Blazing Mammoth

Blazing Mammoth: Slot Overview

Boy, the Microgaming family of studios is a friendly bunch, happy to share concepts, themes, features, and math models. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Canadian game designer Pear Fiction Studios' slot Blazing Mammoth. Players who took Gameburger's hit 9 Masks of Fire for a whirl will instantly recognise Blazing Mammoth. Scratch a bit deeper, and you realise its math model churns out roughly the same numbers as before, with one difference. This will be no bad thing for the hordes of happy spinners who enjoyed 9 Masks, as they get to enjoy the same gameplay, with an attractive change of window dressing.

The graphical shift includes a completely different location, characters, even era. It's back to the stone age we go, in a world full of snow-covered rocky mountains full of wild animals of all descriptions. Mammoth stampedes shake the screen when scatter wins occur, and the reels produce a bunch of satisfying noises when spinning and displaying certain symbols. Blazing Mammoth might be a clone of 9 Masks of Fire, but Pear Fiction has done a nice job with the visuals and the sound effects to breathe life into what has become an oft used format.

Like 9 Masks, Blazing Mammoth is a causal gamblers paradise where the volatility is forgiving, and the hit rate is high (39.75%). It should be noted that volatility has been turned down for Blazing Mammoth to a low setting compared to medium for 9 Masks. RTP is a respectable 96.24%, and while the max win possibilities aren't astounding, they do fit with everything else Blazing Mammoth has to offer.

As before, the goal is to hit as many mammoth scatters as possible to score payouts from the prize ladder. While that's going on, regular wins occur when three or more matching symbols fall on one of the 20 fixed pay lines. Players can participate in the stone age antics on any device, selecting bets from 20 p/c to $/€120 per spin.

Blazing Mammoth's paytable is a jarring mix of critters and fiery seven symbols. Animals such as wolves, furry rhinos, bears, and sabre-toothed tigers are used as the low pays; 7s make up the highs. These come in mixed form combinations or single, double or triple varieties. Mixed sevens get you 3.25, all the way up to 37.5 times the bet for a combo of five triples. Wilds are worth extra at 125x the bet for five of a kind, which is an ultra-rare occurrence. More often, wilds are simply replacing regular pay symbols to complete line wins.

Blazing Mammoth: Slot Features

There are two ways of landing in the money when playing Blazing Mammoth. One is via the scatter jackpot feature; the other is a triggered round of free spins. Landing 3 free spins symbols awards a spin on the Free Spins Wheel. Each inner wedge on the wheel contains a number of free spins from 10 to 30, while each outer wedge displays a multiplier of x2 or x3. During free spins, all wins, except jackpots, are subjected to whatever multiplier was won. Scatters remain on the reels during free spins, and retriggers add the same number of free spins as were initially awarded from the Free Spins Wheel.

Mammoth scatters are tied to the jackpot and appear in any position. Landing 3 or more is enough to scoop a prize, the value of which is displayed to the left-hand side of the grid. Should 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 mammoths land, a payout of 1x, 5x,15x, 40x, 100x, 500x, or 2,000x, the bet is awarded.

Blazing Mammoth: Slot Verdict

Who would have predicted so many clones and imitators would emerge after Gameburger released 9 Masks of Fire? Judging by the regularity these style of games drop, it's unlikely Blazing Mammoth is going to be the last one we see either. To their credit, Pear Fiction has designed an attractive shell to cover the borrowed mathematics. The studio has also managed to retain a physical slot feel while injecting more adrenaline than the first one possessed. Not via the gameplay, which is identical, but the animated wild beasts and stone-age environment is arguably livelier than the original

There's really not much to add if you've played 9 Masks of Fire before, which many people apparently have. There's something about the way Gameburger mixed mid/low volatility with regular scatter wins to strike a significant nerve. It also helps that the game has a side bonus of free spins on hand to compliment the scatter hunt. Applying a blanket multiplier to all wins during free spins was a device used a lot in the past and continues to hold sway today. Despite the free spins multiplier, your best bet for maxing potential remains landing the requisite 9 scatters for an instant 2,000x the bet win.

Sure, cloning someone else's game means half the work is done for you. All that's left is coming up with a snazzy concept and executing it. This, at least, Pear Fiction Studios has done, so fans of the original have nothing to be concerned about. Blazing Mammoth might be a little superfluous in the grand scheme of things since it doesn't do much you can't find elsewhere. But, it's well-made and gives 9 Masks of Fire enthusiast who need a break from the tribal thing an excuse to keep on chasing scatters for a bit of glory.