Monopoly Big Event Slots
Monopoly remains one of the most popular board games of all time. It has been reinvented for the online age in many different ways. There’s even been a number of slots based on the game, but now there’s the new Monopoly Big Event slot from Barcrest, which is a very different game to the Monopoly Super Money slot previously available.
If you’ve played a relatively recent version of the game then you’ll instantly recognize the font used. It’s on the lower value symbols, as well as all the tokens representing the higher value symbols, plus many of the other features. So is this a slot more for the Monopoly fan, or a slot game that will appeal to all? Let’s find out.
Overview: Monopoly Big Event
Monopoly Big Event is a 5×3 reel slot but one with a difference. It has 20 fixed paylines in play on each spin. You can increase or decrease the size of the coin you wager to increase the value of your bet, although you will wager 20 coins on every spin when you play the game.
The game features the usual playing card low symbols across the reels (from 10 through to Ace). It uses Monopoly symbols as the higher value symbols. These include many of the iconic game pieces that have become synonymous with Monopoly over the years. There’s also two potentially lucrative bonus features, the Big Event free spins bonus and the Big Bet bonus option.
Who will the Monopoly Big Event slot appeal to?
Of course, if you enjoyed Monopoly as a board game, or in any digital incarnation of the game, then you’ll likely find something to enjoy in this slot. Similarly, if you have played any of the Monopoly-themed slots in the past, then you’ll also find that this new slot from Barcrest is similar, but does offer something tangibly different.
Slot gamers will find some of the features appealing and while the free spins round isn’t unique, it does offer some additional features. The Big Bet feature is somewhat unique in that players can elect to trigger the bonus games available under this option at any time without having to trigger a combination of symbols in the base game beforehand.
Gameplay: Monopoly Big Event
Playing the Monopoly Big Event slot is surprisingly easy. All you need to do is choose your stake level (understanding you will be wagering 20x this each spin) and then hit the green Spin button to get the reels spinning.
One small annoyance here is that none of the 20 paylines are highlighted when you spin. If you’ve come from playing slots with a lot more paylines per spin, you’ll think you’ve hit a win when in actual fact the symbols aren’t on one of the paylines. This is frustrating in the base game. Perhaps an option to increase the number of paylines per spin would have been a positive.
The Wild symbol, which is easily identifiable, can come in handy during the base game. It will help create winning paylines, especially when you land more than one on the first four reels.
The other symbol to note in the base game is the Big Event scatter symbol. This appears on reels one and three as a single symbol and on reel five it appears as a single, double and treble stacked symbol. You need to land the two Big Event scatters on reels one and three and then one of the Big Event scatter symbols on reel five in order to trigger the free spins round.
Sneak previews
If you hit the Big Event bonus with the double scatter on the final reel, you enter the Big Event game with the House sneak preview. With the three symbols stacked on the final reel, it is the Hotel sneak preview.
These sneak previews reveal the locations of the three houses and/or the three hotels in the feature. You then pick Community Chest and Chance cards alternatively. Community Chest card reveal guaranteed wins or free spins (all of which are cumulative). The Chance card reveals bonus icons. Land three of these icons during this round and you activate that bonus together with the number of free spins and guaranteed wins you’ve collected from the Community Chest cards up until this point.
Additional features
Other features you can activate in the Big Event round are the Locking Wilds. This means any Wilds landing on the reels when this feature is activated, stay in place until the end of the round. Bear in mind if you land the In Jail symbol, you’ll lose the lowest paying symbols off the reel for the remaining free spins.
You can also activate a Dancing Wild. Here one reel is randomly chosen to be completely wild for the duration of your free spins.
During the base game, you can also elect to play the Big Bet feature. Here you have a choice of two games. One costs 20 coins (Win Multiplier), the other 30 (Bonus Wheel).
In Win Multiplier you receive 5 spins. On each consecutive spin the multiplier increases from 1x up to 5x on the final spin. On the Bonus Wheel option, you could hit one of three games. The same Progressive Win Multiplier you get for 20 coins, 5 Epic Spins, which sees all spins have a 5x multiplier and the Persisting Wild option where Wilds will stay on the reels for the duration of your 5 free spins.
There’s a lot packed into the Monopoly Big Event slot and it can take a little while playing to access all the features, but this is a slot that does have long term appeal, even if the base game jackpot is a somewhat small 2000 coins.
Special Features: Monopoly Big Event
Playable Bonus features
One of the most innovative features of the slot is the ability to play two bonus features for either 20 credits or 30 credits via the Big Game button. This option is available any time for players to select.
Big Event Bonus game
During the base game, three or more scatters across reels 1, 3 and 5 trigger the Big Event bonus. Here players pick from Community Chest and Chance card to reveal prizes, unlock bonuses and earn free spins.
Wild symbol
The Wild symbol appears throughout the game. It replaces all higher and low value symbols to help create winning paylines. During some bonus games, the Wild may also remain on the reels for the duration of the bonus.
What works?
Playable Bonuses option
The fact that you don’t have to wait to play two bonus games in the slot is a real boon. Add to that the fact that playing one of them costs the same as a single spin (20 coins), while the other is 10 coins more, gives players a choice of options rather than spinning the reels continually.
Regular wins
The Monopoly Big Event slot is a more medium to lower variance slot. You do tend to hit wins regularly frequently, although these wins do tend to be on the small side and are often not as much as the cost of your total bet for that spin.
Big Event Bonus
There is a huge amount of depth when you trigger the Big Event Bonus in the base game. With a whole host of features available once you get through this initial round, it is well worth targeting the free spins to get the best out of the slot.
What doesn’t?
Low base game wins
Too many base game wins are just not big enough. Often you can win just a small fraction (10%) of what your total bet was on that spin. Bigger wins do come along too, but it’s very easy to lose money on the slot quickly if you don’t budget effectively.
Free Spins hard to hit
It’s very difficult to hit the free spins round. It can take a player a great deal of spins in the base game before it hits. This makes the other Big Game options far more attractive to players, even if they too don’t tend to pay out huge amounts.
Small jackpot
Perhaps the biggest disappointment with the slot is that given Monopoly is a game about accumulating wealth, the size of the jackpot is just 2,000 coins in the base game. That is a very small amount, especially considering how tight the slot plays at times.
The scores
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Graphics & soundtrack 3/5
The graphics and soundtrack on the Monopoly Big Event slot are nicely presented, stylish and clear. They fit nicely with the Monopoly theme and look excellent both on mobile and desktop devices. The sound is a little ordinary and perhaps could have been improved a little but there’s nothing too annoying here.
Originality & creativity 5/5
I like the fact that players can elect to play the Big Game feature at any time instead of spinning the reels and the Free Spins bonus game is very innovative and well thought out but the rest of the slot is just very similar to others and not too original.
Play value 1/5
Given that this is a slot that plays medium to low variance, the value of the slot is very disappointing. Far too many base game wins are very small and mean that even when the machine pays out, you can still be losing large chunks of your bet each spin.
Jackpot potential 1/5
A miserly 2000 coin jackpot in the base game isn’t great although you can potentially trigger this on more than one payline, but even so, that isn’t an amount of money likely to get many people playing the slot.
Repeat play 3/5
The frustration with the small payouts and tiny jackpot mean it is hard to love this slot as much as other Monopoly slots available. However, the free spins round and Big Games available do give the game added appeal, so it is likely you will give the game a few extra spins after playing for the first time.
Total score: 11/25
Monopoly Big Event could have been a slot that broke the mold and it has some excellent features, but unfortunately, the slot isn’t very playable in terms of the small wins and the small jackpot. It’s disappointing to hit five of a kind, with a multiplier, and still win just 10 coins more than your original bet.