The Lost Princess Anastasia Pokie Machine
It’s unusual to have an online pokie themed around real historical events, but The Lost Princess Anastasia, from Genesis Gaming is based on the Russian royal family who came to a grisly end in the chaos of the revolution in 1917.
There are many unsolved mysteries surrounding the events, such as how much the infamous Rasputin had influenced Anastasia and her sisters, while it was long rumoured that Anastasia escaped execution and lived for many years after, but this has now been disproved.
Thankfully the game doesn’t deal with any of these events and just concentrates on images of Anastasia, the Mad Monk Rasputin and other members of the royal family, in a game completely surrounded by snow and ice, giving it a somewhat unwelcoming atmosphere.
Snow covers everything, from the control buttons at the bottom of the game screen to the elaborate design and title at the top. Written in a style that looks uncannily like Disney’s Frozen, and with characters drawn in a similar way, this game could look familiar to many players.
Russian to the Reels
The layout of this game is fairly standard, with 5 reels and 25 paylines, while players are able to stake as little as 0.01 on a spin, or as much as 50.00. It’s worth nothing that unless all lines are activated, which can be done for just 0.25, not all winning combinations will count, as only those that land on active lines are worth anything.
By checking the payout table, players will be able to see what each symbol is worth when at least 3 of a kind come to a rest across an active line on adjacent reels running from the left side.
The playing card 9, 10, J, Q, K and A are the lower value ones, and the images of Anastasia, Rasputin and the Tsar are worth more.
Each of these will pay out multiples of the amount staked per line, with just 2 examples of the 9 symbols being enough to win 3x and a full line of 5 paying out 100x. At the other end of the scale, we find that Anastasia is worth 50x, 750x and 1500x for landing 3, 4 or 5 across an active line.
It’s perhaps a shame that there are not more picture symbols to give a splash of colour to this game, and that due to the high potential payouts for the ones we have, they don’t actually turn up that much, but we have a couple of bonus ones that crop up now and then to trigger the extra features.
The Lost Princess Anastasia
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Wintery Wilds and Frozen Free Spins
The game title is a wild symbol that helps players out in a couple of ways. When it lands across a payline, it will pay out some of the biggest prizes in the game, but it can also complete winning combinations by substituting for all other symbols, apart from the scatter.
A picture of a crown acts as the scatter symbol, and it’s also got a couple of jobs to do, starting with paying out 5x the total stake when landing in any 3 spots at once, while 4 scatters equals a win of 10x the bet and 5 pays out 50x.
Players are then rewarded with 5 free spins, which doesn’t seem like many, but after the reels have stopped each time, several symbols can be transformed into additional wilds, so each spin can lead to multiple payouts.
Landing 3 or more scatters during this round will retrigger the bonus, with 5 more spins added to the end of any still left to play out.
The Verdict
An individual players’ opinion of this pokie could depend on whether they like the freezing cold design or not. Some people are instantly put off games like this, as they just don’t look very welcoming, but for those who like the cold, this has a couple of interesting features to engage them.
The theme is certainly something different and anyone who doesn’t know the story should Google it, as it’s a grim tale of power, betrayal, murder and mystery.
Moving back to the game, the free spins can be a very rewarding feature to trigger, while wild substitutions will add a few coins to the bankrolls of anyone playing this polar pokie.
There’s a few downsides to this game however, notably in the fact that the playing card symbols will tend to dominate proceedings, with just the odd picture symbol to brighten up the reels. But at least this makes for some frequent, if low value, wins, so it’s not all bad.