Dam Beavers

Dam Beavers: Slot Overview

Sometimes, you know, you review a few slots, okay, a lot of slots, and it can feel like shoot, we are really running out of ideas, aren't we? Then something comes along that is totally new to blow all the cobwebs away. So it was with ELK Studios' Pirots and Pirots 2. Two slots which changed the way winning symbols could be collected, sure, but also jamming in a huge amount of details big and small, blurring the lines between slot and cartoon show, while piling on big piroty personality. Proving they can be just as personable are the stars of Dam Beavers. These four wee guys make use of ELK's CollectR mechanic as they collect symbols, drop through levels, and do their darndest to put a smile on players' faces while they are trying their luck.

Funny, it all starts so chilled too. Level 1 in Dam Beavers is played in what looks to be a Sims-like view of the beavers' house, replete with a little heater in one corner, a rug, a couch, and a sack of strawberries. It's all very homely. A feeling reinforced by the sounds of nature and a relaxing tune. Don't get too cosy, though, this the merest tip of an iceberg that can get absolutely manic, changing in looks, tone, and atmosphere as the beavers begin dropping through to lower levels, features trigger, and the action starts bubbling.

Bet selection in Dam Beavers is 20 c to $/€100 per spin, and five options are available from the X-iter feature buy menu, too. One of Dam Beavers' biggest bummers, maybe the biggest, is its 94% RTP value, a fairly standard reaction in one of ELK Studios' games by now, although many players seem to have learned to live with it. Highly volatile, Dam Beavers is played on a 5x5 sized gaming grid in the first level, the grid grows as play moves between levels, moving to 6x6, 7x7, then maxing out at 8x8 when reaching level 4.

The gaming grid also includes 4 beaver characters, each one associated with the colours blue, green, orange and red. Each beaver is paired to pay symbols of the same colour. Beavers collect fruit symbols, one at a time, of the same colour when they are able to reach them in orthogonally adjacent positions. Basically, if a Beaver can walk to a symbol of the same colour to collect them and it's their turn, they will do so. Pay symbols can be upgraded so their baseline values are 0.05 to 0.1 times the bet, up to 5 to 50 times the bet at most upon reaching symbol level 8.

Dam Beavers: Slot Features

Assisting or augmenting the beavers with their task are the Breaking Point, multi-levels, Beaver Night Fever, feature symbols, coins, passages, MAX WIN, a feature meter, feature cards, the bonus game, and X-iter.

Feature Meter

Above the reels is the feature meter, which keeps track of the collected fruit and wild symbols. Next to the meter are 3 feature cards, one face up. The others get revealed when the feature meter is filled. When no more progress is possible on the grid and the meter has been filled, face-up features are released. The types of features possible are:

• Wild scatter – a random number of symbols are replaced by wilds.
• Refresh symbols – replaces all symbols on the grid.
• Symbol Swap – two random symbol types swap paces.

A feature release is pending when the meter is filled, and up to 3 may be pending at the same time, triggering in turn.

Feature Symbols

A feature symbol is activated when it is fully revealed and collected by a beaver. The first five here appear on the symbol grid, while the last 3 are hidden under floorboards, destroyed when a beaver moves over them:

• Firework – upgrades the symbol level of the beaver that collected it.
• TNT – causes explosions to remove floorboards.
• Blender – triggers an instant filling of the feature meter, overcharging the remainder where possible.
• Wild – substitutes for any fruit symbol at their current payout level.
• Coins – these are large symbols under floorboards which are collected when fully revealed. Coins may overlap, and the top coins are collected first.
• Passages – allows a beaver to move to another random position or swap position with another beaver.
• Breaking Points – 2x2 progression points. When fully revealed, play progresses to the next level. Level 4 is the lowest level where the grid is 8x8.

All symbols are upgraded by 1 level when a breaking point is activated. At level 4, the corner tiles have no floorboards, and a MAX WIN coin is hidden underneath. Revealing all of this coin awards the remaining amount to reach Dam Beavers' max win. When removing all floorboards from a level, the mini-bonus Beaver Night Fever triggers when the game comes to a stop on its current level. All paying symbols drop out, and new ones drop in at a higher level where applicable. Upgraded symbols reset to their respective levels after the Beaver Night Fever feature ends - before the breaking point is activated, if applicable.

Free Spins

When beavers collect 3 pie scatters in the base game, they trigger the bonus round where 5 free spins are awarded at the current floor level. Floor level, feature meter progress, pay symbol level, and scatter symbol collection are persistent in free spins. If 3 scatters are collected in the round, +5 more free spins are won, no limit.

X-iter

Activating X-iter mode allows for these bonus features to be bought:

• Bonus Hunt – one drop with 1 bonus symbol already collected with 4 times the chance of triggering the bonus for 3x the bet.
• Eager Beaver – 10x the bet for one drop starting at floor level 2.
• Dambuster – 25x the bet for one drop starting at floor level 3.
• Bonus – 100x the bet.
• Super Bonus – 500x the bet starting on level 3 with all symbols upgraded to level 3.

Dam Beavers: Slot Verdict

If you can get Dam Beavers on a good run, really see what it has to offer, then it's clear that ELK Studios is doing stuff light years beyond what the vast majority of online slot makers are doing. It's hard to know where to start. At moments, Dam Beavers brushes off the 'online slot' label and becomes almost like watching an animated cartoon. An absolutely absorbing one which literally induced a laugh-out-loud moment when the floorboards were cleared for Beaver Night Fever. The animations, the moving through levels, the beavers themselves, the speed runs at times when they are clearing away symbols, firing rockets, slamming pies, the way Dam Beavers not only moves between levels but completely changes in vibe when it does so was a treat to witness. It all added up to a CollectR game every bit as exquisitely designed as Pirots 2, maybe even more so.

Naturally, Dam Beavers can tear a new one as well when the game's not flowing your way, and the return value leaves much to be desired, which is a shame since there are so many other neat things here to experience. Like Pirots, Dam Beavers won't be to all tastes. It's a cutting-edge 'slot', so may not suit traditionalists or, purists, or players who prefer to hit spin and know the outcome more or less right away. It takes time for beavers to trundle around collecting fruit, interacting with feature symbols and travelling through levels. For those in its scope, though, lengthy animated sequences are one of the beauties of the game. You hit spin, and it could go nowhere, or it could send you on a long, drawn-out journey of discovery. The best journey would end in uncovering the MAX WIN coin, instantly awarding the 10,000x top prize.

Dam Beavers is a slot that highlights once again how deep the ELK team is out there on the frontiers of online gambling, leading curious, willing players to places they probably haven't seen before, providing new ways of potentially being entertained.