Shaman's Dream Pokie
One of the most popular topics for pokies to be based on is native American culture and Shaman’s Dream is a typical example, where the reels are filled with images of tepees, bald eagles, wolves and drums that spin alongside the playing card symbols.
Players will be looking to see 3 or more matching symbols stop on adjacent reels across any of the 25 paylines of Shaman’s Dream, as this wins them prizes, while a scatter symbol unlocks a bonus round and a wild can help them get extra payouts.
This is part of the extensive range of pokies from Australian developer Aristocrat and it sticks to their signature style by having nicely presented symbols, clear graphics, smooth animations and a detailed background image to help set the scene.
Entering the Shaman’s Dream
The background image is a night time view of a deep canyon, with a nice sunset, or maybe sunrise, still giving the top a warm glow. It’s a very effective design, which also sees columns of smoke rising up through each of the 5 reels and the symbols floating above it all.
Underneath them is a set of control buttons which give players the option to stake just 0.40 per spin or raise their bets from there, while also having an Autospin function that sets the game off until players click to stop it.
Another typical feature of Aristocrat games is the use of the 10, J, Q, K and A card symbols to fill the lower end of the payout table, with the 10 for example, being worth 5x, 30x or 60x the line bet when 3, 4 or 5 land in the right places.
The most valuable card symbol is the A, which returns 10x, 50x or 100x the line bet, while picture symbols include well-designed and colourful images of the medicine horn, drum and eagle, topped off with a wolf who pays 40x, 150x or 200x when 3, 4 or 5 appear.
Shaman's Dream
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Magical Features
The mysterious Shaman himself turns up next and even though he doesn’t look particularly happy, players will be pleased at his appearance, as he will reward them with 50x, 150x or 500x their line bet, while also being a wild symbol who can act as any standard one to help finish winning combinations.
He will also trigger a Magic Line feature when landing in the middle of the 3 rows, as he can then expand across the reel if he can make up a win by doing so.
The wild turns up yet again in the Super Wild Respin feature, which starts whenever the symbol of a blue pot stops on reel 5 on the right side. This sees a reel with only wilds and empty spaces on it and when the reels spin again, any more wilds will stop in the previously empty bits to hopefully complete winning lines.
10 free games are won whenever the tepee symbol lands in at least 3 places on reels 1, 3 and 5. Splitting the reel positions like this seems a strange way to trigger a bonus round, but not to worry, as once they are triggered players are treated to stacked wild symbols that should lead to lots of winning spins.
The free games can be retriggered from within the feature by having 3 or more scatters appearing, with a further 10 spins following on from the current round.
Any Reservations?
Shaman’s Dream has an extremely popular theme and is sure to attract players simply for that fact alone. While it’s all very nice to look at, most people are after more than just a pleasing appearance, so it’s good to see that some decent bonus rounds have been thrown in to the mix as well.
The wild symbol seems to be the star of most of these, and as the pokie is named after this character, it’s probably appropriate that he should turn up in different bonuses to complete lots of winning combinations.
Even the main free spins round is made special by having extra wilds on the reels, but it’s not all about our friendly Shaman, as there are plenty of wins to be spun up in the base game.
It’s a nice and simple pattern to the winning combinations, with each playing card symbol being worth more than the last and the picture symbols paying out the most, with the only unusual aspect being the way the scatter lands just on reels 1, 3 and 5.
It shouldn’t make any difference to the number of times it triggers the free spins however, so it’s really not a problem and shouldn’t put anyone off giving this atmospheric game a try.