Coba

Coba: Slot Overview

Coba is a Central American themed cluster paying slot from software developer ELK Studios that is heavy on snake and jungle motifs. Yeah, 'another day, another one of these slots', we can practically hear jaded readers in the audience sigh, yet bear with us for a moment. ELK might have used some of the more common subject matter to dress Coba, but they've also put their thinking caps on to come up with a batch of innovative features to deliver a unique experience. If you're ready to swat mosquitoes, wipe the sweat from your brow, or do whatever else happens when trekking through thick foliage, let's take a little look.

Looks are a good place to start because Coba is a striking game both visually and audibly. It's located in a jungle, where a pyramid sits in the background, with statues, trees, and creepers in the foreground. Coba is the name of an actual Mayan city located in the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatán Peninsula, and ELK has made a stylish representation of it. The sound fits the action like a charm, too, alternating between the sort of drum beat rhythms you expect in a Mayan game before blowing its stack like a possessed synthesizer during big win count ups. If one was to proverbially judge a book by its cover, they'd have high expectations over what Coba would deliver next.

On the nuts 'n bolts side of things, Coba is played on a 7x7 game grid which pays when five or more matching symbols are connecting. Wining clusters are removed by the Avalanche feature, and symbols fall down to fill the gaps. If this creates another cluster, the process repeats. Win frequency has been recorded as 38.9%, while the overall RTP comes in at 95%. Medium/high volatile, Coba can be played on all devices and takes bets of 20 p/c to $/€100 per paid drop.

As to payouts, the lower value symbols consist of green, blue, and brown tokens, worth 0.1-0.15x the bet for five of a kind, rising to 4-10x the bet for a 15+ sized cluster. Next are green gems, blue gems, red gems, and golden skulls, paying 0.3-1x the bet for five or 15-500x the stake for a 15+ sized grouping.

Coba: Slot Features

This is where the snakes come in. When winning clusters hit, they are collected in the Snake Meter, which has 4 levels. When wins end and players have achieved level 1, 2, 3, or 4, then 1, 2, 3 or 6 snakes are unleashed on the game grid.

Snakes

A snake is like a walking cluster that slithers along the grid before a win evaluation. Snakes are at least 5 symbols long and can create a winning cluster of their own or become part of a bigger winning cluster. Snakes take on a particular symbol type. When they eat symbols on the reels of the same type, they grow and can create larger winning clusters. When a snake does not eat the same symbol type, it dies and is removed after the win evaluation. Snakes also die if they cross their own body – like the mobile game Snake.

Multiplier Wilds

Should 2 snakes move across each other's bodies, where they cross, becomes an x2 multiplier wild symbol. Any other snake crossing a multiplier wild doubles its multiplier value. When more than one multiplier wild is used in a cluster, their values are multiplied by each other.

X-iter

The X-iter feature buy menu lets users play Coba in five different modes:

• Pray to Quetzalcoatl – costs 2x the bet and releases 3 snakes when reaching Level 1 and Level 2 on the Snake Meter.
• Viper Active – 10x the bet to start at Level 1 with 1 snake active.
• Boa Constrictor – 25x the bet to start at Level 1 with longer snakes.
• Quetzalcoatl – 100x the bet to start at Level 1. Level 1 and Level 2 release 3 snakes.
• Coba! – 500x to start at Level 4 with 6 snakes released.

Coba: Slot Verdict

In the realm of online slots, some themes repeatedly reappear, with almost clockwork regularity. One such topic is the ancient cultures of Central America. Developers seem to love this stuff, and so presumably do a lot of players, which is why studios keep coming back to it. Sometimes this can result in overkill. At other times, well, we have no problems with studios reusing the same theme if it leads to games like Coba. ELK has made the most of the Mayan theme to produce a game that is a standout in just about all regards. It looks and sounds like a million bucks; plus, if the topic isn't original, the gameplay sure is. If there is one thing ELK excels at, it's creating deep game worlds, and Coba is a slot drenched in jungle sweat that wraps its vines around you, and then proceeds to pull you in.

Coba is another example of ELK pushing in new directions, in a way building on the gravity- mechanic found in games like Bompers, Cygnus, or Io. Some of the bold experimentalism shown in Night Trax is present here, too, though Coba isn't quite as boundary-pushing. Then there are the snakes, and there cant be many times in life when you actually want more reptiles in your zone than less. The effect is a little like Snake Arena, but instead of making wilds, snakes are tasked with creating cluster wins or multiplier wilds - while they live. When they do cross and create useful multiplier wilds, it just gets better. Even without a strictly separate bonus round, Coba is one of ELK's highest paying slots, tipping the scales at 25,000x the bet. Whatever manages to generate those sorts of numbers in Coba would be frighteningly good to witness.

Even when Coba isn't pushed to full capacity, it's still a sight to behold. It wouldn't hurt if the RTP was higher, yet the setup is great, the execution top class, and there's something new here to get a handle on. Central America might be a common slot locale, but Coba expertly uses it to take players into new territory.