The Goonies Hey You Guys

The Goonies Hey You Guys: Slot Overview

One of the cool things about making online slots is teaming up with a popular brand and building a game around it. However, not every branded slot feels like it's a labour of love. Oftentimes they come across quite the opposite as if the brand itself is expected to do all the work of attracting punters in the gate and then entertaining them while they're there. One brand which has translated well to the reels is the cult 80s classic film The Goonies. Developer Blueprint Gaming has wheeled Mikey and the gang out on a couple of occasions now, to good effect, and has chosen to do so again. This time the game is The Goonies Hey You Guys, and it combines movie references with a strong money symbol collection focus.

First things first, if you're unsure what the title means, the 'Hey you guys' part is arguably Sloth's most famous quote from the film. If you don't know who Sloth is, it's worth checking The Goonies film out to catch up. Sure, the movie came out a long time ago, 1985 to be exact, but it's an exhilarating tale of friendship, adventure, and treasure starring a young Sean Astin (Sam Gamgee) as the main hero Mikey. Mikey has made it back into the slot, as have a number of pals in a base game played on the map as if it's sitting on the pirate ship deck, before transitioning to One-Eyed Willy's treasure room when free spins trigger. The Goonies Hey You Guys is neat visually without being anything super special, a bit like the game as a whole, really.

A medium volatile gambling machine, the action occurs on a 5-reel, 3-row reelset fitted with 10 paylines. Winning combinations must include at least three matching symbols and begin from the leftmost side of the grid. Possessing an RTP of 95%, players can pick a bet of 10 p/c to $/€10 per spin when ready to take on One-Eyed Willy and his fiendish booby traps.

On to the paytable where The Goonies Hey You Guys has 8 regular pays - 4 high and 4 low. The low pays are J to A card ranks, awarding 5 to 7.5 times the bet for 5 OAK, whereas the highs are Data, Mouth, Mikey, and a pirate flag. Hitting a 5 premium symbol win awards 10 to 100 times the bet. The infamous coin with holes in it is the game's wild, which can be used to replace any regular paying symbol.

The Goonies Hey You Guys: Slot Features

Hopefully, you like collecting stuff because there is more than one way to do so in The Goonies Hey You Guys, including regular Cash symbols, jackpot-style prizes, and the Slot Collect symbol itself in free spins. Here's how it goes down.

Cash Collect

Cash symbols are active on reels 1 to 4 on every spin. If a Sloth Collect symbol lands on reel 5 when Cash symbols are in view, the Sloth symbol expands to cover all positions on its reel and collects the Cash symbol values.

When starting a session, the regular Sloth Collect symbol is active. Once the Sloth Collect symbol has collected Cash symbols, the Respin Sloth symbol is activated. When the Respin Sloth symbol has collected Cash symbols, then the Boost symbol is activated, then when this one collects Cash symbols, then the Super Collect Sloth symbol is activated. Once all 4 Sloth symbols are activated, they are unlocked from then on in the base game and in free spins.

• Respin Sloth – collects any Cash symbols in view, then locks in place while reels 1-4 respin for another chance to collect Cash symbols.
• Boost Sloth – collects any Cash symbols in view as well as awarding a cash boost to the final collected amount.
• Super Collect – collects the values of any Cash symbols in view up to 10 times.

Cash symbols display cash values or jackpots. The jackpots are the Mini, Minor, Major, or Mega worth 10x, 25x, 100x, or 2,000x the bet, respectively.

Sloth Free Spins

Landing 3 scatter symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4 awards 10 free spins. Free spins use the same Cash Collect feature as in the base game. In addition, when Sloth symbols hit, they are collected on a meter. Collecting 3, 6, 9, or 12 Sloth symbols awards an x2, x3, x5, and x10 multiplier, plus 5 free spins at each collection point. Multipliers apply to the Cash symbols that Sloth collects.

Random Modifiers

Lastly, on any spin, Sloth may randomly trigger a modifier such as adding wild symbols to the gaming grid as well as launching the Hidden Treasure.

The Goonies Hey You Guys: Slot Verdict

Previous releases, The Goonies, and The Goonies Return had a well-deserved reputation for being major feature fests, blasting loads of modifiers while possessing a stack of different bonus rounds. The Goonies Hey You Guys doesn't have quite so much, and a lot of what is here we saw before in D10S Maradona. To be fair, The Goonies Hey You Guys isn't a straight port; Blueprint Gaming has twiddled with the features, so they function a bit differently than before. But, the core of the two games remains the same - hit collect symbols in conjunction with money symbols, scoop cash.

Some players may find one or two of the twiddles a bit peculiar, though. For starters, this time, you don't get all 4 collector types upfront. Instead, players have to work to activate them one by one. To put a positive spin on this mechanical move, doing so gives the game an adventure with The Goonies feel, kind of. It might help put players in the mood of the movie, helped by some imagination, solving riddles, dodging booby traps, and all that. On a less positive angle, why hold back? Why not just give us all four Sloths from the start like D10S Maradona did? Ah, well, variety is the spice of life and all, and once dedicated players have activated all Sloth symbols, they're available from then onwards.

One thing The Goonies Hey You Guys has that its predecessor did not is its 4 jackpot style prizes, which are probably a more straightforward way of winning loot than the final D10S Spin in D01S Maradona's bonus round was. If you can get them. It's got multipliers, too, and we can probably thank a Big Bass Bonanza influence for those. So, is it better or worse? Hmm, how about just different? Realistic max win is a tad tricky to calculate, but the game info mentions the standard 250,000 units of currency or 50,000x the bet, whichever comes first, limit Blueprint Gaming slots often note.

It might be hard to believe, but at the time of writing, The Goonies was pushing 38 years old. Perhaps even harder to believe is no one has made a sequel or done a remake of the classic film - yet. This is probably a good thing because though The Goonies Hey You Guys delivered some fun Goonie-filled times, it also goes to show that repeatedly prodding the same thing with a stick can end up producing diminishing returns.