Discovery Themed Slot Games

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Christopher Columbus landed in the New World on October 12, 1492. United States celebrates this event through a federal holiday on the second Monday in October. This year Columbus Day falls on October 10. Though there are no slot games that are specifically based on the Christopher Columbus theme there are many that celebrate the spirit of exploration and discovery exhibited by the sea farers of Columbus' era.

One slot game was released a few months back by the leading software developer Playtech. It is aptly called The Discovery. The logo of the slot game says it all with the Captain and his schooner and the native girl from the land discovered. The Captain and the Girl also figure as symbols on the reels. The other symbols that enhance the discovery theme are the Compass, the Island, the Telescope and the Flower. The Compass is the wild symbol and substitutes for other symbols. It also appears stacked on reels and this results in more frequent paying combinations. The Girl offers a fixed jackpot of 5,000 coins and the Captain can trigger 10 free spins at tripled payouts. Though The Discovery provides great visuals and excellent payouts it does not exploit the theme of discovery to the full.

Age of Discovery from Microgaming is a very similar slot game. The symbols on the reels are the Compass, the Sextant, the Gold Coin, the Dragon Sketch and the Schooner. At that time the general belief was that sea dragons lived at the edge of the world and devoured the sailors who strayed far from the shores. Something of that can be seen during the animations in this symbol. One advantage that Age of Discovery has over The Discovery is that instead of high value card symbols exotic fruit symbols are used. Another advantage is that there is a thematic bonus game. On the second screen thirty treasure sites are displayed on a map. Players can keep selecting sites and winning credits till they reveal a skull and cross bones.

Often themes depicted in a comic manner become more effective and the discovery theme reaches full potential in Lucky Eggsplorer from Microgaming. The reels are fashioned like a ship and set in the oceans. Some of the thematic symbols are the Schooner, the Wheel and the Map. The characters are replaced by cartoon caricature birds. The Captain is a rooster named Chook, an obvious reference to Captain Cook. There is a native hula dancer and a witch doctor. There are some excellent animations on the reels when certain symbols occur in winning combinations. Captain Chook is the wild symbol and in the animation he looks through his telescope and sights land. The Map is the scatter symbol and shows the ship tracing its path to its destination.

Lucky Eggsplorer has a bonus game that uses the discovery theme effectively. The game is triggered when three or more map symbols appear anywhere on the reels. A world map opens on the second screen with bird characters in native costumes of five destinations that were targets of explorations and discoveries. Players have to select three of those destinations. They will be awarded free spins and bonus credits.

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