Dino P.D

Dino P.D.: Slot Overview

Canines are used in police forces around the world for their ability to sniff out narcotics and drag down criminals by the arm, but few other species are so widely deployed. Imagine, yeah, just imagine a police force that made use of the unique talents provided by dinosaurs. Well, you don't need to imagine anymore. Thanks to software provider Push Gaming, the dinos in this game don't just help the police; they are the police. The game is Dino P.D. and pulls together elements from previous releases like Big Bamboo and Dinopolis into one big ol' stomping place.

Dinos ruled the earth a long, long time ago, and (apologies to disco fans), but Dino P.D. reinforces this trip back in time by the use of a jazzy circa-1970s soundtrack. That was the first thing which stood out about Dino P.D. before the focus zoomed out to take in the rest of the surroundings, including a rock-carved police department, like something you'd see in The Flintstones. The game has a similar vibe going on as was found in Dinopolis, yet this one's a bit grittier, a bit more street if you will. Looks nice, gotta say, and after reviewing the two games which appear to have contributed their DNA to creating Dino P.D., interest was piqued as to how this one would rumble.

Before getting to the more viscerally rumbling bits, let's take a look under the hood. No, you won't find bare feet powering a car made out of granite, but a medium-high volatile math model producing a wide range of RTP values depending on how players tackle the game clearly displayed on the Dino P.D. info page. To get the ball rolling, users select a base bet of 10 p/c to $/€100 per spin, or, by activating the Ante Bet, the stake increases by 20%, also increasing the chance of winning the feature.

Any device may be used to play Dino P.D., which functions on a 5-reel game grid with 4 rows of symbols and 20 unchangeable win lines. For symbols, well, there are a lot of them, starting with the regular pays, where we find 4 doughnut symbols as the lows, 4 tools of the trade symbols as the mids, and 3 characters as the highs. Winning combinations of 5 lows awards 3x the bet, 5 mids pays 7.5x to 10x the bet, while 5 high pays award 30 to 50 times the bet. Crushing the scales at 250x the bet for five is the golden 'W' wild symbol. The wild is also able to substitute for any regular pay symbol.

Dino P.D.: Slot Features

So much for the bones of the game, now onto the meatier features section, which includes Dino Coin Symbols, scatters and the Gamble scatter, a Gamble feature, free spins, and bonus buys.

Dino Coin Symbols

Dino Coins display bet multipliers that can land in any position in the base game or bonus round. When at least 5 Dino Coins are in view, they are awarded. Values on Dino Coins can be 1x, 2x, 5x, 10x, 25x, 50x, 100x, 250x, 500x, or 1,000x the bet.

Scatter Symbol and Gamble Scatter Symbol

Scatter symbols may land on reels 1 and 3, while the Gamble scatter symbol is only present on reel 5. When 2 scatters and the Gamble scatter land, the Gamble scatter spins to award:

• Bronze Free Spins with 0 or 1 star – 8 to 10 free spins are awarded with none or one low-pay symbol converted to Dino Coin symbols.
• Silver Free Spins with 2 or 3 stars – 8 to 10 free spins are awarded with 2 or 3 low-pay symbols converted to Dino Coin symbols.
• Gold Free Spins with 4 stars – 8 to 10 free spins are awarded with 4 low-pay symbols converted to Dino Coin symbols.

Gamble Feature

If Gold Free Spins are not won, then players have the option of gambling what they were awarded for the chance of improving it, or losing it.

Free Spins

During free spins, Coin Collector symbols are collected by a meter next to the reels. For the record, Coin Collector symbols function the same as Dino Coins during win evaluations. When 4 are collected, the corresponding low-pay symbol is converted into a Coin on the reels. Each time a low symbol conversion takes place, additional free spins and Multiplier upgrades occur. The Multiplier applies to Dino Coin symbol wins only.

Bonus Buy

Clicking the star icon provides 4 bonus buy options. Here players can purchase the Bronze, Silver, or Gold bonus game for the cost of 70x, 140x, or 450x the bet, respectively. Alternatively, 100x the bet buys a random bonus game.

Dino P.D.: Slot Verdict

When a casino game maker hits on something that becomes a success, there are good odds it'll show up again sooner or later in one form or another. Sometimes it'll be a lazy copy; other times, it'll be like what Push Gaming has done in Dino P.D., a game that not only replicates the success but merges it with another game to create something with a high degree of novelty. To nutshell what we're getting at here, Dino P.D. shares some of the best parts of games like Dinopolis, such as its big lizard population with the mechanical thrills and spills from Big Bamboo, a game which went on to be super popular amongst the gambling community.

Back to Dino P.D., where the Dino Coin wins, the specific scatter/free spins award method and the collection/conversion in free spins work just as well as they did before. Not everything is the same, of course, and there are a couple of statistical areas where Dino P.D. differs from its predecessors, both relating to the max win. Here, it's possible to collect up to 10,000x the bet, compared to 50,000x the bet before. The result is a game that doesn't seem to be as all or nothing as the other two, and the reduced max win probability no doubt complements or offsets the lower potential. It seems Dino P.D. is more concerned with spreading the winnings around, theoretically, than dumping them in a narrower, more focused way. A less brutal slot in some ways, then, and one which may attract a broader audience, including those who liked Big Bamboo but found it a bit too daunting a challenge.

So, will players who dug the opportunities for bravado provided by Big Bamboo still fall for Dino P.D.'s charms? Don't see why not unless tangling with the biggest, sharpest clawed, most aggravated beast in the slot stable is an absolute must. Then, Dino P.D.'s alternative delivery methods, such as the 'looser' way of getting Coin wins, still have a lot to offer.