Description
Circus-themed five-reeler Buster Hammer Carnival slot is from ReelPlay with NextGen Gaming. It plays across five rows, with from 3,125 up to an incredible 32,768 ways of winning. (And it can expand to a 5×8 grid.)
Interestingly, and unusually, it can be adapted to different seasons, with Buster dressed for Chinese New Year, St Patrick’s Day, Halloween or Christmas. It’s a sequel to the original Buster Hammer game, launched back in 2016 – this latest version was released in early 2019.
Buster himself, a balding, moustachioed strongman clad in leopard print, stands to the left of the reels, brandishing his hammer, all ready to smash a winning combo. All the glitz and gaudy colours and stalls of a travelling fair fill the background, and the action takes place on a warm summer’s night.
How to play
Spin away from 0.50 to 12.50 a pop, not the highest maximum ever, so this game may be one for fun-seekers rather than serious high-rollers.
Carnival tickets, archery targets, hot dogs and Buster himself join the standard less lucrative playing-card values on the reels, from A through to 9.
Here, these icons are decked out in a colourful design to suit the theme, with candy floss added, for example. And, it goes without saying, the whole game is optimised for play on your device of choice, mobile or not.
Buster is the most rewarding of these regular icons, shelling out at 12x stake for five in a row
Hit Spin in the usual way to start playing. The Autoplay function is also available in Buster Hammer Carnival.
You can increase your bet via the Buster Feature to increase the level at which you’re playing, from 1 to 3. This affects RTP as well as aspects of some features (see below).
Buster Hammer Carnival Slot Special Features
Special Symbols
Buster’s hammer is the icon serving as your Wild here, doing its usual thing of substituting for all other symbols apart from the Scatter, the game’s logo.
Bonus Features
Mighty Free Spins
Trigger this round in the standard fashion, by landing at least a hat-trick of Scatters. Reels then expand to a huge 5×8 format, along with a massive 32,768 ways of winning, offering many more chances for forming winning combos.
Win 2x, 10x or 50x stake for three, four or five Scatters respectively, along with 10 free spins.
Wild Striker feature
Bag a Wild hammer icon on any winning combo and Buster will smash the High Striker once for every reel on which the Wild Hammer has landed. The further he hits, the bigger your potential winnings. With Level 1, only Reel 1 gives you stacks of lovely Wilds; on Level 3 it’s the middle three.
At the same time, Gold Wild hammers replace symbols. In the main game, up to five icons per reel are replaced this way; in the free spins round, it’s up to eight.
Jackpot
If you insist on a progressive jackpot, this may not be the ideal game for you. However, there is a top base-game win of 143,125 coins if you’re playing at bet level 3.
Return to Player
You’ll find variance here is on the higher side of medium, so buckle up for some high-octane action! Meanwhile, Return to Player varies according to your chosen bet level, from 95.97% to 96.33%.
Verdict
There’s no denying that Buster Hammer Carnival slot is a tremendously great-looking slot, plus it’s potentially extremely rewarding, with numerous ways to scoop some great wins. With any sequel, you often need to brace yourself for disappointment. But, make no mistake, this is a seriously fun game.
Try it out in free demo mode, and see if it’s a game that works for you.
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