If you are new to the world of online slot gaming, and have only experienced land-based slot machines in the past, then Big Bad Wolf would make a fine place to start. This is because both new and experienced players will quickly fall for this Quickspin slot game, and come to understand just how it won the prestigious Game of the Year Award in 2013 at the annual EGR Awards. These awards are regarded as the most coveted in the online gaming industry, and other recipients of the Game of the Year have included such highly regarded titles as Guns ’n Roses and Spinata Grande. In fact as 2013 was the first time that Game of the Year was awarded, Big Bad Wolf will always have a special place in the record books.
So how did this game make such a big impression on the online casino industry? Well first things first, as the name would suggest, this slot game is based on the old fairytale about the wolf and the three little piggies. If your memory needs to be jogged, that’s the one where the wolf threatens to ‘huff and puff and blow your house down’ if the little pigs don’t let him inside. The pigs who went for the cheaper building materials of straw and wood suffered for their cost cutting, leaving the pig with the solid brick house feeling pretty smug. The slot game draws a lot on the story for inspiration, tying it all together quite beautifully.
The first thing that will strike you when you open this game is the sheer quality of the graphics and animations. We begin the game with the reels lodged inside a straw house, against an idyllic country backdrop. The symbols used here are your standard 9 to A playing card icons, along with a raggedy pink doll and the three bigs from the story. No sign of the wolf just yet, but don’t worry, he’ll be around. This game features everybody’s favourite collapsing reels, or avalanche reels, or as it’s known here ‘swooping reels’. Regardless of the name, the effect is the same, as winning symbols move off the reels and replacements drop in from above. What this means is that for one spin you can get a sequence of wins, if the right symbols drop down onto the reels. A wild bees’ nest will help you to score those winning pay lines.
A nice feature during the base game is that when you get on a run of wins thanks to those ‘swooping reels’ you can earn extra wilds. When you match two of each pig, the pig in question turns wild, so you could potentially add three extra wild symbols on top of the existing one. However, this game - like the story which inspired it - really starts to get interesting once that wolf appears. Find 3 wolf symbols anywhere on the reels at the same time, and the bonus round is unlocked, signified by the wolf showing up and blowing down the straw house. This is the Blowing Down the House feature, and it’s a lot of fun! You get 10 free spins, which can be re-triggered if you find three more wolf symbols during those spins. As you play, you will see full moon symbols too. Collect three of these and the wolf blows down the wooden house, and moves on to the next little pig’s abode. Now you get two extra spins plus a two times multiplier, and three more moon symbols blows down the brick house as well, which can lead to some excellent payouts.
Another reason to love this game is the very generous return to player of 97.29%, which is extremely good value. It can take a while for the wins to mount up during the regular section of the games, but those slow periods are usually punctuated by a series of wins thanks to those swooping reels. There is a potential maximum win of 75,000 coins to play for here, making this medium variance game a definite winner. Although it was created back in 2013, it certainly isn’t showing any signs of age or looking dated in the slightest. As you would expect from a game voted best of the year. Big Bad Wolf remains a classic slot game, popular with veteran players and newbies alike. Try it for yourself and you will see what all the fuss is about, and why so many online casinos feature this game so high in their lobbies. Like all the best fairy-tales, this one just doesn’t get old.
