Wild Buccaneers Megaways

Wild Buccaneers Megaways: Slot Overview

Wild Buccaneers Megaways is the second slot from developer Four Leaf Gaming and the studio's first release to fly the Megaways banner. As the name suggests, this is a pirate-themed slot, and, like Four Leaf Gaming's debut Clover Fortunes, is packed with features, allowing players to gamble in a variety of additional ways. If taking on one of the Swiss Army Knives of the gambling scene sounds intriguing, let's get all salty and do it.

Where Clover Fortunes had a fairies of the forest thing going on, Wild Buccaneers Megaways is a more traditional pirate-themed slot. In saying that, maybe it's not as conventional as it might have been since all of the characters in the game are animals rather than human swashbucklers. While Four Leaf Gaming has taken the time to create an attractively atmospheric slot, gambling is the name of the game around here, and there are stacks of ways players can have a punt. The atmosphere is jolly, though, with a jaunty pirating tune complimenting the animal-led antics.

Wild Buccaneers Megaways can be played on any device, where regular bets of 10 p/c to $/€100 can be selected. A highly volatile slot, the gaming occurs on a 6-reel panel, each reel holding 2-7 symbols. Symbol configuration can change from spin to spin, producing anywhere from 64 to 117,649 ways to win. Hits come at a rate of around 1 in 4, leading to an overall return to player value of 95%.

On to symbols, starting with 9-A card royals on the lower side of the table, with monkeys, elephants, crocodiles, and tigers making up the highs. Hitting a six-symbol winning way will get you a payout worth 0.8-1.2x the bet for matching royals or 2-50x the bet for six matching premiums. The last thing to cover before getting to Wild Buccaneers Megaways' considerable goody bag of features is the wild, which substitutes for any normal pay symbol.

Wild Buccaneers Megaways: Slot Features

Wild Buccaneers Megaways certainty isn't short of extras which aren't just numerous, but play off each other, trigger each other, and can produce long winding journeys of gambling opportunities.

Nitro Spins

Let's start with Nitro Spins, which increase the stake cost by 50% but do not improve the symbol values. Instead, with Nitro Spins engaged, the number of scatters is increased, along with higher value multipliers, more wilds and free spins chests appearing on the Trail. There's also a greater chance of triggering more Megaways, a faster coin collection, and more frequent Fortune Spinner triggers. And exhale.

Cascades

In typical Megaways fashion, winning symbols are removed from the reels by the cascade feature, allowing new symbols drop down to replace them. If a new win is formed, another cascade is triggered. At the same time, every consecutive cascade progresses the chests on the Treasure Trail. Chests start with an x1 multiplier and offer increasingly larger multipliers, wilds or free spins chests as consecutive cascades occur. Multipliers are applied to the win, wilds chests make all symbols below them wild, and the treasure chest awards 10 free spins.

Wild Buccaneers Free Spins

The other way of getting to free spins is when 4 scatter symbols are collected in a cascade sequence - 10 free spins are awarded, plus 2 extra free spins for each scatter in view beyond 4. Next, players are given the choice of collecting their free spins or gambling for the chance to win more. You can select the number of free spins you would like to gamble, and a wheel displays how much you can win, plus red and green segments to determine whether the gamble is successful or not. It is possible to win up to 25 free spins or lose the lot.

In free spins, Treasure Trail Multipliers are persistent, so the last multiplier activated becomes the first one on the next free spin. As before, wild chests turn symbols below them wild and activating a free spins chest awards +2 free spins.

Bonus Replay

If you end the free spins round with a win worth less than 80x the bet, the Bonus Replay feature lets you gamble the winnings for a chance to replay the round. A wheel divided into red and green segments spins. Win, and the bonus plays again. Lose, and you head back to the base game without any winnings.

Fortune Finder

When free spins end and the win is not less than 80x the bet, players are able to gamble all or a part of their winnings in the Fortune Finder feature - or collect. To play the Fortune Finder, 16 chests appear on the screen with a ladder of ascending prize values displayed on the side. Prize values go from 1.3x the gambled amount up to 1,800x at the top. Players then pick chests one at a time. Revealing a four-leaf clover moves players up the prize ladder while revealing a skull 'n crossbones ends the feature, and players lose all they have gambled. After moving up the ladder, players can collect or pick another chest.

Super Spinner

On top of normal symbols, little coins can appear which are collected. Any time a coin is collected, there is a chance the Super Spinner is triggered, awarding cash prizes of 80-5,000x the bet, 8-14 free spins, the Fortune Finder with 10-25x starting values, or 10-25 Lucky Spins (Nitro Spins).

Game & Fortune

Hitting the Game & Fortune button brings up several different options. This is where you can activate Nitro Spins, buy free spins for 90x the bet or a blast on the Super Spinner for 60x the bet. Collected coins can be used to buy Nitro Spins or contribute to the other two feature buys, reducing the cost of buying them outright.

Wild Buccaneers Megaways: Slot Verdict

For those who appreciate trying their luck at every other turn, Wild Buccaneers Megaways might come across like one of those assorted chocolate boxes where you don't know where to start munching. Furthering the chocolate box analogy, players are free to take their time, sampling one here and there, or just gorge themselves. In some ways, much of the core on-reels gaming is pretty standard stuff – Megaways plus cascades is nothing new, though the progressive Treasure Trail is an intriguing addition. However, there is so much extra stuff loaded onto Wild Buccaneers Megaways that it's hard to think of many slots offering the same level of utility. For the target audience (slot streamers likely being among them), having so many ways to tackle the game and try their luck is a bit like being at an amusement park after hours and going hog wild with the rides.

Still, this is gambling and not a fun park, so not every ride will have positive results. What's good, though, is Four Leaf Gaming has provided a sliding scale for the optional gambling. So instead of having to risk all of your awarded free spins, you can risk a few to possibly gain more. The same goes for the Fortune Finder feature. It might not be as heroic, but you can prudently hold back a percentage of the win and risk some for potential glory. Or go all in; the choice is yours. Speaking of potential, the biggest win noted by the game's maker is 50,000x the bet, so there is plenty to play for and perhaps, gamble for.

Wild Buccaneers Megaways is quite close to Clover Fortunes in some ways, but it manages to move the progression needle along a few notches. Bringing Megaways on board provides extra clout, and the studio has upped its game to match the star power the mechanic offers. As a sophomore release, Wild Buccaneers Megaways is a chunkier slot with wilder features, bigger potential, and is just as multifaceted a gambling tool as before, if not more so.