Boxo

It's rare in the online slot world that a game comes along that really changes the foundation of what people think of a particular sub-genre. We aren't exaggerating when we say that the Boxo slot by Leander Games definitely does this. It has a style of play that mixes traditional, payline-based wins with a set of miniature progressives that you build up based on the background colors of the different reels, and that's made even more complicated by the other game features. The graphics look great with a stunning, Asian-inspired background with mountains, a village, cherry blossom trees and more, and the simple nature of the game's symbol set really allows the gameplay aspects to shine.

Understanding the Format

Because the actual format and layout of this game is so different in terms of how everything fits together, we think it's the first place we should start in trying to explain how this slot works overall. First of all, you'll see that there are three vertical reels and three rows of symbols. Across the middle of that 3x3 grid is a single payline, which the game calls a winline. The winline symbol set has opportunities to give you payouts on this line, but that's not even close to being the only way you can earn payouts in this game.

From the menu to the left-hand side of the Boxo slot logo at the top of the reels, you'll find a menu that allows you to manipulate your bet size. Since there's just one line to bet on, wagering is extremely simplified, and you can choose to bet between $0.01 and $50 per turn. The volatility of this game is really high, so you should make use of the smaller bet sizes until you get used to the swings that come due to how the rest of the game's mechanics work.

Regular Winline Symbols

The way that most players are going to be familiar with winning is by the use of the winline, which is the name for the only payline in this particular game. There are two symbols in the foreground of the reels that can line up to give you a winline payout. The silver X symbol will pay out five times your total bet size if you're able to line up three of a kind across the middle. Likewise, the golden coin with a square hole through the middle will pay out 50x your overall bet if you get three of a kind lined up on the winline.

Having only two paying symbols might seem ridiculously simple, but there's a lot more to the functionality of this game.

The Color Picker and Progressive Jackpots

During every single spin, the empty space directly below the Boxo logo at the top of the screen will land on a random color, a random set of colors or nothing at all. If it lands on any colors, those colors will have amounts added to their respective progressive jackpots for that spin. The amounts added are the bet size multiplied by the number of spots that show up with that color in the main 3x3 grid of symbols. They can be either black, green or red, all of which have dark shadows on them and that show up in the background of the grids.

If you get three matching colors on the winline in the background, then you will win that color's progressive jackpot.

The Golden Multiplier

The biggest wins in the game come from the golden, rectangular symbol that can appear "between" the foreground symbols and background colors. Three of these on the winline gets you a random multiplier of 1x, 3x or 5x. You then win all three progressive jackpots multiplied by that amount, so you can actually pick up a payout worth up to five times all three progressives combined, which is a novel concept overall.

Putting It All Together

Leander Games' Boko online slot is a game that has a style of gameplay that you're not going to find anywhere else. It's a little complicated to learn to play at first, but it provides some ideas that many other software companies could really learn from in terms of breaking out of the mold and giving players something different.

With that having been said, sometimes it's possible to be different just for the sake of being different without actually bringing something of value. It's easy to see why some players will feel that way about this game. It's a neat title with a decent presentation, but we fear that there's just not enough excitement in the gameplay to keep most people interested.