Beavis and Butt-Head

Beavis and Butt-Head (Blueprint Gaming): Review

In the early days of adult animated sitcom - long before Stewie had come up with his first mischievous plot on Family Guy, before Stan and Kyle shocked the viewers with their obscenities on South Park, before Bart displayed his bare buttocks on The Simpsons - we had Beavis and Butt-Head.

It was in 1993, during the heydays of television pop culture, that Mike Judge launched his salute to, and parody of, teenage stupidity on the once so trendy music television network, MTV. Beavis and Butt-head centres around two politically incorrect and socially inept teenage delinquents with a passion for pyromania, boobs and heavy metal. Stuck on a couch in a dead-end town with few prospects and no interests beyond loud music, masturbation and random acts of vandalism, they spend most of their time watching TV. In the rare event they dare leave the comfort of their neglected home, things get messy: more often than not, they end up trashing the yard of their fragile neighbour or wrecking their teacher's invaluable 8-track collection or driving their principal crazy.

The phenomenon has since spawned a full-length movie, countless video games, and now, a video slot. Powered by Blueprint Gaming, Beavis and Butt-Head is a 5-reel, 3-row, 20-payline slot that follows in the footsteps of other branded Blueprint games such as Mars Attacks!, Ted, The Goonies and Goodfeathers. Playable from 10 cents to 500€ per spin on all devices, it comes with a wide range of randomly triggered modifiers, loads of bonus features and, not the least, hilarious animations. On offer here are extra wilds, fully stacked wild reels, colossal reels and plenty more.

Visually, Beavis and Butt-Head stays true to the original down to the smallest detail, including the clunky 90s television set which holds the reels. Starting off at home, players are taken to different locations upon triggering the many features included in the game and, if just like us you're a fan of the show, there are plenty of fun cut-scenes and animations to look forward to. On the reels you will see J, Q, K and A royals as well as characters from the show, namely hippie teacher David Van Driessen, Principal McVicker, Beavis and Butt-Head. The top symbol is the show's logo which yields 25 times your stake for 5 of a kind. There's also a wild, it substitutes for all symbols bar the scatter and is of the same value as the logo.

Beavis and Butt-Head (Blueprint Gaming): Features

In similar fashion to the previously mentioned Blueprint slots, there's a whole heap of features to benefit from here through the Couch Your Cash feature bundle. In the base game, when the two dumbasses start sniggering, one of the following modifiers may trigger:

• Die Fly, Die! - the guys smack the tv with their flyswatters, turning positions wild.
• Cornholio Wilds - Beavis's schizophrenic alter ego Cornholio appears to give you fully stacked wild reels.
• Colossal Couch Fishing - Butt-Head pulls out his fishing-rod to hook a 3x3 colossal reel which can even land you a giant bonus symbol.
• So Nacho - as Butt-Head tries to open a bag of nachos, it explodes into a mess of nacho mystery symbols on the reels which will reveal matching symbols.
• Butt Flambé - Beavis chugs hot sauce which brings a sudden onset of flaming farts, potentially triggering the bonus. Yes, you heard us right.
• Some Like it Hot - Beavis and Butt-Head both drink the hot sauce, causing them to burp fire onto the reels, awarding you a big winning spin.

There are two additional modifiers which can trigger after any spin. If the Sofa Slugfest triggers, symbols are knocked out from the reels and replaced with new ones to create a win. If the Change the Channel modifier activates, Butt-Head will change the channel to reveal a win.

The game also comes with 6 Bonus Stuff Kicks Ass features which can be accessed via the Couch Your Cash modifiers or by getting 3 or more Hollywood Star bonus scatters anywhere on the reels. You will be presented with 6 filmstrips and asked to pick one to reveal either a bonus feature or a Mystery Win cash prize. Now, the Feature Gamble gives you the option to play or pick again - if you pick again and the Mystery Win comes up, the cash prize is collected and the game transitions back to the main game. If one of the bonus features comes up, however, you can either choose to accept or try your luck yet again. Here's what you can look forward to:

• Don't Be A Buzzkill Bonus - set in coach Bradley Buzzcut's office, you're asked to pick Beavis or Butt-Head to reveal either a cash win or buzzkill. When the buzzkill meter fills up, the feature ends.
• Customers Suck! Bonus - set in Burger World where Beavis and Butt-Head are working as cashiers, you're asked to select food boxes to reveal icons. Each type of fast food will match up to a total bet multiplier. If the upgrade icon comes up, the multiplier is increased or the possible feature that can be triggered during the bonus. Moreover, collecting the Gold Super Burger activates an additional feature. The feature ends if 3 worm burgers have been revealed.
• To 'B' Or Not to 'B' Free Spins - set in Beavis and Butt-Head's front yard, on each spin either the Beavis or the Butt-Head symbol is turned into a wild. You can also collect tokens to win Super Spins (all Beavis and Butt-Head are wild on every spin) or the Just Deserts Bonus.
• Maxi Mart Free Spins - set inside a grocery store, Maxi Gulp drink's land on the reels to give you wilds. The token feature applies here as well. If the Super Spins are triggered, the Maxi Gulp wilds reappear and held in position for all spins.
• The Great Cornholio Free Spins - set inside the school bathroom, each spin will give you at least two fully stacked wild reels. You collect tokens here too, allowing you a chance to retrigger the feature or go straight to the Just Desert Bonus.
• Just Deserts Bonus - set in the desert, you are asked to pick an icon to advance the dynamic duo along the desert trail and collect cash wins. If they land on an Oasis position, a mystery award is won. Making it to the Super Big Money at the end of the desert trail will allow you to pick a Super Big Money multiplier which is then added to your total. 5 bonus scatters are required to trigger this feature unless you activate it through the Feature Gamble or in any of the other bonuses.

Beavis and Butt-Head (Blueprint Gaming): Verdict

Beavis and Butt-Head is a classic piece of 90s youth culture and having grown up following the two teenage protagonists, laughing along to their scuzzy antics, it undoubtedly evokes a huge dose of nostalgia. As such, this is a slot that will instantly strike a chord with Generation X viewers of MTV, kids who revelled in watching their own apathy and stagnation faithfully represented on screen.

As a slot, it's unfortunately not quite all that we were hoping for. Fundamentally, Beavis and Butt-Head is another near-clone of other titles in Blueprint's collection of branded slots, although there are some slight differences when it comes to the distribution of the RTP for example. Moreover, we can't help but feel that the presentation of the duo is a bit hollow and that more could have been done to bring them to life, for example by adding highlights from the actual show or by implementing more references to particular episodes. We also miss out on some of the central characters like Daria and Stewart.

If you enjoyed playing The Goonies, Ted, Mars Attacks! and other similar slots from Blueprint, you likely won't be disappointed with this one. The volatility is high, there are enough features to keep you entertained for weeks to come and the 10,000 max win potential is, of course, appealing too.