Samba Stars Slot Review

I can’t dance. Not even a little. On the rare occasion that a woman has convinced me to indulge in the black arts, I’ve resembled an epileptic with rickets. It’s not a good look and certainly not one you'd want to adopt if you have plans on making the beast with two backs. 🕺🪩

So I adopted a different strategy. When the conversation would inevitably get around to the topic of dancing, I’d tell the prospective bedmate I couldn’t.

“It’s this damn injury I picked up while…”

I’d fill in the blanks with a variety of bullshit excuses – “I got hurt while working as a freedom fighter” is a favorite (you’ve got to be vague about the details, and be sure to get jiggy with her ASAP before she asks to see the wound). 🩼

Or I’d tell her I was mauled by a pit bull at a rehabilitation center. “It wasn’t the dog’s fault; she’d been abused.” Or “I was helping an old lady cross the street when some drunken maniac came hurtling at us. I managed to push her to safety, but I wasn’t as lucky as she.” It’s all gold. 😎

At least I can be myself when I play Samba Stars: Hold the Spin slot from Gamzix and let my mouse finger do the dancing. 🖱️🎰

Gameplay

I don’t believe I’ve ever reviewed a game with a Samba theme. It’s bad enough that I have to deal with fishing games and candy ones, but this is a step too far. I’m gonna need a stiff drink after this.

The setting is a bit strange. It’s a street in a town but it kinda has an Italian flavor to it, don’t you think? Brazilian isn’t what springs to mind, but having never been to Brazil, I guess I’m not entitled to an opinion.

Be that as it may, the 5-reel grid is a small affair, and it is flanked by 4 Jackpots – the Mini pays 20x, the Minor pays 50x, the Major pays 150x, and the Grand pays 5,000x. Standard stuff, although the largest Jackpot is more generous than most.

On the grid are some sexy mamacitas as the high-paying symbols. Clearly, blondes are better, according to this game, as she pays more than her companions when you land 5-of-a-kind (but it’s only 10x).

Landing 5 Wilds doesn’t pay much more (12.50x your bet) and these symbols substitute for all symbols other than Scatters, Bonus symbols, or Jackpots.

Samba Stars: Hold the Spin slot has 20 paylines, an RTP of 96%, and the volatility rate is medium. Despite the latter, you can still clinch a $200,000 prize. The max multiplier is 5,000x.

Features

COLLECT AND DOUBLE FEATURES:

Collect symbols are golden stars, which grab (and pay) the values of the silver and gold Bonus stars during the base game and Hold & Win round.

Double symbols –also golden stars – double the values of the Bonus symbols, including the Jackpot ones (not the Grand, though) during the Hold & Win round. Double symbols stay on the grid for the duration of the round.

HOLD & WIN:

This round gets triggered – in both the base game or during Free Spins – once you land 6 or more Bonus stars. You’ll get the traditional 3 spins, and whenever a new Bonus symbol lands, the spin counter will be reset.

Jackpot symbols will randomly appear, and when they do, they’ll pay their corresponding prize. Fill all of the 15 positions on the grid with Bonus symbols to be awarded the Grand Jackpot.

FREE SPINS WITH MULTIPLIER WILDS:

The Scatter symbol is a mask with feathers, and 3, 4, or 5 of these will trigger the round and award 10 spins. Wilds with multipliers of 2x, 3x, or 5x can appear – and the specific one will reflect the number of triggering Scatters you landed.

Landing 2 or 3 additional Scatters on reels 1, 3, or 5 awards 3 or 10 more spins, respectively.

Performance

Thanks to the insanely quick Turbo setting, I whizzed through hundreds of spins instantly. However, I did get a “Connection lost” message while cycling through a Free Spins round which was super annoying as I lost 4 spins.

Maximum Win

Place a bet of $40 (which is the maximum bet; the minimum is $0.20) and land the 5,000x multiplier for a win of $200,000.

Conclusion

Samba Stars: Hold the Spin slot is pretty straightforward but something you won’t see often on other Hold & Win games is that this one can double the Jackpots (not the Grand one, as I mentioned). Now that’s pretty damn awesome!

Samba Stars: Hold the Spin slot is reminiscent of the strangely titled Locky Fruits Hold the Spin slot as both have Jackpots that pay very similar amounts. And the max multipliers are also very close in value.

The Hold & Win features are slightly different, though, as our current one only offers 3 spins while Locky offers 3, 4, or 5 spins based on how many Bonus symbols you drop, and it also has Locked Clusters.

The significant difference between the games is that Locky offers a low volatility rate but you can still win $234k, whereas Samba Stars: Hold the Spin slot volatility rate is medium. I guess this will be the deciding factor if you’re keen to play a Hold & Win game from this studio.

Slot Details

Software: Gamzix
Game Type: Video Slots
Paylines: 20
Reels: 5
RTP: 96%
Bonus Round: Yes
Progressive: No
Free Rounds: Free Spins
Max Multiplier: 5,000x
Max Win: $200,000
Published by
BitStarz, award-winning Bitcoin Casino