of Lara Croft inspired other developers to get in on the act. In 2011, NetEnt released Frankenstein which was followed by a long list games right up until the recent release of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ by Big Time Gaming. The rest as they say is history. However, not only are branded slots not cheap to make, they sometimes have to be retired when developers lose the right to use the characters; high profile casualties include Playtech’s Marvel slots, Microgaming’s Dark Knight slots and the Lord of the Rings slot game.
In order to create a branded online slot game the developer will have to arrive at some sort of agreement with the brand owners regarding name and image rights. In most scenarios, the owners will also receive a percentage of the profits. Unsurprisingly, the entire process can prove rather expensive which, in turn, can have an impact on the actual game’s RTP – to cover the costs some branded slots feature lower pay-out rates. With that said, there are now plenty with RTPs roughly equivalent to (or better) than standard unbranded variants.
A lot of branded slots are of medium variance which allows for longer sessions. Developers obviously want players to appreciate (or worship) their coding prowess. This same mentality is also evident with the latest console games: ever wondered why so many feature interminable cut-scenes? But it’s also the case that medium volatility slot games make it easier to unlock the bonus rounds. And for branded slot games, these side games are often central to play. There are exceptions to this rule though. Jurassic Park, Gladiator and Rocky are all high variance.
As mentioned, licensed slots tend to be based on popular TV shows, major movie franchises, bands/artists, comic-book heroes and board games. Read on for more information about these.
Movies continue to inspire major developers looking to craft branded online slots. Most of the main genres have been covered such as comedy, action, horror and fantasy. Standout titles include Gremlins, the Terminator, Planet of the Apes and the Matrix. The Ted franchise has also proved popular with slot players thanks to three licensed titles from Blueprint, all with a cornucopia of bonus features. The first, a standard five reel slot, was released in 2017. This was soon followed by progressive jackpot and Megaways variants in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Interestingly most slot games of this type are themed on well known films that were released years or even decades ago rather than more recent releases; the Jurassic Park slot, for example, was released a full 21 years after the original film. Or take the Jumanji slot and the Bill & Ted slot; in both cases a new film in the franchise came out at the same time as the slot game, but the games were based on the original films from 1995 and 1989 respectively.
In addition to movie-themed slots, many branded games are based on major TV shows. Microgaming’s Game of Thrones is perhaps one of the most illustrious examples and the upcoming Game of Thrones Powerstacks (unlike the earlier Game of Thrones game) features many of the characters from HBO’s ground-breaking series, accompanied by the official soundtrack and interspersed with official clips. The UK’s very own Downton Abbey hasn’t escaped the attentions of developers either. An officially licensed five reel slot was unveiled in 2019 by Skywind and includes all of the main characters from the series as well as three free game modes. And let’s not forget that classic game show, Deal Or No Deal, which has spawned an enduringly popular bingo game and two live casino games as well as more than a dozen slot games.
This is another lucrative area for online slot game developers with cash to burn. NetEnt in particular, has cornered the market when it comes to music-themed slots. To date, the Swedish developer has released titles based on legendary bands and solo artists such as Guns n’ Roses, Jimi Hendrix, Motorhead and Ozzy Osbourne. And let’s not forget Microgaming’s contribution to the genre, Village People Macho Moves. All of these titles include officially-licensed hits and are renowned for their polished visuals and feature-laden bonus games.
This is an area that Playtech have made their own with their Sporting Legends progressive jackpot featuring jockeys Frankie Dettori and AP McCoy and snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan. NetEnt too have muscled in on the act with Scudamore’s Super Stakes. Games like these are a great fit for casinos that run alongside a sportsbook.
DC and Marvel comic books have proved rather bountiful sources of material for hard-up movie studios for quite some time. The 1978 Super Man movie got the ball rolling followed eleven years later by Tim Burton’s Batman. Since then, we’ve been subjected/treated to three hugely overrated reboots (IOHO) involving the caped crusader, as well as superhero films featuring Spider Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Wonder Woman, Captain America and the Green Lantern. Saturation point? Maybe. But slot developers such as Microgaming, Playtech and NYX Gaming have been very keen to tap into this highly-lucrative market, releasing games based on most of the aforementioned characters. Some of the most well received titles include Iron Man 2, Aquaman and the Dark Knight Rises. The Iron Man 2 slot unfortunately had to be retired along with all the other Avengers slots in 2017 when Disney (who own the Marvel IP) declined to renew the rights for Playtech to use the characters, but Playtech reskinned it as one of the Age of the Gods series (AOTG: King of Olympus).
This is another profitable area for slot creators, with a wide variety of high-profile titles being released over the past couple of years. So far, we’ve had Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Amaya Gaming), Bejeweled (Blueprint), Resident Evil (Skywind) and the controversial Street Fighter 2 (NetEnt). The latter game was actually taken offline following concerns about its staking mechanics.
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