The Fruit Machine

Exploring games during my last visit to Ladbrokes casino, I found a game marked with an “exclusive” sign called “The Fruit Machine” slot. This game has been developed by the company “Realistic Games” to Ladbrokes with this name, however, it should be noted that other casinos also have this same game in its portfolio but with a different name, which is “The Fruit Factory,” not so exclusive as we can see.

One of the most interesting aspects of this video slot is that the base game can be played in one of two modes as chosen by the player, Standard Game and Super Game; both modes are played in a slot of 5 x 3 reels provided with 20 paylines, but essential differences are in rules governing each mode.

In the standard game, they appear wild symbols and everything goes just as in most slots that we are used to playing; in addition, they also appear “Reel Runner” scatters, which are responsible for triggering the bonus round of this video slot, for which you must get 3 or more of these symbols simultaneously during a single spin.

As for the Super Game, it is basically the same standard game with some differences such as:

- For each spin, you must pay double the value you pay for it in standard mode.
- You don’t pay per spin but per 5-spins packs.
- The special symbol “Reel Runner” acts as wild and scatter at the same time, and additionally, these symbols are frozen in place until the end of 5-spins pack, thus increasing the likelihood of access to the bonus round of this game and possibly also of formation of normal lines.
- Unfortunately, your maximum win for that 5 combined spins is limited to 2500x your bet per line, and although the information section says that this value is 25x your total bet, the reality is that it is only 12.5x your total bet since you pay two times the value per spin; very stingy feature.

Personally, during my first 200 spins in this game, my luck was great, my hit average during the base game was pretty good and additionally, I accessed quite easily to the bonus round. By the way, this bonus round is a grid of 3 x 3 in which it primarily appears the fruit selected randomly on a wheel of fortune before starting the round, also they appear blank and pot of gold symbols and this latter may give us the jackpot in case of forming a line of 3 of a kind inside this bonus round.

Now back to my experience with this game, after having increased my balance in about $35, my luck seemed to turn 180 degrees as slumps during the base game, they began to be increasingly longer, and scatters began to dwindle dramatically, and besides, in these few rounds that now I hardly accessed, they were giving me winnings under 3x my total bet; a total disaster.

Before deciding to leave this game, I decided to try first the “Super Game” mode, only to realize that this was a sand trap worse than the standard game, I just don’t know why “Realistic Games” bothered to design this unfair feature.

In short, “The Fruit Machine,” also called “The Fruit Factory,” is a video slot that has just left me a bad taste by allowing me a good start to finally ambush me.