Mariachi Slot
A Mexican Mariachi band is in town, playing their cheerful tunes to the locals and hopefully bringing cheer to players who are spinning the 5 reels of the Mariachi video slot machine. It’s from well-known online casino games developer stakelogic, and like many slots in their range, comes packed full of bonus features, including wild substitutions, reel re-spins, jackpot payouts and free spins games where the chances of landing some big wins is improved.
A band plays their particular type of music in the background as you play this online slot game, which is fun for a while, but many players could be clicking the mute button before long. Don’t let it put you off though, as there’s a lot to like about this game, as even in the basic run of play, you should see plenty of spins where matching symbols line up across any of the 40 paylines, on adjacent reels from left to right for a win.
It’s got a slightly unusual comic-book style to it, where the colours look a little washed-out, but at least that makes it easy on the eye. A Mexican township, complete with a bit of tumbleweed rolling around, serves as a backdrop to the reels, while each reel position on the 5x3 grid of symbols is surrounded by a nice pattern that fits in with the overall theme.
Mariachi Magic
All 40 lines are in play, so anyone looking to test the game out before playing for real cash can do so via the free Mariachi video slots available at Stakelogic-powered online casinos. Coin values can be adjusted from just 0.01 to a high limit of 0.20 and the paytable lists how many coins are won with each combination.
Mexican-style playing card icons 10, J, Q, and K each pay out 5 coins when landing on reels 1, 2 and 3 of a payline, while 4 are worth 15 coins and it’s a win of 30 coins for full lines. The A returns wins of a little more and then we have the various musical instruments that the band are entertaining us with, filling out the middle levels of the paytable.
The violin, trumpet and guitar will all be worth 15, 30, or 60 coins when stopping across a line, with the top part of the payout schedule taken up by the 3 band members. These will be worth up to 80, 100, or 120 coins, depending on which character fills a payline, while also triggering a unique Lock and Spin bonus feature if they are in the right places. The 3 guys of the band are together in the wild symbol, which acts as others if it’s in the right positions to complete winning combinations, also paying 50, 200, or 500 coins when landing on a line.
Lock and Spin Bonuses
This special feature is triggered by any of the Mariachi’s landing on the leftmost reel. They can appear as a full-length symbol that fills the reel and will then lock in place, along with any other symbols of the same character, and any wild symbols on the other reels.
Any remaining reel positions spin once more for free, which will hopefully lead to new win-lines being formed, but if new wilds or examples of the triggering Mariachi land, these will also lock in place and the process repeats.
This can go on and one, potentially filling all of the reels with winning symbols, although the bonus round ends if no more wilds or character symbols appear. If all reel positions are filled, either in the Lock and Spin feature, or in the normal run of play, a jackpot award is paid out. The different jackpots for each Mariachi character are displayed above the reels.
A Rich Free Spins Bonus Round
There’s a big sack of cash symbol that might not have any value on its own, but will trigger a rewarding free spins bonus game when landing in any 3 or more places. If just 3 examples of this scatter symbol appeared, you get to enjoy 12 free games, with 4 scatters being the trigger for 18 spins and any 5 will start 24 bonus games.
During these, the lower-paying 9, 10, J, Q, K and A will be steadily removed from the reels, so the longer these go on, the greater the likelihood of high-value winning lines being formed. It’s a great free spins feature, with lots of chances to cash out some big wins, although it can’t be retriggered, and the Lock and Spin won’t be available during this round.
A Slot Machine Worth Singing About?
With so many bonus features available, it’s no wonder that gamblers are saying Hola to the Mariachi video slot. It has an unusual theme, although Mariachi Mayhem, from The Games Company is also available, so it isn’t quite unique.
Some of the extras are new however, and we especially like the Lock and Spin feature, even though completely filling the reels before it ends isn’t going to happen very often. Free spins with fewer and higher-value symbols are a really rewarding bonus feature, while even in the base games, this mobile-optimised slot machine can spin up plenty of prizes.
