The ELK Studios-developed online slot Phoenix Graveyard is a five-reel, dramatic rollercoaster. Although you may assume that a cemetery dedicated to the eternal phoenix wouldn’t get much business, the municipality of Phoenix, Arizona, really has such a cemetery. It’s easy to see the influence of earlier ELK slots in Phoenix Graveyard, with its abundance of sliced symbols, rising possibilities to win, fighting wilds, free spins, and multipliers.
Phoenix Graveyard immediately seemed like a more darker game than the ones that developer ELK often creates. The production company is known for incorporating lighthearted moments, even within their end-of-the-world themes. Phoenix Graveyard provides little opportunities for laughter. Instead, it has a gloomy atmosphere, as befitting an Ichabod Crane-esque location, complete with foreboding wooden homes and leafless trees that seem to reach into open bedroom windows at night and grab people. The presence of the Grim Reaper is the icing on the cake for a really somber game, which is more reminiscent of a Play’n GO rock slot than the usual fare from ELK. Let’s not let fear stop us from continuing the game.
Betting options are available from 20 pence each spin up to 100 pounds per spin. It’s played out on a 5-reel, 3-row matrix, and there are 243 ways to win (at least in the start; sliced symbols may blow that number straight up) in this game. ELK’s preferred rate of return of 95% is achieved, and the volatility at the usual high level.
Phoenix Graveyard pays for winning combinations in a straight line, beginning with the leftmost reel. The payout symbols we discover are the standard J through A ranks of playing cards and three fantastical-looking figures. Five low pay symbols in a winning line are valued between 0.6 and 1.2 times the wager, while five premium symbols in a successful line are worth between 1.5 and 4 times the wager. This section is now complete.
Slot Functions in the Phoenix Tomb
If you’re acquainted with ELK’s work, you could recognize some of the elements present in Phoenix Graveyard. Wild symbols, expanding paylines, fights, free spins, and X-iter game modes are discussed here.
Tombstones
There are several possible displays that can occur within the tombstone frame surrounding any given spot on any given spin. Sudden Death is the act of placing tombstones at arbitrary locations. If a symbol lands inside the tombstone when the reels halt, it will be divided into as many pieces as there are ways to win. There is a cap of 10 symbols per grave marker for this.
There are a lot of Wild Symbols.
In Phoenix Graveyard, you’ll find not one but two wild symbols: a phoenix and the Grim Reaper himself. When a Wild substitutes for a regular symbol, it awards a multiplier of 1, and when it splits by a tombstone, the multiplier increases by 1.
Wild phoenix symbols survive during respin rounds and in between free games, but they move to a new location on the reels with each repositioning. If their first ever hop was off a tombstone, they’ll gain a multiplier equal to the number of ways shown there.
When the Grim Reaper wild symbol appears on reels 3, 4, or 5, free spins are awarded. When a victory is calculated, the Grim Reapers will target any high value or Phoenix wild symbols that are adjacent. On the re-spin, Death moves to the left by one reel. When leaving a gravestone, the Grim Reaper’s movement bonus is increased. Respins will keep happening until Death finally disconnects from the grid.
As a result of a Grim Reaper assault on a high-paying symbol, a tombstone will be placed there, where it will remain during the respin and into and out of the free spins. When attacked by a Grim Reaper, a Phoenix Wild will either get a twofold multiplier, move to a new location, and be replaced by a Feather Wild, or lose its multiplier and be destroyed. On the next spin, feather wilds can transform into Phoenix wilds, complete with a multiplier if they’re located within a tombstone.
Freebie Item
If you get three, four, or five bonus symbols, you’ll enter the bonus game and receive six free spins with one Phoenix wild, eight free spins with two Phoenix wilds, or ten free spins with three Phoenix wilds. Now, phoenix wilds appear in the locations of the bonus symbols that triggered them, with a multiplier equal to the value of the tombstone ways. During free games, the phoenix wilds will stay on the reels and move to a new place between spins. Tombstones that appeared in the triggering spin will persist on the grid during the bonus round.
X-iter
Flipping into X-iter mode unlocks five unique strategies:
For an additional 10x your stake, you can purchase a round in which all consecutive locations are marked with a tombstone frame. This may happen on any rows from 1-3.
When both the Phoenix and Grim Reaper wilds appear on the same spin, you’ll win 25 times your wager.
Get at least three Bonus symbols by purchasing a bonus worth 100 times your wager.
Big Payout: 200 times your wager if you get at least four bonus symbols.
If you get at least 5 bonus symbols, you will receive a Super Bonus worth 500 times your wager.
Slot Decision at the Phoenix Cemetery
Phoenix Graveyard’s methods need more time to get used to than a typical slot from ELK Studios. The bleak atmosphere isn’t in keeping with who they are, which is a contributing factor. Kane has a sense of humor with him everywhere he goes; the Gold series has traveled to some very dangerous places. ELK found it odd to hang around at a cemetery with the Grim Reaper, and not in a humorous sense. It’s like discovering that your shy, sweetheart enjoys eating raw flesh.
After we got past our first shock, Phoenix Graveyard really started to pick up steam and reveal its many endearing qualities. On the surface, ELK are skilled audio-graphic designers, and the game’s Gothic atmosphere works well with the bizarre components. Even if it doesn’t make much sense to have phoenixes and death dealers duke it out, it’s not a big deal if it means those characters may slash symbols or double multipliers when they show up on the reels. Phoenix Graveyard was inspired by Nolimit City because to its slicing symbols, while the tombstone frames are lifted directly from the ELK canon of Nitropolis. Phoenix Graveyard has a Nitropolis flavor (with a dash of Wild Toro), but it seldom reaches the insane heights that its dystopian brother may. Players that are interested in the slicing symbols function but less enthused about whirling with rival animal clans in a radioactive wasteland may like this.
It’s worth noting that the Phoenix Graveyard isn’t simply for burying legendary birds. It may be a graveyard for your money if you’re not careful. However, such streaks are possible in any game, and Phoenix Graveyard has been known to provide winnings of up to 10,000x the wager while it’s on. Even though it would be exciting to strike the jackpot, Phoenix Graveyard just couldn’t match the level of excitement seen in games like the Nitropolis slot machines.
Let’s conclude up by phrasing it this way for gamers that like the tombstone/slicing symbol idea but are still on the fence. Choose Nitropolis if you’re looking to have your stomach in a knot from being hurled around on a roller coaster; go with Phoenix Graveyard if you’d rather experience the more tame thrills of a pirate ship ride.
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