Sunset King Pokies
African wildlife seems to be a hot topic for online pokies to follow, and Sunset King, from Aristocrat, is a classic example of the breed, with various beasties strutting across the 5 reels, which come complete with 1,024 ways for the symbols to line up, free spins, multipliers and more.
There’s hippos, giraffes, zebras and hyenas decorating the reels, although we just get to see their heads and have to assume the rest of them are just off-screen, while we also have a majestic lion who is king of the reels and there’s a couple of bonus symbols to trigger those extra features.
Like many Aristocrat pokies, this one has the Xtra Reel Power format which means players win whenever matching symbols land on adjacent reels running from the left side, no matter what positions they are at on each one.
It also means the minimum stake is 0.50 per spin, which may be a little steep for some, while those with more to wager can adjust their bets up from there and wins are calculated as the bet amount divided by 50.
Players will see the bet multipliers returned to them with each winning combination on the payout schedule, which also details how the extra features such as stacked symbols, wild multipliers, free spins and a second chance on random losing spins all get triggered and how they work.
The game itself is good looking, with dark blues and purples highlighted by an orange and red sunset making up a backdrop to the reels and nice patterns to the sides of each reel adding some interest to the design.
Sunset King Payouts
Like many Aristocrat pokies, the 9, 10, J, Q, K and A form the lower value wins, with the 9 for example being worth a 2x multiplier when landing on reels 1 and 2, while getting it right across them all will pay out 100x. The A on the other hand, is worth from 10x to 100x when it stops in the right places, and then we see the various animal symbols bringing in the more valuable wins.
The hyena is the lowest value animal and pays 20x, 80x or 120x when 3, 4 or 5 land on adjacent reels, while the lion is the highest and returns 10x, 50x, 100x or 300x when 2, 3, 4 or 5 appear.
Sunset King
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Beasts with Bonuses
A nice sunset symbol is wild, landing on the middle 3 reels and substituting for all except the scatter if there’s a chance of making a winning line by doing so.
That scatter is a paw print, which for some reason is green, but at least it adds some colour to the reels and it will also be worth 2x, 10x or 25x the total stake when landing in any 3, 4 or 5 positions.
It will also trigger 8, 15 or 20 free spins respectively and during these, any wild symbols will multiply the wins by either 2 or 3 times, with the potential for a total boost of 27x, while to help players even further, symbols can be stacked on the reels for a better shot at multiple payouts.
A paw print with Super Feature written on it can appear on the right side reel and if the free spins are triggered by regular scatters and any number of the Super Feature ones, players win 10, 18 or 25 spins, with stacked lion symbols added to the mix.
There is also a fun second chance feature which is triggered by the regular or the Super Feature scatter on reel 5 and just 1 other scatter anywhere else at the same time. Players will see 3 cards, face down, and 1 of them has another scatter which can be revealed by clicking on it. If the right card is picked, players either get the free spins, or if the Super Feature scatter was on reel 5, they get the extra free spins with bonus features that go with it.
The Verdict
Sunset King is a sure-fire hit, with lots of cute critters on display and some decent bonus features. Some players may be put off by the relatively high entry level of 0.50 per spin, but the returns are fair and the potential rewards are fairly good, if not spectacular.
Some features will be quite tricky to trigger and although it’s technically possible for the wild symbol to multiply wins by 27x in the free games, it’s pretty unlikely and 2x or 3x is more probable. But these are better than nothing, so it’s hardly worth complaining about.