Fire Opals Pokie Machine
Part of a series of pokies from IGT that includes Siberian Storm and Fire Horse, Fire Opals plays out over 5 reels that stack their symbols at different heights and has 720 different ways to win running across them. Colourful flowers, beautiful women and a volcano give this pokie a Hawaiian theme, enhanced by the opal that not only adds to the style, but also triggers some of the bonus features that include wild wins, free spins and scatter payouts.
Perhaps the most important feature of this game however, is the MultiwaysXtra format which creates winning lines from 3, 4 or 5 matching symbols stopping in any positions on sequential reels running left to right and right to left. If more than 1 of the symbol type is on any reel, the amount paid out will be multiplied, leading to some potentially big wins in any spin.
Playing Fire Opals
Reels are set out in a diamond pattern, with the outermost being 3 symbol positions high, the next to in being 4 high and the middle reel having its symbols in a stack of 5. They are all surrounded by a glowing red border, behind which is a detailed picture of volcanoes and temple steps, which gives the game an eerie appearance.At the bottom of the reels, there’s a set of control button that are used to determine how much is staked on a spin, and this can be adjusted up from a minimum of 0.50, possibly putting this game out of reach for casual players who just like to make tiny wagers.
Anyone still in will find the J, Q and K playing card symbols to be the ones paying out the smallest wins, being worth 5, 20 or 100 coins when they land on 3, 4 or 5 reels. The flowers are up next, paying between 10 and 125 and then a volcano may be at odds with a peaceful island theme, but players won’t mind as it’s worth 20, 50 or 300 coins.The girl returns 25, 75 or 500 when landing across a line, but the most valuable symbol of all is the Fire Opals logo that’s worth 50, 150 or even 2000 coins.
Players shouldn’t forget that these pay in both directions and that if more than 1 is contained in a single reel, the value of the win is multiplied, so landing the logo several high right across the middle reel is going to result in some pretty serious winnings.
Fire Opals
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Bonus Features
That’s the basic run of play covered, now it’s time to look at some of the extra treats in store for Fire Opals players. A wild symbol will act as others if it can complete a winning line, although it will only stop on reels 2, 3 and 4 and isn’t worth anything itself.
A scatter icon pays 3x the total bet when it appears in any 3 positions at once, 20x when 4 land and if 5 scatters turn up in a single spin, players are paid 100x the stake. So that there’s no doubt about which the wild and scatter symbols are, they are simply the words ‘Wild’ and ‘Scatter’ in big shiny letters.
Landing a reddish-orange opal across all 5 reels will win 100 coins and then take players to a new set of reels where the flowers are replaced by opal jewels and the other symbols have changed colour during 10 free spins. If the blue opal stops across a line during these games, a further 100 coin prize and 10 more free games are added to the total, with an upper limit of 260 spins, which is somewhat unlikely to occur, but anything’s possible.Additional wilds are in play during the free games, so players should see a higher ratio of wins to spins.
The Verdict
The Hawaiian theme gives Fire Opals a classic style and scope for colourful symbols to be included in the mix. IGT have made the reel layout and MultiwaysXtra format something of a speciality of theirs and it has proved to be a popular decision, with players appreciating the 720 different combinations that can be spun up and the multipliers being a nice extra feature.
When it comes to bonus features however, the free games are likely to be the highlight, with those extra wild symbols and potential to trigger the round over and over again.