Genie Nights

Genie Nights: Slot Overview

Genie Nights from developer Red Tiger is one of these copy/clone jobs you wonder why the studio bothered. The prototype slot was called Honolulu Nights (possibly cancelled) and was a strange mix of pixelated flesh, low potential, low thrills, all rolled into one of the slowest moving games we'd come across. No amount of bikini-clad jiggling was enough to save it. For whatever reason, Honolulu Nights has been resurrected, or at least the math and features have been and injected into an Arabian Nights style game called Genie Nights. If you're worried Red Tiger has removed the flesh, don't be, three 'babes' are back, along with everything else that made Honolulu Nights what it was.

Like before, Genie Nights is also filled with sand; this time, it's provided by the desert location rather than the beaches of Hawaii. Hot sand makes up the background, traversed by a line of camel riders behind a 3x3 game grid. The graphic standard is not as high as it usually is from Red Tiger, and the game gives off a slightly unfinished feel. There's something off-kilter about the visuals and an overall 'oh it's good enough' vibe as if perfection really was not one of the maker's concerns. Rushed is another way of describing the first impression.

Statistically, Genie Nights is a fairly volatile game (rated 4/5), producing a return to player value of 95.76%. It's strangely basic yet surprisingly stacked with quite a few features. In the base game, players make do with 5 fixed paylines for landing three of a kind combinations along, while features have an ascending, progressive element to them. Before uncovering them, know that stakes vary from 10 p/c to $/€100 per spin, and the gaming may be conducted on any device.

The masks and beach accessories of Honolulu Nights have been traded in for a bunch of low pay 10-A card rank symbols and four high pay treasure symbols. Winning combinations will get you payouts of 0.2 to 1.4x the bet for the lows or 4 to 20x the bet for three premiums. There is no wild symbol in Genie Nights, but there are a bunch of interlocking features to contend with.

Genie Nights: Slot Features

Red Tiger has brought over the same batch of features as before, though some of the names have changed. Here players can find respins, a Magic Lamp Bonus, Wish spins, Great Wish spins, Mega Wish spins, and a Nudge mechanic.

• Respin - When 3 Respins symbols land on a line, they pay 0.2x the bet and trigger a respin. Up to 4 consecutive Respins can be triggered in a row, each one having an increased chance of landing another Respins or Wish bonus. On the fourth Respin, only Respin, Wish or Great Wish symbols appear.
• Magic Lamp Bonus - In the base game only, if a 3x3 sized lamp symbol hits, the Magic Lamp Bonus is triggered. Here players win a random prize of 5x-50x their stake, or 1 of the 3 Wish Bonuses.
• Wish - Awarded from the Magic Lamp Bonus or when three Wish symbols land in a line. Eight free spins are won, and on the last spin, Wish or Great Wish symbols may land to retrigger 8 extra free spins.
• Great Wish - Won from the Magic Lamp Bonus or when 3 Great Wish symbols land in a line. Again, 8 free spins are awarded with a greater chance of wins. On the final spin, Great Wish symbols may land to retrigger 8 extra free spins.
• Mega Wish - Players can win this from the Magic Lamp Bonus or as a random upgrade on the last spin of a Wish bonus. During this one, all symbols are replaced by 1x3 sized Genie symbols worth 2x, 4x, or 6x the bet. This round continues as long as each spin is a winning one. Once a non-winning spin occurs, the game returns to its previous mode. So, if Mega Wish was awarded during the Wish or Great Wish bonus, you will return to that.
• Nudge - If the last spin in a Wish bonus does not produce a win, there is a chance the reels are nudged to make it so.

Genie Nights: Slot Verdict

Rarely does winning feel as tedious as it can be in Genie Nights. Like the other beach game, this one gets stuck on some insane loops, going from one bonus to the next, back to the previous bonus, forward a step, back a step, go read War and Peace, come back, and still, the bonus rounds are ticking over. So much so that sometimes you just want them to stop so you can get back to living your life. It wouldn't be so bad if the time spent locked in these feature loops resulted in an equivalent amount of loot, but payouts in Genie Nights are pretty bad, so the effort/reward ratio can feel out of whack.

Another example is the Mega Wish bonus. Since you're getting 2-6x the bet per spin at the most, extended bouts just don't feel worth it. The first time we settled in for what turned out to be a session of repeat bonus rounds and consecutive wins, the game still didn't really feel fun; it just felt broken. Max payout is 998x the bet, which few people would say no to. However, the mental image of winning that amount is soured when you consider how many Wish retriggers you'd have to endure.