9 Enchanted Beans

9 Enchanted Beans: Slot Overview

What's happening in the slot development world at the moment? One day we're reviewing Enchanted Waters from Yggdrasil Gaming; the next, we've got 9 Enchanted Beans from Games Global studio Foxium gracing our shores. Is there something going around we're not privy to, something that's getting casino game makers all wondrous and enchanted about life? Or, most probably, all this talk of enchantment is a complete coincidence. Anyway, 9 Enchanted Beans is a spin-off from Jack and the Beanstalk, the popular fairy tale about the boy who traded the family cow for some beans, which actually turned out to be magic, grew a beanstalk into the clouds where the adventurous lad came back with a selection of treasures.

9 Enchanted Beans takes players to a base game hanging in midair, partway up the beanstalk, which is visible on the left side of the screen. One of the concerns when choosing a fairy tale to theme slot is that the outcome can come across as a bit kiddy-ish (though the soundtrack has an ominous quality), which 9 Enchanted Beans arguably flirts with at times. Maybe not; it's debatable. Moving on from the theme to the game grid, we find a 5-reel, 3-row setup, providing 20 paylines for landing wins along. Possessing a medium volatile math model and modest max win, 9 Enchanted Beans is not one of Foxium's heavyweight contenders, though its 96.12% default RTP is nothing to complain about. To dash up this stalk, players pick a stake of 20 p/c to $/€50 per spin and have the option of activating the Boost feature or buying free spins.

On the lower end of the beanstalk, er, paytable, we find J, Q, K, and A card royals, while the more valuable symbols are an axe, harp, bag of gold, and the lad Jack himself. Manage to link a 5 OAK winning line, and the rewards are 2x to 4x the bet for the card ranks and 7.5x to 20x the bet for the premiums. A golden egg rests on the game's wild, which may be used to substitute for any regular pay symbol. Wilds land on all reels and are worth up to 50 times the stake for a 5 wild win.

9 Enchanted Beans: Slot Features

Further features in 9 Enchanted Beans include Epic Strike, Ogre Skull symbols, the Goose Wheel, free spins, Boost, and the bonus buy.

Epic Strike

Landing 3 or more Enchanted Bean symbols awards a cash prize, and they pay in any position. The value of the prize is displayed on the list of awards next to the reels. Feature wins are added to payline wins.

Ogre Skull Award

In the base game, Ogre Skull symbols appear on reel 5 and are collected when they hit. Collecting 12 Ogre Skulls leads to a prize award worth between 1 and 2,000 times the bet. Ogre Skull collections are stored per bet amount. Changing the bet updates the Oger Skulls collection.

Free Spins

Scatter symbols are present on reels 2, 3, and 4 in the base game. Hitting 3 scatters awards 3 free spins. Free spins are retriggered by landing Enchanted Beans or Goose symbols. When Enchanted Beans land in free spins, they are collected, and collecting 3 to 9 of them awards a cash prize. The cash prize is worth 1 to 2,000x the bet and is awarded when the free spins round ends. Collecting 9 Enchanted Beans will end the round.

Landing a Goose symbol on reel 5 triggers the Goose Wheel. The Wheel spins to award:

• Extra spin – adds 1 to the free spins reset value.
• Payline win multiplier – increases the multiplier applied to payline wins by 1.
• Upgrade Awards – upgrades the Enchanted Bean Collect awards.
• Instant Awards – awards an instant cash prize when 3-8 Enchanted Beans are collected.

Buy Free Spins

Players are able to buy access to the free spins feature for the cost of 60 times the bet by hitting the Buy Free Spins button. Boost is deactivated by the buy event.

Boost

Activating the Boost feature increases the stake by 50%. By having the Boost switched on, the chances of triggering free spins and landing Enchanted Bean and Ogre Skulls are increased.

9 Enchanted Beans: Slot Verdict

It's funny how some things gain traction in the gambling world, which seem a little peculiar in retrospect. One is fairy tales, which pop up on a fairly regular basis, particularly the Jack and the Beanstalk tale. Perhaps it's because despite being aimed at children in this day and age, fairy tales can actually have quite a dark edge to them. For example, depending on the retelling or interpretation of the tale, Jack ends up killing a giant after robbing him of a selection of valuables. Hardly a paragon of virtue, one may argue. Some versions of the story mention the giant previously killing Jack's dad, injecting an element of vengeance or payback, but whatever way you look at it, the story is a bit heavy.

9 Enchanted Beans, by contrast, is actually pretty light. Games Global studios have fallen head over heels for these Epic Strike style of games, and they pop up even more regularly than fairy tale slots. Seems someone, somewhere, cannot get enough scatter symbol prize-winning style of gaming because there are a lot of them to choose from now. 9 Enchanted Beans feels aimed at the less demanding gambler, let's say, since it carries a relatively low-ish (though not that low for this style) max win of 3,400x the bet. For something with a bit of extra heft and more of an adult-orientated classic slot theme, Lucksome's contribution FatStacks Miami Cash might be a good alternative.

9 Enchanted Beans does have a lengthy list of features, though, and some of them are fairly uncommon. So, for players in the mood for a medium-volatile, modest max win scatter prize game with both recognisable features and a few newer add-ons, 9 Enchanted Beans' trusty core gaming might fit the bill.