Farmtastic

Farmtastic: Slot Overview

Farmtastic, a concatenation of the words 'farm' and 'fantastic', is the name of a barnyard and crops-themed online slot from software provider Red Tiger. For whatever reason, slot makers occasionally feel the urge to take virtual trips to the countryside to see where food comes from and reproduce it in a romanticised way on the reels. In Farmtastic, Red Tiger has concatenated things like animals, crops, and farm equipment, with cluster pays, added wild symbols, big ones too, multipliers, and free spins.

Wholesome is the word that sprang to mind when taking Farmtastic in through the eyes, with that Fat Rabbit kind of vibe to it. The action unfolds in a cutesy farmyard of hay bales, a red barn, an old-school tractor, pennants and herds of big-eyed, quirky livestock. For what it is, Red Tiger has done a pretty good job of creating a fun luvin' sort of farm, the type where animals don't actually get slaughtered for meat or drained for milk. If this is the case, then hopefully, Farmtastic's farmer does a roaring trade in sunflower seeds.

When 5 or more identical symbols land adjacent to each other on the 6x6 grid, either horizontally or vertically, they form a winning cluster. The symbols in the cluster explode off the board, causing the remaining symbols to fall downwards and new ones to come in from above. Chain reactions of wins repeat in this way until no new cluster win is created. A medium-high volatile math model runs the game, producing limited winning potential and a top RTP value of 95.76%. Players may wager 10 c to $/€100 per spin.

Produce of the Earth are the low-paying symbols - leaves, peppers, carrots, beets, and corn, while chickens, sheep, pigs, cows, and horses are the premium symbols. Clusters containing 5 matching symbols pay 0.1 to 9 times the bet, rising to 1x to 60x when landing 20+ OAK winning clusters.

Farmtastic: Slot Features

This here farm grows features such as progress wilds, numerous animal-linked features, multipliers, and free spins.

Progress Wild and Progress Blocks

Wild symbols, in general, replace all of the regular pay symbols. When a special progress wild lands, it fills an empty position on one of the progress block meters next to the reels with a star, then awards that feature. Only one progress wild may appear on the reels at any time and only in the base game when there are empty progress block positions.

Farmtastic has 5 progress blocks, each linked to a certain feature. The Chicken, Sheep, Pig, Cow, and Multiplier features require 6, 5, 4, 3, or 2 stars, respectively, to be completed. When a feature meter is completed, its feature can randomly trigger.

• Chicken feature - adds a random number of 1x1 Chicken Wilds to the reels when activated.
• Sheep feature - a 2x2 Sheep Wild is added to the reels when activated.
• Pig feature - a 3x3 Pig Wild is added to the reels when activated.
• Cow feature - a 4x4 Cow Wild is added to the reels when activated.
• Multiplier feature - when activated, an x2 multiplier is applied to all wins until chain reactions end. The second activation of this feature awards an x5 multiplier until chain reactions end. The awarded multiplier is either x2 or x5 after the multiplier feature is fully unlocked.

Free Spins

Landing 3 scatter symbols on the reels awards 10 free spins. During free spins, any feature can activate at random and do so at a greater frequency than during base game play. Hitting a scatter symbol awards a further +3 free spins.

Farmtastic: Slot Verdict

You can see why the animals on this farm might be happy to be there, or at least content staring blankly out to the horizon, possibly dreaming of freedom. Do domesticated animals yearn for freedom, or do they not have a clue what's going on around them? Guess if they're fed and treated well they're okay standing around a field or grunting in a sty. Hard to say. Anyway, Farmtastic is a darn cheerful place to grow crops or rear animals, but is it conducive for having a punt? On one hand, yes, if a lightweight farm-themed cluster paying slot with minor winning potential and a bonus round that throws wild symbols onto the reels sounds dandy.

On the other hand, a max multiplier of 2,920x curbs the enthusiasm and is a shame, considering the positive aspects of Farmtastic's gameplay. Big wilds in a cluster pays game are certainly nice to have on hand, and the free spins round has a faint, very faint Fat Rabbit feel to it. Obviously, Farmtastic does not have a sticky wild, but there is a kind of progressive element to the wild symbols, of a sort, and it is possible to get bigger wilds when the farmer randomly walks out and throws them. Eh, there's a multiplier, too, but it's limited, and much of Farmtastic felt a tad straitjacketed after a while.

Still, Farmtastic was relatively amusing to review despite its shortcomings. The atmosphere is light and breezy, the camera zooming in and out of the sheep for the bonus round is kind of funny, the first few times at least, and there are quite a few features to work through, even if they predominantly revolve around wild symbols of various sizes. It's an okay game if massive payouts aren't a must, and if gambling in the countryside is on the to-do list, Farmtastic goes some way to scratch that itch.