St Louis 1904

St Louis 1904: Slot Overview

Relax Gaming partner and (currently blacklisted) LeoVegas owned studio Blue Guru Games does enjoy stories, and it's got a doozy of a tale to tell today. It's a true story, too, and centres on the St Louis Olympic Marathon of 1904. The race unfolds like a bizarre slapstick cartoon, where 32 men entered and only 14 managed to finish - the lowest in Olympic history. Among other things, American Fred Lorz crossed the line first but was caught out for hitching a ride in a car, while Cuba's Félix Carvajal came fourth despite having a lie down following stomach cramps caused by eating rotten apples from an orchard. The event, called by Olympics.com 'the most bizarre spectacle in Olympic history', is now celebrated in Blue Guru Games' online slot, St Louis 1904.

If you're not a runner, no worries; apparently, many of the participants in the St Louis event had never run a marathon before. What's also bizarre is that the race took place on a hot, dusty day, with just one water stop available at the 12-mile mark. Blue Guru Games drops hints of discomfiture in St Louis 1904 to help put players in the scene, such as insects, thermometers, and the generally hot, dusty-looking environment making up St Louis 1904's base game background. The runners on some of the pay symbols don't exactly look like they are having much fun, either. But, this is sports, the Olympics at that, of which the motto 'Citius Altius Fortius' (Faster Higher Stronger) lines the top of the gaming grid, offering motivation.

The game grid is built using a classic setup made up of 5-reels and 3 rows, and the top corners indicate that 10 paylines are provided to land winning combinations along. A highly volatile race gets a highly volatile math model to match, jogging out an RTP of 95.92%. Bet levels in St Louis 1904 are 10 c to $/€50 per game round, and bonus buys can be activated by hitting that buy button on the left-hand side there.

Race-related items make up St Louis 1904's paytable. From the lowest value to the highest, we see buckets of water, apples, thermometers, shoes, bottles, Money Medal symbols, and 4-character symbols. Lines of 5 matching non-character symbols are worth 5 to 20 times the stake, while the other 4 pay symbols are worth 50 to 200 times the stake for a 5 OAK hit.

St Louis 1904: Slot Features

Money Medal symbols are also Cash Prize symbols. During free spins, the Money Medal symbols pay instant prizes when landing at the same time as a Wild Collector symbol. Money Medals have values of 2x to 5,000x the bet. The Wild Collector appears on all reels in the free spins round. It substitutes for all symbols except the scatter.

Money Medal Respins

Landing 3 Money Medal symbols on the leftmost reel may trigger the Money Medal respin feature. Reels 2-5 can respin to land additional Money Medal symbols to form instant cash prize paylines.

Free Spins

Getting 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. During the base game, when 2 scatters land, a second chance feature may trigger:

• Second Chance Dogs - scatters move down one position, and non-scatter reels respin.
• Whirlwind - a scatter can be revealed on a random reel.

Before free spins start, up to 5 reel modifiers may randomly be selected:

• More Money Medal symbols.
• More Wild Collector symbols.
• More Cars, Rotten Apples, and Pack of Dogs.
• Instant multiplier - starts the round at level 2 with the x2 multiplier.
• Free spins +2 - additional starting free spins and increased spins for each retrigger.

In free spins, the Wild Collector collects all values from Money Medal symbols. All Wild Collector symbols are collected, too, and are added to the progressive free spins meter. Every fourth Wild Collector collected retriggers the feature, awarding extra free spins and a multiplier. The multiplier is x2 for level 2, x3 for level 3, and x10 for level 4. The multiplier applies to Money Medal collections in the retriggered free spins.

At the end of a free spin, when Wild Collectors are present, but Money Medals are not, the Pack of Dogs feature may trigger, introducing Money Medal symbols to the reels in random cells. When there are Wild Collectors but no Money Medals at the end of a free spin, the Rotten Apples feature can trigger, changing random symbols to Money Medals. At the end of a free spin, when there are Money Medals but no Wild Collector, the Car feature can trigger, bringing new Wild Collectors.

Bonus Buy

At the bonus buy, players can purchase these:

• 10 free spins triggered by 3 scatters for 70x the bet. RTP 96.22%.
• 15 free spins and 1 guaranteed modifier triggered by 4 scatters for 145x the bet. RTP 96.15%.
• 20 free spins and 2 guaranteed modifiers triggered by 5 scatters for 270x the bet. RTP 96.16%.

St Louis 1904: Slot Verdict

It's funny, the review of St Louis 1904 started with an internet rabbit hole dive, using the game's title as the search term. What followed was an absorbing read of one of the Olympic Games' strangest events. As such, interest in what St Louis 1904 might be about to deliver was well and truly piqued. Blue Guru Games had come up with a unique idea; the initial look was promising - bring it on was the next thought. Gamblers with experience of wild symbol collector games can probably guess what thoughts followed that.

Yep, you got it, 'this is just a Big Bass Bonanza wannabe' (yawn) flashed across the consciousness when reading over St Louis 1904's set of rules. So close in so many ways it became comical - much like reading through the backstory of the race. Was that the point? Amusing if so, but there is a strong suspicion Blue Guru Games was simply trying to cash in on the success of Big Bass Bonanza while having a bit of fun with the theme. In a true story slot retelling style, St Louis 1904 sits alongside fellow games such as Aussies vs Emus, Terracotta Army, and Napoleon vs Rabbits. However, in function, St Louis 1904 resides in Big Bass country. The max win is quite high, however, when compared to its contemporaries, tipping the scales at 10,000x the bet (in a billion simulated spins). And, after scoring a solid 2,787.3x the base bet result from a bonus buy, you can see why this style of play remains popular.

St Louis 1904 is an odd game that welds together a story it's unlikely you've seen in a slot before with gaming mechanics you literally see all over the place. Fair enough, players who still like Big Bass Bonanza's gameplay but are fed up with fish are well catered for should they take St Louis 1904 on. However, the mix of fresh ideas and overdone ones left an odd taste in the mouth when the review was said and done. In its final defence, though, St Louis 1904 isn't without a creative spark; the animations are neat, and the theme ideas are clever, so as a cheeky Big Bass Bonanza alternative, it isn't completely terrible.