Ghost Pirates Pokie
There’s some spooky shenanigans on the high seas in Ghost Pirates, an online pokie from Net Ent that owes more than a little to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, even down to the logo which is pretty much as straight copy. But it makes it a fun game that’s certain to appeal to a wide audience and comes with some interesting extras such as free spins with a 3x multiplier, wild substitutions and a unique option to play on 3 lines, 9, 27 or 81, or players can go for the full 243 ways to win option which does away with paylines altogether.
Those lines run across 5 richly decorated reels, filled with treasure maps, flintlock pistols, parrots and pirates, all designed with great attention to detail and all surrounded by an equally intricate backdrop of skeletons, seaweed-covered rigging and flaming torches. It’s a great-looking game which will attract punters who care little about how it works, but for those who care a lot, they should know that it has a good return to player percentage.
The minimum stakes and how wins are created depends on what payline format is chosen so for the sake or simplicity, we are going to assume that the popular 243 ways to win system is selected. This means that winning combinations are created by landing examples of the same symbol on adjacent reels running from the left side, and it doesn’t matter where on each reel they appear. The low limit is 0.25 per spin and the upper limit with this format is 62.50 and free Ghost Pirate video pokies are available for those who want test it first.
Playing Ghost Pirates
All of the symbols are directly related to the adventures of our pirate friends, starting at the bottom with anchors, cannons, jugs and the treasure map. A review of the paytable reveals that line wins and 243 ways to win payouts are both shown and that the anchor and cannon symbols only need to be on reels 1 and 2 to pay out 3 coins, while seeing them right across the reels is worth a win of 80 coins.
The top valued item is the picture of crossed pistols and this pays out 12 coins when landing on reels 1, 2 and 3, or 200 when landing on all 5. But it’s the 4 characters that bring this game to life and we see Polly the parrot returning 20, 100 or 400 coins when he flaps onto 3, 4 or 5 reels, while Mad Monkey is worth up to 500, One-Eyed Ed pays out a maximum of 1000 and topping the table is the nefarious Peggy Rotten who leads this band of brigands and leads gamblers to wins of up to 1500 coins.
The classic image of a skull and crossbones, complete with a red bandana and an eyepatch that seems a bit useless on a skeleton, makes up the wild symbol. Its only job is to help players complete winlines or create longer and more valuable lines, by acting as any other symbol. It isn’t worth anything on its own and it can’t substitute for the treasure chest as this has another job to do.
Ghost Pirates
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Free Spins Bonus
Landing the treasure chest anywhere on successive reels from the left side will pay 5x the total bet, not just the coin value. It will also award 15 free spins, while 4 chest symbols are worth 20x the stake followed by 20 free spins and if the maximum of 5 scatters land at once, then players win 50x their bet amount plus 50 bonus games.
It doesn’t matter how many free games are triggered, all wins throughout them are tripled in value although it’s worth noting that a standard set of reels are used so on average winning combinations will be seen at the same rate as in the base games. The same payouts and number of spins apply to all choices of the number of paylines or ways to win.
The Verdict
It may be a bit of a rip-off from the movies, but the Ghost Pirates video pokie is still a great game that’s filled with fun symbols and comes with a suitably pirate-y soundtrack. There’s not much to complain about here, although like many Net Ent games, it isn’t mobile optimised, and while the various bet options may be useful to experienced players, it could be a little confusing to novices.
Another common feature of Net Ent games, but one that’s much more welcome, is the enhanced winnings in the bonus rounds, so while winlines may appear at the usual rate, when they do, players will be in for a nice multiplier of the base value.