Tiki Reward

Tiki Reward: Slot Overview

A lot of players firing up Tiki Reward for the first time are likely to experience a sense of deja vu. It appears All41 Studios is slipping back into its habit of ‘borrowing’ ideas from competitors and rolling them into a bland imitation. They’d kind of wandered away from those sorts of shenanigans recently, but the temptation must have been too strong to go cold turkey. Tiki Reward’s fiery tribal imagery and triggered jackpots bear a strong resemblance to Gameburger Studio’s 9 Masks of Fire. Then again, it could all be a coincidence. Let’s find out.

Powered by Microgaming, Tiki Reward goes for the exotic angle by laying its 5-reel, 50-payline game area on a beach as the sun goes down. All41 Studios has cranked up the contrast, blazing the scene in thick reds and oranges from the sun’s dying rays. Or from nuclear testing which used to be conducted on isolated Pacific atolls. You can kind of imagine mushroom clouds blossoming in the distance while kicking back with a Mai Tai. A tribal track beats away in the background, punctuated by blasts of vocals when certain symbols land in a 'Book of Ra' type way.

Tiki Reward can be played on any device, offering a selection of bets ranging from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin. Beneath the sunburned façade, a highly volatile math model drives the show, producing a respectable RTP rating of 96.32%. Keeping the flow up is a hit rate of 25.75%, or a titch more frequent than 1 win in 4. The features also drop quite frequently. Tiki Jackpots arise once every 45 spins, while free spins theoretically hit every 163, though in testing they seemed to be more frequent.

Players down with the colour purple will love the paytable where all 12 regular pay symbols use the colour. There are 6 low pay 9-A royals, and 6 higher paying images of the islands. From low to high you’ll find flowers, stingrays, hammerhead sharks, lizards and turtles. In an odd twist, low pays need at least 4 of a kind to form a winner, though the highs payout for the usual three of a kind or more. Values are pretty low, so players get 1.2x for five flowers, up to 2.5x for a full line of turtles.

The four Tiki symbols land on the middle three reels, acting as wilds for the normal pays. They may also land bearing x2 multipliers which are applied to any wins they are part of.

Tiki Reward: Slot Features

The Tiki reward mainly refers to the four-tier jackpot,where the current values are displayed on banners next to the slot. On top of this feature is a batch of free spins - 3 scatter symbols in view award 7 free spins.

During free spins the color of Tiki is chosen randomly between red, blue and green for each spin. The chosen color of Tiki is indicated by a fiery frame around reels 2, 3, 4 with corresponding color. The benefit here is that reels 2, 3, 4 only contain Golden Tiki symbols and Tiki symbols of chosen color, increasing the odds of landing big wins. Moreover, if more scatter symbols land during this bonus, they add +1 free spin each to the remaining total.

The main event is the Tiki Jackpot. Landing 3 of the same coloured Tiki symbols awards the respective prize. After a red, green or blue jackpot win, the values are re-rolled - which sounds a lot more exciting than it is in practice. The minimum amount for a single jackpot is 2 times the bet, while the sum of the Red, Green and Blue Jackpots is always 30 times the bet. The Golden Tiki acts as a wild for all other symbols (including Red, Green, or Blue Tikis) and is worth 1,000 times the bet when three of them land.

Tiki Reward: Slot Verdict

Tiki themed slots are pretty numerous now; many developers have one or two tucked away under their belts. You can see why too. The exotic imagery, the rhythmical soundtracks, the heat emanating from the far-flung destinations lends itself well to a slot. It’s a shame then All41 Studios couldn’t have done more with the Polynesian theme. It’s the combination of Tiki symbols and jackpots which ring the 9 Masks of Fire bell, only a smaller, less polished one. Not that 9 Masks is an overly sophisticated game, but Tiki Reward somehow makes it look like a master class in refinement.

Other issues include the high volatility/ low reward pairing which may grate with some players. Max wins top out in the region of 1,030 times the bet, so it’s not hugely exciting in that regard nor may it be worth the high risk for some. In its favour, however, the max win seems more within reach, triggering approximately once every 10,700 spins.

Most punters likely won't care much, but there's a bit of cultural misappropriation going on here. A quick internet search reveals Maori culture bears little resemblance to anything found in Tiki Reward. Either All41 Studios missed that, or they didn’t bother doing any research. Whatever the case, it contributes to the impression of a lazily designed slot. It’s as if the team pulled in bits from all over the place, pulled a few ideas from the Microgaming database, chucked on something about the Maoris to build a bit of street cred and shipped it all out the door.

When you tally up the sloppy designing with low-charisma gaming, Tiki Reward becomes a paper-thin experience, a watered-down imitation of other more playable slots.