It’s common knowledge that badgers are adept at constructing dams, but who knew they could also dig deep into the earth and unearth valuable minerals? According to Yggdrasil Gaming, whose online slot Badger Miners serves as evidence, they are. In Badger Miners, players team up with a couple of hardworking badgers to help them dig for gold, taking advantage of bonuses like free spins, Wild Respins, multipliers, and a purchase feature along the way.
It’s surprising how many adorable slot machines can be found online given that betting on games of chance is considered an adult pastime. Due in large part to the adorable little badgers mining for gold with a pick and other tools, Badger Miners is one of these endearing slot machines. The action in a mining slot machine takes place underground, but not in a very subterranean setting. In the upper section of the screen, you can make out earth, a downed tree, and a row of other plants that make up the planet’s surface. Gemstones of every color are scattered amid the rocks on either side of the game panel, a possible prize for the lucky winners.
To do so, they must first choose a stake, which can be anywhere from 20 pence to fifty pounds or euros each spin. If a player would prefer not break rocks in the main game, they can opt to purchase the bonus round instead. Badger Miners is a very unpredictable slot machine with a return to player value of 96% by default, however three lesser return values are possible, so keep that in mind.
Badger Miners is a 5-reel, 3-row slot machine with 243 paylines that is set just below the surface. When matching symbols appear from the far left reel all the way to the right, the payout rate is around 1 in 4. Badger Miners’ lower payouts come from blue, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, and red gems, which pay 6 to 8 times the stake for 5-of-a-kind. The game’s greater payouts come from a food container/flask, a shovel, a pick, and 2 badger character symbols.
Features of Badger Miners Slot Machine
Features including Cash Wilds, Wilds Respins, free spins, a bonus purchase, multipliers, and operators may be found below ground amid the jewels and badgers.
Scalars and Operands
Above the center three reels are multipliers, and operators may appear in the spaces between. The order of the multipliers is arbitrary, and the operators + and * may appear in the middle. The equation then yields a multiplier value, reading from right to left. For two reels, a multiplier of 4x plus 2x would result in a 6x multiplier, for instance.
Free Spins with Wilds for Cash
The middle three reels are where you may find the Cash Wilds. When substituting for conventional pay symbols, Cash Wilds will provide the corresponding win amounts. Then, a respin is awarded, during which the Cash Wilds advance one spot. When no more Cash Wilds contribute to a victory, the respins finish and the multipliers (discussed below) remain unchanged.
Bonus Turns
When you get 5 scatters during the main game, you get 7 free games. Two more free games are added for every scatter that appears. Aside from a few regulation adjustments, free spins function exactly like the main game. If a Wild does not make it to the top of the reels on a respin, it will keep its win value from the previous spin. Furthermore, free games do not produce any scatter symbols. Players may buy free spins for 95 times their wager, despite the fact that they only activate once every 300 spins on average.
Slot Decision for Badger Miners
The subgenre of mining slots has been present for quite some time and is expected to be so for the foreseeable future. It’s possible, though, that this is the first time badgers have ever been sent underground in search of treasure. In most casinos, the regulars include grizzled prospectors who might pass for an uncle of Santa Claus, and the players. They say that a change is as nice as a vacation, so the reviewers were grateful for this novel approach to slot mining. But I’m not sure if the badgers are a good fit; it’s possible that people who are in the mood for a more traditional mining role would find them distracting. Badger Miners, though, could be worth a closer look if a charming mining slot is what you’re looking.
When the novelty wore off, I found Badger Miners to be only adequate at most, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was seeing a B-team Yggdrasil production artistically. There are several novel features, such as the Multiplier/Operator and Wild Respins, but ultimately they seem underutilized. There are a lot of flashing lights and moving pieces in Badger Miners, but getting them to work together to create something engaging was challenging. Wild Respins were spinning in circles, multipliers were calling out for operators, and the badgers might have been more helpful if they had put about half as much effort into being cute as they do into being productive.
When the stars align, there’s a chance for a big payout in this badger hole. After all, the maximum payout in this game is 10,000 times the initial wager. Badger Miners may be a tiresome experience when it doesn’t. In creating a slot machine with a mining theme, Yggdrasil Gaming deserves credit for breaking from convention. Even while Badger Miners isn’t the pinnacle of mining-themed gambling, it nevertheless has value for those seeking a unique subterranean experience.