Birds Of Pay Pokie
Some people may think that pokies with a wildlife theme are a bit overdone while others can’t get enough of them, but whatever their opinion, few could deny that Birds of Pay from Aristocrat Gaming is a visual treat, with cute animals across the reels giving it lots of appeal.
Eagle-eyed players will note that the game title is a pun, as the main character of the game is a bald eagle who pays out the biggest wins and appears in bonus games to reward extra spins and more. But it’s not all about the big bird, as the other animals can also land some nice wins and there’s the ever-present playing card icons to make up the lower value prizes.
About Birds of Pay
A beautiful image of a mountainous forest sits behind the reels, and it’s so well drawn that it’s hard to tell if this is a photo or just done by a very talented artist. Whatever it is, it looks great and sets the theme up very well.
To the side of the reels it states that Birds of Pay has 30 lines, which means there are 30 different ways that symbols can land across them to form a winning combination. Players get paid out any time 3 or more of the same symbol stop across a line on sequential reels running from the left, with 4 or 5 on a line being worth substantially more.
Anyone in a bit of a flap about how to play this pokie should study the paytable which lists how much each winning combination will pay, how the bonus features are triggered, and what happens during them.
The playing card 9 through to A symbols have the lower values, with the 9 for example, paying up to 60x the line bet when it stops right across the reels and the A being worth up to 100x. But it’s the animal symbols that players will really want to see and not just because they are very cute, but also because they are worth more.
We see an otter, some kind of prairie dog, racoon, baby deer and a fox, all of which are just as appealing to look at as the forest background and all pulling a face to make them look even better. The fox is the most valuable of the standard symbols, with just 2 being enough for a win of 5x the line bet and a full set of 5 being worth 500x.
Animal symbols can be stacked several high on a reel for a greater chance of lining them up and getting a win, plus there are little animated sequences with each one if they make up a line.
Birds of Pay
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Bald Eagle Bonuses
The eagle takes pride of place as the most valuable symbol, being worth up to 1500x for a line across the reels and also being the wild, acting as all except the scatter to help complete winning combinations. In normal play, it’s surrounded by a square frame, but as we shall see, that can change in the bonus features.
A nest of golden eggs is a scatter symbol, meaning that it can be scattered in any positions, while it will also pay multiples of the total bet rather than just the line bet when 3, 4 or 5 appear. 3x, 10x or 50x the bet will be awarded, followed by entry to a bonus game.
It’s an interesting round where players are given 8, 12 or 20 free spins depending on how many scatters triggered them and during which, any wilds in circular frames that appear,will stay in position for 1 or 2 Sticky Wild respins.
Another feature that can be awarded at any time, either in the base game or during the free spins, are the Extra Bonus Wilds, where the eagle can be placed in a random number of positions, plus an extra one in a star-shaped frame will replace a number of other symbols. Up to 15 wilds can appear this way, and once they have all been found, players receive any resulting payouts.
The Verdict
While Birds of Pay will surely attract lovers of the natural world, the interesting gameplay and bonus features should bring in flocks of people who have no interest in the subject at all.
Smooth animations, some decent wins even with the playing card symbols and the wild substitutions, all make the base game a pleasing experience, but once the scatter symbol has done it’s trick and launched the free spins with sticky wilds, then players should be in for some even better rewards.