Jack and the Beanstalk Pokies
Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, we see the reels of a game that’s fun. Even while Net Ents’ Jack and the Beanstalk video pokie is loading up, players are treated to a nice animated sequence that’s just a taster of the quality graphics that this Swedish developer have become so famed for. Most of us are familiar with the story of Jack, who buys some magic beans, grows a beanstalk up to a giant’s castle in the clouds, steals a golden egg laying chicken and chops down the big plant, saving the day and living happily ever after.
There’s references to the tale in the symbols that appear in this 5-reel, 20-payline online pokie, including the giant, the chicken and the beanstalk, but while the stunning 3D graphics are what’s going to attract people in the first place, there’s some pretty impressive bonus features to compliment the good looks.
Free spins with extra wilds in play, plus re-spins of the reels with each wild symbol in the base game are some of the unique ways that Jack and the Beanstalk cuts down the competition, although like many Net Ent games, unfortunately it isn’t mobile-optimised.
Playing Jack and the Beanstalk
There’s free Jack and the Beanstalk video pokie games available for those who like to test things out before playing and once happy with it, they can make real cash bets from as little as 0.20 per spin, raising this in stages to a high limit of 200.00. It’s worth a look at the pay table to see what each symbol is worth and at the bottom of the scale there’s vine-shaped playing card symbols which fit in nicely with the overall design of the game. These and the basic picture symbols will pay out prizes when 3 or more of a kind stop across a payline on connected reels running from the left side.
If punters see the 10 symbol lands on 3, 4 or 5 reels, then the win will be 3, 10 or 30x the amount staked per line, while the J, is worth 4, 15 or 50x, the Q and K both pay out 5, 20 or 75x and the A is valued at 6, 25 or 100x. The 3D picture symbols start with a watering can, move up in value through the axe, a sleepy-looking goat and the two-headed purple giant to the top symbol which is Jack himself. He pays 20, 200 or 1000x the line bet when appearing on 3, 4 or 5 reels.
Jack and the Beanstalk
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Walking Wilds
The wild symbol is simply the game title in gold on a red background and although it can’t make up a winning line on its own, if players have a gap in a line of matching symbols and the wild is in the right place, it will act as the missing piece and they still get paid. But it will also trigger a single reel re-spin, moving 1 reel to the left for this bonus game and these continue with the wild moving left for each re-spin until it reaches the end of the reels. So the further to the right players land the wild, the more free reel re-spins they are going to have.
These are not the only bonus games however, as the treasure chest is a scatter symbol that triggers 10 free spins when it lands anywhere on the reels in any 3 or more places at once. If the key lands on reel 5 during these spins, new features will be unlocked, although with only 10 extra games in which to collect these keys, it could be tricky to unlock them all.
If 3 keys appear, wild money bags become stacked 2 high on the reel, while anyone collecting 6 keys will also see 3 golden hen wilds stacked on the reels. Anyone who manages to collect 9 key symbols in the free spins games will then have an expanding golden harp wild symbol in play, so with luck as the bonus games progress, the winning potential will improve. Any 2 scatters will add an additional 5 free spins to the round.
The Verdict
Apart from the faultless quality of the graphics, what sets the Jack and the Beanstalk video pokie apart are the rewarding bonus features. It may be a little difficult to trigger all the extra wilds in the free spins game, but the re-spins that come with each wild symbol can really add up to some nice coin wins, particularly if that wild appeared towards the right side of the game.
A fun theme, the guarantee of fair play that comes with all Net Ent games, reliable software behind it and a nice soundtrack are just some of the other incentives to try out this high-quality pokie.