Platooners by Elk Studios – Slot Machine Review
Though it’s not mentioned explicitly, Platooners is actually a sequel of sorts to another ELK Studios slot machine, called Bloopers. It was fairly successful, with its Hollywood inspired theme, and now we get another game in this series, this time showing us the set for an action movie which has cute alien-like creatures as main characters.
For a game that promises to offer rewards even as high as 250,000 coins, which has an RTP of 96.30% and features that include wilds, scatters, a bonus game and random features, it shouldn’t be surprising that the layout it uses is an uncommon one as well. It involves 178 connecting paylines which are used on 5×4 reels.
Betting
ELK Studios does betting a bit differently, compared with other developers. While you select the total bet only, worth anywhere between $0.20 and $100, you’re also using 100 coins at all times. The highest coin value then is going to be $1.
Betting strategies are available for players that are interested in using them. Called Optimizer, Leveller, Booster and Jumper, each one will allow the game to modify the bet automatically, depending on what kind of wins or losses you’re getting. It’s something unique to ELK, I didn’t notice this option anywhere else.
Platooners Jackpot
In big letters, in the paytable area, the game announces that it will pay 250,000 coins to the luckiest players. That’s a 2,500x jackpot, which is not bad. The individual wins are going to offer 1,000 coins at most though, so a lot has to happen in order for you to get a huge payout.
As for the RTP (Return to Player), the long-term potential of the game is 96.30%, which is an OK number.
Special Features
First, a word about the way the game is played. It mentions that it uses 178 ways to win, though in reality these are just paylines on which symbols need to be connected horizontally or diagonally. It’s not enough for them to be on consecutive reels to form combinations. The 5×4 reels game area would be big enough to host 1024 ways to win, if that was the case.
Wild Symbol
Simple looking, the Wild Logo is going to do only what you expect of it, nothing more. You have it as a substitute, and naturally there are better odds that you will be forming a new combination, if it’s present on the reels that round.
Random Action Spins
The Action Spins are triggered at random moments, and they’re going to deliver Rockets, Grenades or Bullets as extra features.
Rockets: reels 1 and 3 get covered with identical icons for one round.
Grenades: wilds get added to the last three reels for one spin.
Bullets: one of the 1st reel symbols is chosen to be used in a new 5-symbol combo.
Platooners vs Snakes of Fortune Bonus Game
The Snake scatter will be your trigger for this bonus game. The aim inside is to defeat the Snake of Fortune, in order to level up and get paid. Each new level has better payouts, but the difficulty also increases. You have Mystery Coins which give you attacks or prizes, there are ammo refills and bombs that could destroy segments of the snake.
Design
The design has never been a problem in ELK Studios slot machines. They even do very well theme wise usually, and Platooners is proof of that. It’s got its cute little main characters, the action takes place on a jungle-inspired movie set, and the quality is very high. The symbols involved show logos or snakes, dog tags, combat knives, binoculars, first-aid kits and Royals.
Summary
Platooners is a fairly typical release for ELK Studios, a game that has a couple of unique features, impressive graphics and a decent RTP. There is even the potential to get big wins out of it.
