6 Jokers

6 Jokers: Slot Overview

The scatter-paying slot mechanic continues its up-and-up trajectory, receiving a boost from one of its earlier proponents, Pragmatic Play. The slot is 6 Jokers, and it takes some of what the studio has learned from past efforts, such as Sweet Bonanza 1000 and pushes it in a new direction. Does new, in this instance, translate to a powerful thrust into a brave future, or is it a backward step into pointless oblivion? Or, something ambiguously average in between those extremes? Here we go to find out.

On the front end, 6 Jokers looks as though it's a rave event partly held in an old ballroom. You've got the flashing lights and bopping tunes associated with a dance party, as well as six curtained boxes above the reels representing an old-fashioned theatre. The main overriding effect is of a joker, classical, fruit slot experience, though. It's a theme that arises again and again, like a phoenix from the ashes, and is even more prevalent, believe it or not, than the scatter-paying mechanism 6 Jokers employs for creating winning combinations.

To win, you need to land at least 8 matching symbols in any position on the grid, which is arranged in a 6x5 matrix. Lurking in the background, like a joker hiding behind a curtain, is the game's 4.5 out of 5 rated, highly volatile math model. The default RTP of 6 Jokers comes in at 96.55%, and it takes wagers of 5 cents to $/€250.

Played using a tumble mechanic means that winning symbols are removed from the reels after they have paid and are replaced by other symbols tumbling down. If a win forms after a tumble, the tumble feature triggers again until no new win appears. As for the symbols, a familiar bunch of tokens make up 6 Jokers' regular pays. From the lowest in value to the highest, the set includes limes, plums, grapes, watermelons, oranges, horseshoes, bells, single 7s, and triple 7s. Landing scatter combinations made up of 8-9 OAK pays 0.2 to 4 times the bet, while the largest pay group is 10+ OAK, worth 0.4 to 10 times the bet.

6 Jokers: Slot Features

Along with its scatter-paying win system, 6 Jokers has tumbles, wild multiplier symbols, Joker Reels, which are closely linked to the wilds, and 4 Ante Bet options.

Wild Multiplier

In a nod to Sweet Bonanza, the golden bomb object is 6 Jokers' wild multiplier. It substitutes for all symbols. When a wild multiplier hits, it has a random multiplier that applies to all of the winning combinations it is part of. If more than one wild multiplier is part of a win, the multipliers are added to each other. The possible multiplier values range from x2 to x100.

Joker Reels

On each spin, one reel is randomly chosen to be a Joker Reel and is highlighted accordingly. Every time a tumble occurs, one more unmarked reel is chosen at random to become a Joker Reel. Only when all of the reels have been highlighted, on the next tumble, wild symbols with a random multiplier may randomly hit.

Ante Bet

The Ante Bet lets players increase their stake (not the symbol values) to start spins with extra random reels selected as Joker Reels. The RTP for all of them is the same as the regular 96.55% RTP. Increase the base bet by 1.4x - every spin starts with 2 Joker Reels; Increase the base bet by 2.8x - every spin starts with 3 Joker Reels; Increase the base bet by 5.6x - every spin starts with 4 Joker Reels; Increase the base bet by 12x - every spin starts with 5 Joker Reels.

6 Jokers: Slot Verdict

First of all, let's start by saying innovation in the slot biz, broadly speaking, is generally a positive thing, so we should at least golf clap when studios are brave enough to hang it out there and try something new. There is a sense of this on display in 6 Jokers, which took the bones of Sweet Bonanza and slapped other layers of meat on them. Thematically, the added layers of meat are unrelated to candy, but the joker trope has been done to death, meaning 6 Jokers' sights and sounds aren't the most captivating, in some ways. The audiovisuals are lively though, meaning they do the job, it should be said, of creating a bouncy, ravey, jokery scene.

The mechanics of 6 Jokers were memorable, not always for the best reasons. On the positive side, the requirements for activating Joker Reels put an unusual slant on the proceedings. Unlike Sweet Bonanza, you don't need to wait for free spins to trigger before wild multipliers become a possibility, but you do need to activate all of the Joker Reels to land wilds - a crucial rule that. This forces the eye to stay focused on the actual Joker Reels, the initial one, as well as those triggered via tumbles. Or have up to 5 active at the start of every spin if the Ante Bet is of interest. Making five reels active from the start isn't exactly a budget option, however.

Even though the chance of getting wild multipliers in the base game is a plus, what's less thrilling is the lack of a bonus round. 6 Jokers ships with a 5,000x the base bet win cap (varies every so slightly when using the Ante Bet), so the tumble/wild multiplier combo would appear to be effective on its own, fair enough. But, when stuck in a rut of wild-less spins, few active Joker Reels, and low-interest tumbles, it was hard to keep eyes on the prize and push through 6 Jokers' less exciting moments, which did make up a sizable chunk of the session.