Lucky Larry’s LobsterMania Pokies
A tongue-twister of a title has been given to Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania, but this fun pokie from IGT is well worth a play and people shouldn’t need their arms twisted to give the reels a spin in this nautical game. Lucky Larry is a New England fisherman who is out to land some tasty lobsters across this 5 reel game, and to help players land some big wins, there’s a Buoy Bonus round that can award multipliers of up to 4000 times the amount staked on a line.
Largely superseded by the imaginatively-named Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania 2, this original version was a big hit at land based casinos and has clawed its way to online sites as well.
Playing Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania
Although it’s become a little dated, this pokie still has plenty to offer and while the graphics may not be state of the art, they are certainly clear, colourful and easy on the eye. There’s a simple backdrop of the ocean behind the reels and these are in turn framed by a cleverly-designed wooden sign, while the payline indicators are made to look like fishing floats. Simple, but very effective.
There are 25 lines running left to right across the game and players have the option to bet just 0.25 on a spin, or raise their stakes all the way up to a maximum of 500.00. The usual symbols J through to A are taken from playing cards and given a colourful cartoon design to go with the rest of game, but the higher wins come from the pictures of a buoy, lighthouse and fishing boat.
All of these symbols will be worth a prize when landing across any of the 25 paylines on sequential reels running from the left side, and the longer the line, the bigger the prize, although at least 3 on a line will be needed to pay anything out. The J, Q and K are all valued at 5x, 25x or 150x the line bet when landing on 3, 4 or 5 reels across an active one, and the highest wins come from the sunbathing lobster, who will be worth 5x when he turns up on just 2 reels, all the way up to 10,000x for a full line of 5.
Lucky Larry’s LobsterMania
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Bonus Features
Bonus symbols can pay out in different ways, with that high-value lobster also being a wild symbol, acting as others if he can then complete a winning combination. An unfortunate lobster in a trap is a scatter symbol and this guy can turn up in any 3 positions to pay out 4x the total bet, while seeing 4 scatters at once equals a win of 25x and anyone who lands 5 at once will be celebrating a win of 200x their triggering stake.
The other symbol that players will be wanting to land is the Buoy Bonus, which sees a friendly lobster in fishing gear waving his claws around and telling players to ‘’Pick Me.’’ Should at least 3 of these land in a single spin, players are able to click one of them which will reveal 2, 3 or 4 buoy picks that they can make in the separate bonus game.
This sees Larry in his fishing boat surrounded by different buoys and the number of picks given can now be used to reveal multipliers that are added to a lobster trap in a nice, if dated animated sequence. If 2 picks are given, the potential rewards will be between 20x to 2000x the initiating line bet, if 3 picks are made, there’s the potential for a win of between 30x to 3000x the line bet and 4 buoy picks will lead to a win of between 40x and 4000x.
The Verdict
Fun images of cool lobsters help to make this a light-hearted pokie that should have players tickled pink. The older style and simple CGI of the bonus round have a certain charm and there’s nothing actually wrong with them, it’s just that other games, including the sequel to this one, have upped the ante a bit.
However, looking at the actual gameplay, we have a classic format that’s easy to follow and where it’s easy to line up winning symbols. The bonus game is a fun diversion, although it should be noted that the maximum wins are just that, maximum values that will probably not be reached, but anytime the bonus game is triggered, there’s some sort of prize guaranteed.
Some players may be disappointed that there’s no free spins round, but the wild substitutions, scatter wins and bonus winnings should more than make up for this.