Lucky Clucks 4: A Murder Most Fowl Slot Review
You'd figure the worst day a rooster can have ends in a soup pot. In 1474, a rooster 🐓 in Basel, Switzerland, got hauled into court instead, accused of laying an egg 🥚.
Locals believed a rooster's egg could hatch a cockatrice, a monster that killed with one look. The court found the bird guilty of an unnatural crime.
Rooster and egg went up on the stake 🔥 in front of a big crowd, and I have to wonder if anyone partook of the crispy results once the sentence was carried out.
Lucky Clucks 4: A Murder Most Fowl slot from Games Global drags a Pig, a Goat and a Hen into the lineup, and hopefully none of us gets burned today.
Gameplay
It's night, the moon is full, and somebody carved a chicken into a gravestone to the left of the screen. The reels sit inside a haunted-house facade with a Roman-numeral clock on top and an iron gate at the bottom, all done in purple and magenta.
The 5x4 grid runs 50 paylines, the RTPRTP stands for “Return to Player.” The RTP describes the total bet amount that a game returns to players over millions of spins, and that figure is represented by a percentage. Table games, such as Roulette, typically have higher RTPs than many slots.
RTP needs to be considered in conjunction with a game’s volatility rate. is 96.7%, volatility is medium/high, and the max multiplier is 2,483.4x. That makes the max win $248,340, with bets running from $0.25 to $100.
Fiat currencies are the only ones you’ll be able to use, with the exception of the Japanese yen that doesn't cut the mustard.
Above the grid is a top row of 5 Prize Stream Items, which is the gimmick the game slaps its "Powered By PRIZE STREAM" badge on.
These items "can update randomly on any spin," and they're what the Hot Frame Feature hands out (more on that later).
The paytable starts at the A, K, Q, and J symbols, which all pay 0.24x for 5 of a kind, 0.08x for 4, and 0.04x for 3. The Goat and Pig move up to 0.40x, 0.16x, and 0.08x.
The Horse and Sheep top the paytable at 0.48x for 5, 0.32x for 4, and 0.16x for 3. Read that again. The best line in the game doesn't return half your bet!
The Wild substitutes for all paying symbols but not for the Scatter.
Its two cousins, the 2x Wild Multiplier and 3x Wild Multiplier symbols, substitute the same way and multiply the pay of any win they're part of by 2 or 3. Both are only available in the Hot Frame Feature.
Then there's a whole evidence locker of base-game specials. The Silver Hot Frame turns the position under it into the selected Prize Stream Item, and the Gold Hot Frame turns it into the upgraded version of that item.
The Upgrade symbol is passive and doesn't pay. It may reveal 1 of 4 symbols that tamper with the evidence:
The Ray Gun symbol upgrades eligible items, so Wild items become 2x Wild Multiplier items and Wheel Wild items become Wheel 2x Wild Multiplier items. The Corn symbol adds 0.2x to 0.8x to an eligible Hen item's credit value.
The Wheel symbol adds a wheel to an eligible Prize Stream Item. The Money Stack symbol fattens a jackpot: 0.2x to 0.8x on the Mini, 1x to 2.6x on the Major, or 7x to 11x on the Grand.
Speaking of which, there are 3 jackpots. At the start, the Mini sits at 7x, the Major at 100x, and the Grand at 1,334x.
They grow within set ranges: 7x to 40x for the Mini, 100x to 333.32x for the Major, and 1,334x to 2,333.32x for the Grand. Win one and it resets to its starting value.
Features
HOT FRAME FEATURE:
This is the engine of the entire game. The Hot Frame Feature can trigger randomly on any spin, and when it does, 1 Prize Stream Item is selected and awarded to the active Hot Frames on the grid.
Silver Hot Frames get the item as it is, and Gold Hot Frames get the better version.
The Wild item turns Silver frames into Wilds and Gold frames into 2x Wild Multipliers. The 2x Wild Multiplier item turns Silver into 2x Wild Multipliers and Gold into 3x Wild Multipliers.
Pick the Hen item and every symbol under a Silver frame turns into a Hen cash prize worth 0.6x to 4.8x, while the ones under a Gold frame pay double.
The Horse and Sheep items turn Silver frames into Horse or Sheep symbols, and Gold frames into Wilds.
If the selected item carries a wheel, the Wheel of Fate Feature happens before the prize pays.
Wheel of Fate Feature
The wheel shows up when a Prize Stream Item that includes a wheel gets awarded. That's where the Wheel symbol earns its keep, because it bolts a wheel onto an eligible item.
The wheel spins once and pays 1 prize: 1, 2, or 3 Gold Hot Frames, or the Mini, Major, or Grand. Added Gold Hot Frames trigger in the current Hot Frame Feature.
Land a jackpot and you get its current value, wherever it sits in its range. The feature is over once the wheel has spun and everything has been paid.
FREE SPINS:
Land 3 Scatter symbols and you trigger the Murder Most Fowl Free Spins.
First, a "CHOOSE A SUSPECT" screen puts the Pig, Goat, and Hen up in mugshots and asks you to pick one. The round starts with 3 Free Spins and a number of Bonus Hot Frames already on the grid.
Each Bonus Hot Frame transforms the position beneath it into the selected Prize Stream Item.
On every spin, the items may award Wilds, 2x Wild Multipliers, or Hen credit prizes of 1x to 1.6x to all active Bonus Hot Frames, and more Bonus Hot Frames may be added along the way.
The Lightning symbol only lands in the Free Spins and doesn't pay. Each one you land awards 1 extra Free Spin, which is how the round retriggers.
Credit awards are multiplied by the round's bet multiplier and added to regular wins. The round ends after all Free Spins are done and every prize is paid.
BUY BONUS:
The Buy Bonus costs 50x and triggers the standard round. The Buy Super Bonus costs 100x and starts with 4 Bonus Hot Frames, an option you only get through the purchase.
Performance
I didn’t chicken out during testing, even though my luck had abandoned me way in the beginning. And throughout my miserable adventures, the game’s software held strong.
Maximum Win
Set your bet to the $100 top and the max multiplier of 2,483.4x turns into a max win of $248,340. The minimum bet is $0.25.
Conclusion
The slot's money lives in the Hot Frame Feature. And the real loot is the Wheel of Fate. The Grand jackpot alone tops out at about 94% of the max multiplier. Let’s look at the route to it, though.
Money Stack symbols have to feed the Grand, a wheel has to land on the Prize Stream, the Hot Frame Feature has to fire at random, and the wheel has to stop on the Grand. Whew, that’s not a small ask!
Judge the medium/high rating against its high half, where max multipliers usually start around 5,000x, and you’ll find the game falls short.
As for the buy bonus options, Free Spins frames get Wilds, 2x Wild Multipliers, and small Hen prizes, with no Wheel of Fate inside the round. So the jackpots aren't part of what either buy is shown to purchase.
I'd take the Buy Bonus as a cheap look at the frames, and I'd skip the Super Bonus, because doubling the price for 4 frames still doesn't reach the Grand jackpot.
Patient medium-to-high-variance players are the audience this game is aimed at.
Slot Details
Game Provider: Games Global
Game Type: Video Slots
PaylinesPaylines are preset lines that run across the reels, and when you land matching symbols on them, that will result in a payout. The more paylines, the more ways you can win, but also the higher your bet per spin.: 50
RTPRTP stands for “Return to Player.” The RTP describes the total bet amount that a game returns to players over millions of spins, and that figure is represented by a percentage. Table games, such as Roulette, typically have higher RTPs than many slots.
RTP needs to be considered in conjunction with a game’s volatility rate.: 96.7%
Volatility RateSlot games can have low, medium, high, or extremely high volatility rates (or a combination thereof).
The less volatile the game, the more often it should pay out, but the lower the amount, the less the payout, as this is in keeping with the risk you’re taking. Volatility rate should be considered in conjunction with a game’s RTP.: Medium/High
Bonus Round: No
Progressive: Yes
Free Rounds: Free Spins
Max Multiplier: 2,483.4x
Max Win: $248,340
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