Baron Samedi Slot Machine Review

Although this slot would probably be more fitting as a part of the seasonal, pre-Halloween offer, it is never too late for a good scare! Yggdrasil obviously decided to wait for the whole “dead returning to earth” to blow over and just as we were getting ready for Christmas, they sprung this on us! A full blown, Haitian Voodoo inspired slot, featuring the notorious Baron Samedi as the main character.

For those of you unfamiliar with Haitian deities and demons, the Baron is one of the most prominent spirits of Voodoo mythology, commonly depicted as an elegantly dressed male or a skeleton. Baron is also fond of living la dolce vita, often being associated with debauchery, alcohol, and tobacco.

Game Symbols

Baron Samedi and his wife Maman Brigitte (that’s right, he is married although not what one would call a perfect husband), are the highest value icons, closely followed by their own Voodoo dolls replicas. The Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, and the Amethyst are the lower value symbols, each paying 5 coins for a combination of three matching icons.

There is also a set of special symbols that can activate the bonus features; the card with the Baron himself, feature cards that the player collects during the game (Green, Purple, and Red), the Skeleton Wild that can replace all other icons, and the Mystery Bottle Symbol which only lands during the bonus feature.

Gameplay

Baron Samedi slot is played on 5 reels 4 rows and 25 fixed paylines, with the betting range of $0.10 – $125. The bets and the coin size can be adjusted manually, however, the players will be able to press their bets with a single click on the Max Bet button. This will immediately reset the coin value to $5 and maximise the stake to $125 per spin. Auto Play mode is also available and the players can initiate an unlimited number of spins which can be stopped manually, or opt for auto spins sessions of 10 – 1000.

The initial set of cards will be awarded as soon as you launch the game, and they will be immediately stored in the card book. You can only open the card collection in the base game and sort the collected cards according to the strength. Additional cards will be added to your card book while the bonus features are running and as soon as the collection is completed, more bonuses will be unlocked.

Bonus Features

When two Free Spins icons land on the reels, the Voodoo Re-spin will be triggered and 3 Feature Cards will be dealt by the dealer in the upper, left corner. The combination of 3 Free Spins symbols will initiate 7 Free Spins with the 50 coins award, 4 of the same symbols will start 12 Free Spins with 375 coins while the combo of 5 icons starts 15 Free Spins with 25,000 coins.

Every time a player collects a certain number of the cards, an extra feature will be triggered. Depending on the card collection, the players will be awarded additional Mystery symbols, Multipliers, Stacked icons, Random Wilds, Mystery Reels, Wild Reels, etc, The Mystery Symbols will only land when Respins and Free Spins are in progress, converting into a random icon at the end of the spin.

Payouts

Baron Samedi slot comes with 97% RTP on an extended game session and generates a payout of 250,000 coins. As the highest paying icons, the Baron triggers a payout of 125 while Maman Brigette is not far behind, producing 115 coins for a combination of 5. The slot falls somewhere between medium and high volatility with a decent betting range that makes the slot affordable even for those who are not that fond of high stakes.

Verdict

Yggdrasil does not believe in the old “less is more” principle, which is why plenty of their slots are packed with bonuses. This is not the only advantage of the Baron Samedi and the slot is definitely a visual delight. The return to the player percentage is amazing (97%!) and the card-collection feature will just keep the bonuses coming, showering the players with multipliers and extra Wilds. In a way, it is almost like playing two games at once – a regular slot and a card game that activates when the bonus rounds are unlocked. It seems that Yggdrasil has given us yet another sparkling performance.