Play the real money Hockey League slot machine game for free - no download demo
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Hockey isn’t a sport we usually watch. Most of our exposure from the sport comes from the occasional brawls that occasionally break out on the ring! But from what little we watched, we always found it interesting. It’s a sport that requires you to navigate ice, control the puck and keep track of where enemies and team-mates are! It creates an absolutely thrilling experience that keeps you at the edge of your seat throughout the match. Can this slot hope to match that kind of energy and excitement?
Gameplay
Graphics aren’t this game’s strong suit. Now, that’s not to say that Pragmatic Play haven’t made an effort! But it’s clear that their artists didn’t handle it as gracefully as they have other themes. Even then, there are a few small details that would have made this release that much cooler. First is to swap playing card royals for actual hockey themed symbols! Alternatively, they could have styled them as fictional team logos, and made them match with uniforms of player icons! A bit of movement in the background image and the reels in forms of animations is also something we’d have loved to see.
You play Hockey League on a 5x3 board with 20 fixed paylines, which pay left to right only. And like with many Pragmatic Play slots we review, there’s only one special feature. Credit where it’s due though, they’re usually interesting or lucrative bonuses! This time around is no exception either. It starts off as a standard free spins round, but picks one of the symbols to be the MVP! That gives that icon special properties that only last during free spins, and end once the bonus completes.
While this game is a bit older, it still uses Pragmatic Play’s modern user interface. Thanks to its minimalistic design, it manages to blend in perfectly, without any trouble. Our favourite part of the layout is tweaking your total bet! You can approach it in one of two ways. The old-school method of tweaking your coin value and coins per payline. Or the simpler way of just pressing plus and minus until you find the wager that suits you best! This allows players to bet between GBP 0.20 and GBP 100.
If you just rely on the special feature, you will be able to win a 500x jackpot with a full reel win. It’s not likely, but your odds are better than usual if you succeed in triggering the bonus. However, your actual jackpot is much higher, and requires a full screen win of the joint Wild-Scatter symbol. The problem with that is that this icon cannot appear as the MVP symbol, making it nigh impossible to win the 1000x top prize. The situation is further complicated with the RTP being 94.11%, which is two percentage points beneath the 96% current industry average.
Bonus Rounds
Collect three or more joint Wild-Scatter icons to trigger a free spins round. To start off, you win ten extra turns, and have the ability to win even more while playing the special feature! Before the free spins start properly, however, one random symbol is chosen from the playing field. This icon will then behave like a Scatter, paying from any position so long as there are enough symbols on the board. The pays for each icon aren’t changed, so you still receive the same prizes as before.
Summary
Unfortunately, this Pragmatic Play release failed to click with us. This doesn’t mean that it’s a bad slot. It just didn’t quite work with what we wanted. That said, there are legitimate concerns about Hockey League. Its below average RTP is cause for concern, especially with such focus being on the bonus. As it currently stands, we recommend trying a different game.