The term ‘Nouveau Riche’ usually refers to someone who has made their own money and become wealthy without a big inheritance or title. Although it’s often meant as a derogatory statement that implies the person lacks taste and class, IGT’s Nouveau Riche pokie can create a bit of wealth for players who line the right symbols up across the 5 reels and 20 paylines.
A 1920’s setting has decorative borders to the reels, along with images of precious jewels and a number of young ladies from the era that make up the bulk of the symbols. It’s a slightly confused design, as behind the reels is an image of some trees and certain symbols continue the woodland theme, none of which seems to fit into the idea of wealthy characters from the 1920’s, but we’ll just run with it and enjoy Nouveau Riche as it is.
As there are only 20 lines, the minimum stake is a comparatively low 0.20 and this can be adjusted up to a maximum of 10.00, making this a game more suited to casual players rather than dedicated gamblers, and with a base game jackpot of 5000x the line bet, no-one is really going to join the newly rich set by spinning these reels.
The unusual design extends across the game, where symbols seem to float above the background, but it looks quite effective and everything is theme-related, so there’s none of the playing card symbols that seem to fill so many pokies. Instead, the jewels make up the smaller wins when at least 3 of a kind stop across a line on adjacent reels running from the left side.
A pink jewel is worth 5x, 20x or 80x the per line bet when 3, 4 or 5 land, while the blue and green ones both pay 10x, 30x or 100x. Then it’s the young women of the era who fill the richer end of the payscale, where the one in a purple outfit is worth 20x, 60x or 300x, the blond girl pays 30, 80 or 400x and the redhead returns 50x, 200x or 800x the line bet when she stops on 3, 4 or 5 reels.
The game logo is the most valuable of the regular symbols however, as this colourful image will pay out 100x, 500x and a big 5000x the line bet, which at higher stakes can turn a player into the member of the Nouveau slightly-Riche.
This pokie has IGT’s Freefall Symbols feature in play, and it’s a great way to get a few extra wins for no outlay. Any symbols that are part of a winning combination will vanish, which leaves empty spaces for the symbols above to drop down in to. New ones will appear from above the reels and if players are lucky, further winning lines will be created from the re-arranged mix.
If this happens, the whole Freefall Symbols feature will be repeated, potentially over and over again, as there’s no actual limit to the number of times this can happen. Effectively, players are getting a free spins round in the base game and this popular feature can now be found across a number of IGT pokies.
A strange decorative white trellis with green leaves on it acts as a wild, although as the word is plastered right across it, players aren’t likely to miss this useful symbol that will substitute for all except the bonus icon to complete additional winning lines.
That bonus symbol is an expensive-looking jug, with some blue flowers around it for no particular reason. Again, it looks nice, fits in with the overall theme and takes players to a free spins game when it lands in any 3 positions on reels 1, 2 and 3 at any time.
Before the spins commence, players are invited to pick one of the ladies, or a Muse as they call them, who will reveal how many free games have been awarded, which will be anything between 5 and 12. Although the initial award may only be for a few games, there’s a ‘+1’ symbol that can land on the middle reels during these spins and in case anyone hasn’t guessed, it adds 1 more free game to the total. This can happen several times, potentially leading to a total of 100 spins, which isn’t very likely, but anything’s possible.
The theme and style might not be to everyone’s taste, but Nouveau Riche has some impressive gameplay and features within its reels. The Freefall Symbols are a particular highlight, but wild substitutions and a free spins game that can extend to a significant number should also ensure that this pokie is a big success.