Quackin’ Reels

Quackin' Reels: Slot Overview

Wolverine, Deadpool, Ironman, Black Widow, Captain America, the Marvel universe is chock full of big-name, well-known heroes, heroines, and villains. However, one lesser-known character who cameoed in Guardians of the Galaxy and starred in a self-titled movie in 1986 is the feathered extra-terrestrial Howard the Duck. Howard originated on Duckworld, where anthropomorphic birds wear suits, ties, and live lives like us people. Perhaps the Relax Gaming team were flicking through old copies of 'Adventure into Fear' or watching 80s movies when inspiration struck, and the seeds of Quackin' Reels were sown?

Like Duckworld, players enter a world populated by birds, kicking back, knocking away a few suds, soaking up the rays, enjoying life. It won't take long to deduce Quackin' Reels is some sort of examination of a segment of American life. Clues include The Stars and Stripes wafting in the breeze on top of a house, one character with 'I ? USA' written on his tummy, and an American football lying in the grass in one corner of the screen. There are also loads of guns, bullets, and beers, making up a sort of 'What Europeans think of Americans' scene. It's all done in good humour, presumably.

Quackin' Reels is a simple medium volatile 3x3 arranged slot with 5 paylines to land wins on. The default RTP comes in at 96.1%, and getting amongst the birds is possible by choosing a stake of 10 c to $/€100 per spin. Only 3 OAK winning combinations are possible on Quackin' Reels game grid, which lands 6 different kinds of pay symbols. They are a liquor bottle and cups, a machine gun, a four-wheeler, plus 3 character symbols. Rewards for hitting a winning combination range from 0.8 to 20 times the bet. Token symbols may land as well, displaying values of 1x to 100x the bet. If token symbols land on every position of a payline, the sum of the paylines is awarded to the player.

Quackin' Reels: Slot Features

Quackin' Reels has as its extras a Respins feature and a Multiplier Respins feature layered over the top.

Respins Feature

Landing a stack of 3 of the same symbol on a reel triggers the Respin feature. For the respin, the triggering symbols plus any of the same symbols become sticky and lock in place for the feature. Respins continue as long as more of the same symbol land on the reels. These new symbols also become sticky. When no new applicable symbols land or all positions are filled, the feature ends.

Multiplier Respins Feature

If at the end of a Respins feature, all positions are filled with the same symbol, the Multiplier Respins feature activates. During this feature, multiplier symbols land on the reels. If a new multiplier symbol lands another respin is awarded. Possible values are x1 to x5. At the end of Multiplier Respins, all multipliers are added together and applied to the total win.

Quackin' Reels: Slot Verdict

When you're one of the planet's big kahunas, some might say the big kahuna, others are sure to try and take you down a peg or two. This might explain the vignettes of American life that have appeared in online slots like this one, Quackin' Reels, as well as others such as Land of the Free and The Border, at a push. There's something about all the guns and patriotism, which a lot of Europeans just don't get, making it ripe for parody. On the other side of the coin, there are plenty of things Europeans do that Americans don't get, what with all the smoking, narrow twisty streets, paid public toilets, lack of AC, and 'socialised' health care. It would actually be quite interesting to see an American studio take a humorous jab at Europeans via an online slot. All in the spirit of brotherly and sisterly fun, of course, which is probably how one should try to take Quackin' Reels.

Was Quackin' Reels fun? It was okay, in parts. The ducks in the USA thing is a bit odd, not exactly derogatory as such, but some might take offence at the stereotyping. The gameplay is rather plain for a Relax Gaming slot. There's not a lot to Quackin' Reels, though that is generally to be expected in a 3x3 slot. Individual line values are not monstrous, so hanging out for landed stacks of identical symbols became the principal activity. Even then, managing to get a full screen of the top symbol at 100x the bet isn't machine gun speed pulse racing stuff. Fortunately, full-screen results are rewarded with the Multiplier Respins phase, where a solid collection of multis might lead to a fist pump or two. Obviously, Relax Gaming didn't have flagship release status in mind when making Quackin' Reels, but for a comical 3-reel game with a couple of decent respin add-ons, it might be good for a chuckle.