Penguin City

A funny story goes a long way in an online slot, even if it's a big of a stretch, and that's the premise that Yggdrasil Gaming's Penguin City slot operates on. The idea here is that the evil emperor penguin is keeping all of the other penguins locked down while they have to make him food all day, and they're going to escape as soon as they get the chance.

Your job is to try to help them escape because when they do, you get to reap the rewards in terms of bigger payouts thanks to a cool bonus feature that fits the theme and concept of this title perfectly.

Format and Slot Layout

The smooth gameplay for this slot largely comes from its format. There are five reels with three rows of symbols, but there are two things to know. First, you have 243 ways with the "all ways" format, which treats all symbols as left-to-right scatters. However, the second thing to know is that you can actually get paid in both directions from left-to-right or from right-to-left. This lends itself to high hit-rate and low-volatility play.

Along these lines, you'll be spending 25 coins per spin as a standardized form of betting. However, you have a ton of room to manipulate those coin sizes. It starts with coins worth as little as $0.004 each so that you can play for $0.10 per spin at the lower end of the available range. At the upper end, the coins are worth $5 apiece, and that means a maximum bet of $125.

How the Sticky Wild Symbols Work

You can earn sticky wilds in this game, but there's a particular pattern as to how they work. You'll only get wilds on the second and fourth reels during the regular game. Whenever one appears, it will actually become a sticky wild if it's a part of a winning combination. This sticky wild persists until the next spin, and the process can repeat if it's again part of at least one winning combo.

It's important to note that this ties in with the major feature of the game, but knowing how the sticky wilds work on their own is key to understanding how the feature works as a whole.

Escaping the Evil Emperor Penguin

To escape the emperor penguin, players will need to successfully hit a winning combination that includes a minimum of one wild symbol during the regular game. Once this happens, you'll start to see penguins try to jump between spins to make it away from their horrible, food-making conditions.

Along with the sticky wilds, a couple of other things can happen during this mode depending on if the penguins trying to escape are successful or not. When they are successful, you will get an extra depending on whether you have a winning spin or not. Winning spins get an extra wild added to the reels for even more chances at payouts. However, losing spins have the symbols rearrange themselves to force at least one payout, which is essentially free money that you wouldn't have received otherwise.

During this game mode, the emperor penguin can also appear as an extra, stacked wild on the third reel.

Payouts and Winning Combinations

There are five top symbols that have some pretty good mid-level wins. Prizes of 250x and 200x are at the top of the pay table with wins for five of the box of food or the soy sauce. The overboiling pot and the bowl of soup pay 150x and 125x, respectively, for five of a kind. Finally, five of the food on the stone cutting board earns players a 100x payout.

Down at the card suit level, red hearts and purple spades give players 70x and 60x, respectively, for five. Five of the green club is worth 55x, and it drops just slightly to the 50x level when you get five of the blue diamond symbol.

Our Thoughts

The Penguin City game has some cute characters and a pretty funny storyline that fits in perfectly with the feature set. In terms of graphics, it's a game that looks great. On the gameplay side, it's a perfect fit for people who like low-volatility styles.

While people who prefer bigger jackpots, bigger swings and a higher volatility probably won't get much out of this title, it still seems like a game that the majority of players will be able to get behind.