Deck of Scurra

Deck of Scurra: Slot Overview

Given their links with gambling, you might be wondering why we don't see more playing card/online slot mashups. They do occur. Just the other day, for instance, we reviewed ELK's Crescendo, which blended the fast pace of a slot with the hand-making of poker into a playable mix. Now, we're about to sample software provider Print Studios' contribution, Deck of Scurra, a game that combines the elegance of playing card design with the nail-biting ups and downs of an online slot. If you were wondering, 'scurra' is the Latin word for 'jester', 'clown', 'buffoon', or 'joker', meaning we're already learning things in this culturally refined release.

Playing Deck of Scurra is like sitting down at a table and whipping out a deck of cards to play patience. Not just any old table, though. Deck of Scurra gives off attending an upper-class party back in the day, where the entertainment included live music, a medium channelling non-physical entities, and later, when it gets darker, and the sounds of the city drop to a whisper, a group seance over an Ouija board vibes. In other words, Deck of Scurra has a faintly mystical touch to it, that while it may deal in coins, money, cards - strictly material objects, there are hints of deeper workings going on which lie just outside the grasp of our physical senses.

The gaming area contains no frames or anything like that, so on each spin, 15 cards are placed on the table in a 5x3 pattern, where there are 243 ways to win by default. Next to them is the bet selection area, where the choices range from a minimum of $/€0.10 to $/€50 per round. When regular betting, Deck of Scurra produces an RTP of 96.09% combined with a highly volatile math model.

A handsome set of cards makes up Deck of Scurra's paying symbols. They are the Jewel, Clover, Spear, Heartroot, Queen of Minds, Queen of Nature, Queen of War, and Queen of Desire, which award gamblers 1x to 5x their bet when landing 5 OAK. There are no wild symbols in the game, but no doubt if there were, they would be handsome, too. Winning cards and Jesters are removed from the play area, and the gaps they leave behind are filled with new symbols, providing another chance to win.

Deck of Scurra: Slot Features

Deck of Scurra deals out a set of modifying Alteration Cards, an Evolving Deck Bonus round, and feature buys.

Alteration Cards

Beneath each regular card symbol, there can be one or more face-down cards known as Alteration Cards. When card symbols are removed after a win, any Alteration Cards revealed are collected to the side. When no more wins occur, all collected Alteration Cards are applied to card symbols in view, which is followed by a final win evaluation.

• Coronation Card - upgrades low pay symbols that match the suit of the Coronation Card to high pay cards.
• Blue Lunar Card - changes low-pay or high-pay cards that match the icon at the bottom of the Lunar Card to match the icon at the top. Blue Lunar Cards change one suit.
• Purple Lunar Card - acts like a Lunar Card but changes all suits.
• Regular Crow Card - distributes its number (1 to 8) to card symbols matching the icon at the top. Numbers on card symbols represent copies of the same card, increasing the number of winning ways.
• Golden Crow Card - doubles all visible numbers on card symbols.

Evolving Deck Bonus

Jester Card scatters are collected when they appear. Collecting 3 or more of them triggers the Evolving Deck Bonus. During the bonus, cards are reused between spins, and all card alterations are permanent till the feature ends. Before the first spin, a set of Alteration Cards is applied to a number of card symbols, all randomly selected to upgrade the deck. The number of cards depends on the number of Jester Cards collected in the base game: 3, 4, or 5 Jester Cards award 5, 7, or 9 free spins, upgrading 6, 9, or 12 card symbols with 3, 6, or 9 Alteration Cards. Each Jester Card collected during the feature awards players +1 free spin.

Feature Buy

Players may buy Evolving Deck Boost 1, 2, or 3, which triggers the Evolving Deck Bonus with 3+, 4+, or 5 Jester Cards for 81x, 162x, or 678x the bet, respectively. There is also a lucky bonus draw costing 150x, and an adjustable scatter boost ranging from 1.5x to 80x the bet, which increases the chance of triggering the bonus.

Deck of Scurra: Slot Verdict

Deck of Scurra sits up there amongst some of the more high-brow, cultured slots to come along in a while. At times, it might feel less like repeatedly clicking a spin button and more like pondering what move to make next in chess or sucking on a pipe in the 19th century while trying to piece together the clues of a particular puzzling crime. Fortunately, if you're not in the mood to stretch the brain box, that's fine, because Deck of Scurra is a through-and-through slot, so it doesn't tax grey matter to an extreme degree, even if it does come across as a thinking man's or woman's slot.

In saying that, it might take a bit of time to get to grips with each of the Alteration Cards and their specific functions. Once you can see which suits will be affected and with what modifier, that's when Deck of Scurra is able to really play with the tension levels. The acme of suspense occurs when wins have ended and a stack of Alteration Cards are applying their effects. You can see where gaps on the grid need to be filled, where future card symbols may or may not affect anything, and experience the sadness when it all comes to nought. Or, the elation, when winning ways are increased due to Crow Cards boosting combinations, and/or suits changing and upgrading to further maximise a final result. That is to say, free spins can swing between the two extremes of rouse and frustrate (or coast along the middle), depending on the luck of the draw.

Of course, all slots can do that, but Deck of Scurra has a rather distinct way of doing so. It's a very attractively put-together game, with a good chunk of the enjoyment coming from the elegantly refined audiovisual presentation, which is able to deal out some excellent card-driven action. A win cap of 20,000x the bet gives card sharks plenty to aim for in a potentially brutal game, which nevertheless skilfully blends sophistication with suspense.