Board Games and Online Casinos: A Surprising Convergence
Simple designs, a vast choice range, an emphasis on teamwork, and competition have fueled the popularity of board games for centuries. For many, these indulgences are a source of treasured memories of interacting with loved ones and the thrill of using skill to win.
Board games’ popularity has pushed their influences on the online gambling realm, especially slot machines. Even though we are in the golden age of casino games, people still reach for counters around a table. Accordingly, game studios are now riding a wave of board game-themed slots that are the ultimate refinement of these games and the spontaneity, fast action, and luck-based formula of pokies.
Board Game-Inspired Slots
Board games are often colorful delights and easy to play, making them a wonderful inspiration for many slots. Software providers combine them with mesmerizing graphics and great rewards to create some of the most exciting titles. These slots are a highlight in many casinos. At Party Casino for example, board game slots are provided in free and real money versions. Here is a look at some popular games in the category:
Monopoly Slots
Monopoly is arguably the most famous and best-selling commercialized board game in history. Discovered in the early 1900s, this game pits players against each other for wealth acquisition through stylized economic activities like buying, renting, and trading properties using fake money. Each round requires 2 – 8 players, each taking turns moving around the board depending on the dice roll. The goal is to remain financially solvent while pushing opponents into bankruptcy.
Several Monopoly-themed pokies are available, and Monopoly Megaways Slot is easily the crown jewel of the lot. Big Time Gaming sets the stage for this prominent brand to collide with the popular Megaways engine, offering a treat of up to 117,649 ways to win. While one would expect the fusion of the Reactions and Reel Adventure systems to be gimmicky, it is not. The game exploits both engines to deliver a myriad of exciting features, including a Monopoly Board mini-game with properties, train stations, and community chests with attached payouts. The game is suitable for casual gambling and can trigger wins of up to 15,000x the bet.
Other Monopoly-themed slot games offer plenty of entertainment with fusions of the popular board game, and they include:
- Monopoly: On The Money
- Monopoly: Big Money Reel
- Monopoly: Mega Movers
- Monopoly Millionaire
- Monopoly: Money in Hand
- Monopoly: Paradise Mansion
- Super Monopoly
Mahjong Jinpai
Developed in the 19th century in China, Mahjong is the most popular Asian board game and has been adapted into widespread online entertainment. The game is usually played with 126 to 144 tiles based on Chinese symbols and characters. While many variations of the game exist, common basic rules determine how pieces are drawn or discarded, how other players rob them, and how they make winning suits.
Skywind Ground merges this classic game with slot technology to create Mahjong Jinpai. The casino game welcomes players to a round of Mahjong on the bank of a peaceful pond covered in waterlilies and bamboo. The board game’s tiles denote the symbols on the reels, and their combinations pay anywhere from 5x to 88x the bet. While this slot abandons the adaptive strategy use of Mahjong, players can take advantage of the cascading reels feature that removes any winning symbols, creating the potential for new ones to form. A progressive multiplier, wilds, scatters, and free spins boost the game’s payout potential to 5,000x the bet.
Shah Mat
Chess is one of the oldest competitive board games, dating back to the 15th century. This abstract strategy game simulates the war between two kingdoms, each controlled by one of two players. At the start, each player has sixteen pieces on opposite sides of an 8x8 board. Checkmating, aka winning, happens when a king puts the opponent’s king under immediate attack with no way to escape.
While chess is a turn-based indulgence game with no hidden information or element of luck, Red Tiger uses it to create Shah Mat – the best chess-inspired pokie on the market. This mysterious Persian-style game features an 8x8 grid, like the chessboard, but plays with 64 symbols instead of 32 pieces. Winning is entirely luck-dependent, and there is plenty of room to create clusters of 30+ symbols of a kind. The slot has glaring attractions beyond big icon combinations, including:
- Super Symbols: they cover 2x2, 3x3, and 4x4 tiles.
- Multiplier wilds: landing wilds next to each other can lead to multiplier values of up to 20x, depending on the number of merging symbols.
- Bonus round: 3, 4, 5, and 6 scatters trigger 12, 15, 18, and 21 free spins, respectively.
Closing Thoughts
As board games and their online adaptations continue to be popular with the global masses, they inspire truly entertaining slot machines. While the element of strategy and skill is stripped from them, they retain the fun details that make them so adored.