Bankin’ Bacon

Bankin' Bacon: Slot Overview

You might have heard of the term 'making bank' in the common vernacular, referring to the process of acquiring a large amount of cash in a short period of time. What non-German speakers might be less familiar with is the saying 'schwein gehabt', literally 'got pig' meaning something along the lines of, 'boy, he got lucky there.' In fact, our porcine friends have represented prosperity and wealth in Germany for centuries and is where some people say the origins of pig-shaped money boxes originated. Wherever they came from, they are prolific in slots, and Bankin' Bacon is another contribution to the pile of piggy, money, wealth themed games - this one from developer Blueprint Gaming.

Blueprint has set Bankin' Bacon in an area that looks a little like Big Time Gaming's Royal Mint Megaways. This one is more cartoonish, though, which the studio probably felt obliged to do since it goes with the piggy bank theme. The game area sits at the top of some stairs leading to a plush bank with a nice glass-domed roof. It looks like a financial institution that does not welcome the regular populace in to deposit their monthly paychecks. This is the sort of place doing business with the aristocracy or high net worth individuals. Regular Joes get to admire the architecture from the outside. When Banker Spins trigger, however, players are let inside for a more democratic scramble for cash from the bank vault.

Gaming is held on a 6-reel, 4-row game grid, which pays left to right on adjacent reels, producing 4,096 ways to win. It's unclear what the hit rate is, but in testing, either you scored from the collection system or were punished due to the low number of ways wins. It doesn't help that Bankin' Bacon has a noticeable low return to player value of 94%. As for the other numbers, the game runs on a medium/high volatility setting while offering stakes from 10 p/c to $/€100 per spin.

Having a snuffle through the paytable turns up a selection of 9 regular pay symbols. The first five are a bunch of bright 10-A card royals; then, there are bags of coins, stacks of banknotes, scales, and old-fashioned cash registers. There's a common theme here. Landing six premium symbols across the reels turn out wins worth 50 to 200 times the stake. Cheque symbols land in all positions, performing two tasks in Bankin' Bacon. For one, they pay out a conciliatory prize of up to 10x the bet when six of a kind hit. Secondly, when they appear in Banker Spins, their individual values are collected.

Bankin' Bacon: Slot Features

If you are familiar with the iconic slot Fishin' Frenzy, you'll quickly recognise the connection as the two games use a similar collection feature during free spins. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 gold coin scatter symbols awards 10, 15, 20, or 30 Banker Spins. Or, instead of collecting the awarded number of free spins, players can try their luck with the Mystery Choice. If the latter, a prize wheel spins to award either more or less spins than was originally won, and one cheque value for the full duration of Banker Spins. Set cheques means only one specific value will appear on the money scatters, which can be a benefit or a curse.

Next, it's on to free spins where cheque and piggy bank symbols appear in any position. When both are in view at the same time, the cheques are collected by the pig, and their values are added to the free spin win total. If more than 1 piggy bank wild lands at once, all cheques in view are collected by all wilds one at a time. When Banker Spins end, the total value of line wins and scatter wins is paid.

Bankin' Bacon: Slot Verdict

Once you realise Banker Spins are basically a copy of Fishin' Frenzy's, Bankin' Bacon ends up being pretty predictable. The base game knocks on in a jaunty manner thanks to the jazzy tune that proliferate in these sorts of slots, and the bright cartoon graphics. This part of Bankin' Bacon is quite good, giving the game a bouncy good nature. A few spins in, and the bounce starts to deflate as it turns into a case of sitting back through a feature free base game and waiting for Banker Spins to trigger.

Bankers Spins are where players cast off their metaphorical fishing tackle and attempt to reel in cheques. Does anyone still use cheques outside the USA? Well, you'll want them to show up in great numbers during Banker Spins, which they do, but the piggy bank wild isn't anywhere near as numerous. It wasn't unheard of for Banker Spins to pass by without collecting a single cheque. Then again, other bonus rounds hoovered up cheque scatters like they were quite literally going out of style.

One thing separating Bankin' Bacon from Fishin' Frenzy is the Mystery Choice feature. As you can imagine, this is one of those rolls of the dice that can go heavily in your favour if you're lucky – or, not. Get it rolling, and numbers around 2,000x should be possible. What spoils things is Bankin' Bacon's disappointing RTP, which unfortunately is low enough to be a deal-breaker. 94% is just downright tight and probably more than enough to send players into the arms of other piggy bank/wealth themed games. There are plenty of them out there, after all.

Add it all up, and you've got a Fishin' Frenzy follow on which could've been a strong contender for anyone who likes the scatter collection feature these games are famed for. Yet, Bankin' Bacon went and put a trotter in the goodwill by that poke in the eye RTP value.