You probably know that pokies are known as slot machines in the United States. But there’s also another common name for these games, one that is most commonly used in the UK: fruit machines. The reasoning is obvious, thanks to the fact that so many early pokies used fruit symbols on the reels.
That’s still true today, with oranges, plums and lemons often being a part of many poker machines in live casinos and online. Fruit certainly plays a central role in Fruit Fiesta, a pair of progressive jackpot pokies that offer big rewards for those who can make the right combinations for their fruit baskets.
Fruit Fiesta is the name of two different online pokies that have been created by Microgaming. Both of these games feed into the same progressive jackpot, but we’ll mainly be focused on the five-reel version of the game. If you’re more interested in playing a similar three-reel pokie, we’ll talk a little bit about that game at the end of the review.
Fruit Fiesta’s five-reel game features 15 paylines, each of which cost $0.05 to play. That means that you can pay up to $0.75 on a spin if you want to activate all 15 lines. The object of the game, as always, is to match symbols across your active paylines. Three or more of the same symbol will do for most wins, while the lowest-value symbol, the bell, will even score you a small win with just two in a row.
Most of the symbols on the reels are fruit-based: everything from apples and limes to watermelons and pineapples. Other traditional symbols like bars offer bigger wins, with the seven being the highest-paying symbol of all. Hit five sevens in a row, and you’ll win 750 coins on that payline.
There are two special symbols that are worth looking out for while you play Fruit Fiesta. First, there is the Fruit Fiesta logo, which acts as a wild. This symbol can substitute for any of the basic symbols, helping to make winning combinations. You can also score wins by matching two or more wild symbols together; hit five in a row, and you’ll win 9,000 coins. The wild symbol is also the way to win the progressive jackpot, which we’ll talk about more in a bit.
There’s also a scatter symbols on the reels (easily identified, since it is simply the word “scatter”). If you can find three or more of these symbols anywhere on screen at the same time, you’ll win a prize that is multiplied by the total amount you’ve bet on that spin. Hit three, and you’ll win 4x the amount you bet; get up to five scatters, and you’ll win 400 times your spin bet.
If you want to win the Fruit Fiesta progressive jackpot, you’ll need to bet the maximum amount on a spin. That’s because the jackpot can only be won by hitting five wild symbols on the 15th payline; if that payline isn’t active, you can’t win the top prize.
The Fruit Fiesta jackpot is a pretty small one, though it has occasionally grown to become impressively large. The jackpot resets at just $800, but usually hits at around $20,000 or more. The largest prize ever recorded was just under $100,000, a fairly good payout considering it costs just 75 cents to play the game.
If you enjoy playing three-reel pokies, you might want to give the alternative version of Fruit Fiesta a try. This version gives you the same chance to win the progressive jackpot, at the same price. In this game, there are three lines, each of which can be played for one $0.25 coin. In order to win the progressive jackpot in this version, you’ll need to hit three wild symbols on the third payline.
Fruit Fiesta is a basic poker machine with a classic theme. If you’re looking for something filled with special features or lots of twists and turns, this is not the machine for you. On the other hand, there is a lot to be said for a machine that offers a pretty sizable progressive jackpot for just $0.75 per spin. It’s a nice change of pace from the games that cost a few dollars if you want to have access to the jackpot.
If Fruit Fiesta sounds like the kind of game you want to play, you can find it at any Microgaming casino site in Australia. If you’re not sure where to start, check out one of our recommended Microgaming online casinos, and start taking your shot at the Fruit Fiesta jackpot today!