We have to admit that before discovering the promising software developed by Print Studios, we had no intention of beginning our day by researching the background of potatoes online. Domestication of potatoes likely began in the region of South America that now includes portions of Peru and Bolivia around 10,000 years ago. Thereafter, the potato spread over the world and eventually became the fourth most important crop in terms of production.
Royal Potato, Print Gaming’s third publication, inspired this in-depth exploration of the lowly root vegetable. The developers improved upon their previous game Crystal Golem and incorporated a free spins bonus round inspired by Push Gaming’s ‘Fat’ series. Unlike Crystal Golem, where players are placed high above the action, in Royal Potato, players get a potato’s eye perspective of the action thanks to Print. Players, thankfully, don’t waste their time down here staring at ordinary potatoes. There are now King potatoes, Queen potatoes, guard potatoes, noble potatoes, and so on in the potato kingdom that Print Studios has created. The farther one ventures into the realm of tubers, the more deliciously strange everything becomes.
There are 14 SuperSpinner locations that occur in between the reels in Royal Potato, making the game grid significantly larger than Crystal Golem’s (3×3). Royal Potato’s statistics are also rather good, beginning with a theoretical average payout of 96.27% and increasing to 97.14% if you purchase the free spins round. Purchasing the feature revealed a considerable increase in potential and a corresponding increase in volatility.
There are 30 paylines crisscrossing the game field, and players can wager anywhere from 20 cents to fifty euros or pounds every spin. There are eight different symbols in total: four low-paying flowers that may provide anywhere from 1.5x to 3x the wager; four mid-paying figures named Kennebec, Russet, Yukon, and Desiree that can award anywhere from 6x to 12.5x the wager; and two high-paying Kings and Queens. Five of a kind with the latter two is valued between 25 and 50 times the original wager. There are no wilds in the main game, but a colossal one helps out during the free spins bonus round.
Slot Game Features, Royal Potato
SuperSpinners, a Royal Levy, and Free Spins with an expanding Jumbo Wild Symbol are the three main features of Royal Potato.
Superspinners
There are 14 SuperSpinner spots between the reels, playable both in the main game and the bonus game. SuperSpinners have varying values and not all of them will be in play during any one spin. When a SuperSpinner is in play, the amount of the reward is increased by the number displayed on the SuperSpinner if the winning line crosses through it. If a winning line happens to intersect more than one SuperSpinner, the total reward amount will be multiplied by each individual multiplier in turn.
Duchy Tax
When a King or Queen sign lands, the Royal Levy function might be activated at random. When triggered, the SuperSpinner multiplies the total value of all King and Queen symbols by a random amount.
Bonus Turns
Scatter symbols activate the bonus game when you land 3, 4, or 5, and give you 10, 12, or 14 spins, accordingly. The round begins with a sticky 2×1 Jumbo sign in the center of the grid and Pachelbel’s classical work Canon, well known as the Wedding hymn. The Jumbo symbol is wild, however it can only replace the featured icons in the symbol panel to the side of the reels. These are the two lowest paying symbols at the start. When a win is made with one of these highlighted symbols, the Jumbo symbol expands and can replace more symbols from the paytable. Free games increase according to the size of the Jumbo. The largest size of the Jumbo symbol is 5×5, which fills the full playing field.
Spend Money on a Bonus
Bonus purchase options may be included with your copy of Royal Potato. If so, they can pay 93 times their initial wager for the chance to purchase free spins.
Judgment of the Slot Machine Royalty
Creativeness shines through when a studio can take a commonplace object and invent a novel way to interact with it. Print Studios has built a whole realm for its potatoes, and it looks fantastic while also being delightfully absurd. Personifying potatoes not only gives a boring object some personality, but it also softens (somewhat) the blow of an otherwise harsh game.
The allure of purchasing free spins is increased in comparison to Crystal Golem because to the lower price tag, higher RTP, and larger potential rewards. However, proceed with caution, as the bonus game was extremely high-risk. During testing, the initial trigger demonstrated much of the potential of the free spins feature, as the players rolled their way to a respectable 450-500x win by increasing the size of the potato three times over the course of about 20 spins. The following two triggers paid out less than 20x the wager, the fourth paid out nothing, but the fifth brought it back with three more upsizes and a substantial payment. The subsequent outcomes were quite unpredictable. Getting the wild potato to 3×3 size helps link numerous wins on each spin, and getting it to 4×4 size or beyond can convert the game into a true tater fest due to its center position. The bigger Jumbo symbols do make it harder to win from non-highlighted symbols, however.
The apparent parallel to Push Gaming’s ‘Fat’ series may be the proverbial elephant in the room. However, is it reasonable to anticipate any crossover, given that Print Studios features a number of ex-Push members? However, Royal Potato takes a somewhat different approach. The Jumbo symbol, for instance, isn’t a wild for everything like the Fat Rabbit sign is, but it’s more useful than the mysterious symbol we received in Fat Drac. When the Jumbo symbol grows to ridiculous proportions, Royal Potato becomes just as much fun as the other games. Print has instituted a 30,000x win maximum as a measure of growth management, keeping in mind that SuperSpinners stay in play during free spins.
Reviewing Royal Potato was a lot of fun, despite the game’s challenges. It’s a true French Fry experience, what with the neat development of the Fat Rabbit concept, the addition of multipliers, and the rock-solid numbers.
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