Jade Shuriken

Jade Shuriken: Slot Overview

Hearthstone fans may be a little sad to know that Jade Shuriken from Slingshot Studios has nothing to do with the popular card game. Instead, Jade Shuriken is an online slot that links to others in the Microgaming cluster of studios by possessing the Epic Strike feature used before in Pear Fiction Studios' Blazing Mammoth. As well as this are other extras such as an Epic Strike Trail, Epic Strike Respins, and three free spins bonus rounds with win multipliers.

Better break out the gi for this one since shurikens are those pointy discs ninjas throw at each other, and Jade Shuriken is all about martial artists doing battle. The base game depicts an atmospheric rural setting of cliff faces, pagodas, and a meandering river (or lake?) beneath a sliver of moon on a purple-coloured night. On the gaming side of things, a 5-reel, 4-row grid matrix takes centre stage next to an ascending ladder of cash prizes (The Epic Strike part) and a trail displaying green and gold shurikens above the reels. Slingshot has pulled off the cartoon martial arts theme nicely where goodies, baddies, fan-waving damsels, and bearded Wisemen pop up at certain points to give the game a graphic novel feel.

If you've played Street Fighter II the video game, you'll probably be familiar with E. Honda's Hundred Hand Slap attack. The move was easy; just bash one of the punch buttons as fast as possible to deal out a flurry of slaps. Jade Shuriken is a little like that in some ways. It's a low volatile game, punching out a high hit rate of 42.76% on the default 96.24% RTP version. When playing the 92.24% or the 94.24% version, the hit rate ever so slightly changes, though volatility remains low throughout. Bets also remain the same, ranging from 20 p/c to $/€80 per spin, available on any device.

Snaking across the grid is 40 fixed paylines for landing winning combinations of three to five of a kind on. The paytable begins with four low-pay Asian-themed icons, paying 1-1.5x the bet for five of a kind, before getting to the premium 7s, double 7s, or triple 7s, paying 3.75-18.75x for five of a kind. Also, if any mix of 7 symbols forms a combo, they are worth up to 1.5x for five. Finally, the Jade Shuriken logo is wild and appears on every reel. It can substitute any regular pay symbol or make winning lines of itself, worth up to 62.5x the bet for five of a kind.

Jade Shuriken: Slot Features

Let's start with the Feature Trail, as this is one of Jade Shuriken's newer elements. The Feature Trail runs along the top of the reels and displays green shurikens or golden shurikens. With the leftmost shuriken being the activator, the trail moves one step to the left on every spin. When a green shuriken is activated, only green shuriken symbols can appear on the middle three reels of the main grid, providing a chance of triggering the Epic Strike feature. Alternately, when a golden shuriken is active, gold shuriken symbols may appear on the middle three reels, providing a chance of triggering Epic Strike Respins.

Epic Strike

Landing 3 or more green shuriken symbols on reels 2, 3, or 4 awards a cash prize. When 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12 of them hit, the payout equates to 1x, 3x, 5x, 10x, 15x, 30x, 100x, 250x, 1,000x, or 2,500x the bet, respectively.

Epic Strike Respins

When 3 or more golden shuriken symbols land on reels 2, 3, or 4, they trigger the Epic Strike Respins feature. The triggering symbols are held while all other positions on the middle three reels respin. If new golden shurikens hit, they are held too, and another respin is awarded. When no new shurikens land, or the middle reels are filled, a prize of 1x, 3x, 5x, 10x, 15x, 30x, 100x, 250x, 1,000x, or 2,500x the bet is paid for having 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12 in view.

Free Spins

Landing 3 scatter symbols on the middle three reels awards 1x the bet and activates the free spins bonus rounds. Players are presented with three options to choose from:

• Pools of Prosperity (low volatility) - 15 free spins with an x2 multiplier and at least one golden shuriken symbol on the Trail.
• Forest of Fortune (medium volatility) - 10 free spins with an x3 multiplier and at least four golden shuriken symbols on the Trail.
• Canyon of Courage (high volatility) - 6 free spins with an x5 multiplier and only golden shuriken symbols on the Trail.

The win multiplier applies only to line wins, not to Epic Strike wins. On a final note, free spins can be retriggered.

Jade Shuriken: Slot Verdict

On a base level, Jade Shuriken is a pretty standard game offering free spins and a scatter symbol cash prize win feature. However, Slingshot has weaved a few newish bits in there to spruce up the experience while meshing it with a fun kung fu, goodies vs baddies theme. It's not as unique a hero game as, say, Infectious 5, but it's unlikely Slingshot was shooting for the stars when they designed Jade Shuriken. It feels more closely aimed at a general audience, and there are certain players who should have little trouble finding satisfaction when giving Jade Shuriken a spin or two.

What works are things like the graphic novel/anime approach, the shifting bonus round locations, and the animated film vibe. The little details are neat, too, like the way premium lucky 7 symbols transform into in-theme scenes when they create non-mixed winning combinations. The Epic Strike feature and those like it can be found all over the place, though the inclusion of the Feature Trail and Epic Strike Respins is a welcome addition. Jade Shuriken is a somewhat lite slot, but if players want to turn up the heat a bit, they can do so by experimenting with the free spins options. Doing so doesn't mean Jade Shuriken will lead to colossal wins as it maxes out at 2,500x the bet, yet that feels fair enough in what is a low volatile, high hit rate game.

After witnessing the creative flourishes in Jade Shuriken, there was a feeling Slingshot might do well to break away from the run of Link&Win, Power Stack, and Epic Strike slots they've been on. Doing so might let their creativity soar without restraint. Then again, maybe the studio works better in a more structured setting, like writing a haiku. Hard to say. Anyway, there might be loads of these 9 Masks of Fire-style games with 2-2.5k top prizes floating around, but Jade Shuriken's high quality, comic book style production and the pulling power of ninjas make the game shine a bit brighter than many others in this niche.