Fugly Pets

Fugly Pets: Slot Overview

Aside from actual human relations, there are few things like the bond between people and their pets. Shoot, some might say the bond is just as strong, if not stronger than it is with humans. In some ways, inviting an animal into the house and sharing life with it is kind of odd when you think about it. In other ways, an animal's love can feel so unwavering, so loyally given, so pure… okay, sorry, let's stop there before we get all choked up. The point is, here is Fugly Pets from Stakelogic, an online slot that not only shines a spotlight on pets but on the 'fugly' ones, which can, in some ways, be even more loveable.

We can't be calling Fugly Pets a fugly game, however, despite Stakelogic giving everything a shabby, oozing appearance. It's hard to tell quite what's going on in the background; in the base game, there are plants about the place, unidentified electronics, and miscellaneous items sprinkled about as clues. But, not sure. A shop, a ramshackle house? Maybe this is one of those the player chooses the scenario that fits them best times. On the plus side, the graphical quality is quite high.

A bar displaying the 5 high pay animal symbols sits next to Fugly Pets' 5x5 gaming grid. This is used in conjunction with the symbol multiplier feature detailed below in the following section. A 3,125 ways to win system is used, which creates winning combinations when matching symbols hit on adjacent reels from the left side onwards. Winning symbols get removed by the cascading wins mechanic, dropping symbols into the gaps and repeating this process till no new win appears. This all contributes to an RTP of 96% by default and a math model that is medium-high volatile. For stakes, the options are quite limited but range from 10 c to $/€50 per spin.

On the paytable, Fugly Pets lists 5 high-pay pet symbols and 5 Ten Ace low-pay card royals. Hitting a 5 OAK premium combination pays 1.2 to 5 times the bet, dropping to 0.4 to 0.8 times the bet for getting 5 identical royals. Scraggly teddy bear wilds appear on all but the leftmost reel to help complete winning ways by substituting for any regular pay symbol.

Fugly Pets: Slot Features

Each of Fugly Pets' animal characters is linked to a symbol multiplier which is active in the base game and in free spins, though it is persistent in the bonus round. These features are joined by Roadkill symbols, Super symbols, and bonus buys.

Special Symbols

• Roadkill symbol - The Roadkill symbol only appears on the rightmost reel. It remains inactive until win processing has finished and no more cascades are possible. Then, it moves to the left and removes paying symbols from its path. Each symbol turns wild, is destroyed, or remains unchanged. Any destroyed symbols trigger a cascade, providing another chance to win.
• Super symbol - Super symbols may land on all reels. They are 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4 sized large symbols. Super symbols remove symbols below them and drop down to the bottom of the grid. Empty spaces above them are filled with new symbols. Super symbols pay as if they were separate 1x1 symbols.
• Symbol multiplier - Each of the 5 high pay symbols is linked to a symbol multiplier, which starts at x1. When a high-paying symbol creates a winning combination, the multiplier for the associated symbol increases before the cascade. Any win following the cascade involving this high pay symbol has the win multiplier applied. Multipliers reset to x1 for the next spin in the base game or before free spins awarding.

Free Spins Bonus Game

Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols awards 10, 12, or 15 free spins, respectively. What changes in free spins is the symbol multipliers do not reset for the entire bonus game. It is possible to win more free spins within the round.

Feature Buy

The free spins round can be bought from the feature buy. The options are 8, 12, 15, or a random number of the three possible amounts of free spins for 100x, 125x, 165x or 130x the bet, respectively.

Fugly Pets: Slot Verdict

Darn these cutie pie pets; they make grumpily critiquing a game that much harder to do. Not that Fugly Pets warrants grumpy critiquing. It's a charismatic slot which matches its charming critters with a solid set of features, making it hard not to like. The features are held back in the base game in some ways since symbol multipliers reset between spins, but the free spins round is where they can open up, and a nice mechanic it is. What helps is that the high pay symbols create winning combinations of just 2 OAK or greater. So, while a 2-of-a-kind hit ain't worth a ton of dough, it does increment the associated multiplier, which might, just might, come in handy later on in the round.

Using ways rather than paylines is appreciated, too, and there was a wistful thought that Fugly Pets' symbol multipliers system would work well in a scatter paying slot. Oh, wait, it kind of did in Tiki Tiki Hold 'n' Win. Anyway, the extras are able to function just fine as they are in Fugly Pets, however, and are good for potential payouts of up to 5,000 times the stake. This being the win cap Stakelogic has jammed on there. Get on a good roll of high-pay winning combinations in the free spins round, and who knows, they might link with sizably accrued multipliers, if you're lucky.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say, but there is something endearing about so-called 'ugly' pets that can arouse warm, sympathetic affections. The same goes for Fugly Pets. It might not be the online slot equivalent of a Crufts champion, yet it's not without its charm.