Wild West Duels: Gold Mine or Fool's Gold?
Title: Wild West Duels
Developer: Pragmatic Play
Reels: 5
Rows: 5
Paylines: 15
RTP: 96%
Max Win: 20,000x
Volatility: High
Min/Max Bet: 0.20/100
Release Date: February 23, 2023
Wild West Duels: Slot Overview
Today we're taking a stroll through the dusty town of Wild West Duels, a slot game created by the reputable Pragmatic Play team. While they're known for their brilliance, creativity seems to be lacking in this game, as it borrows heavily from another Western-themed slot game that we won't name just yet. But, if you're a fan of the genre, you'll likely recognize the similarities and still enjoy the gameplay.
The setting of Wild West Duels is a deserted frontier town, complete with tumbleweeds, cacti, and a twangy soundtrack. While the audio is pretty fantastic, the game falls short of creating a unique atmosphere like the slot game it's imitating. The game features a 5x5 grid with 15 lines intersecting it to create winning combinations. To win, consecutive reels on consecutive lines from the leftmost side must land three or more of a kind.
The game has a variable RTP and can be quite harsh at times, so players should choose their bets wisely. Stakes can range from 20 cents to $100 per spin. The game has ten standard payout symbols, including a wanted poster, necktie, drink bottle, boots, and hat for the lower payouts, and five different character symbols for the higher payouts. Matching five symbols pays out between 1x and 5-20x the bet.
The regular bag of gold wild symbol appears on all reels and can replace any other regular paying symbol. In both the regular game and Duel mode, where two gunslingers engage in combat, wild symbols have the potential to randomly expand to occupy the entire reel. The victorious dueler increases the wild by a multiplier ranging from 2 to 100, but expansions only occur when at least one win will be formed.
Wild West Duels: Slot Features
Let's talk about the special symbols and bonus rounds in Wild West Duels. There are three symbols that trigger the Beer Game, Duel, and Lost Relics bonus rounds.
The Beer Game is triggered by hitting three or more scatters, which awards 10 free spins. During this round, the wild beer mug symbol can receive a random multiplier of x2 or x3, which is held in place until the round ends. If there are multiple wilds, their multiplier values are added and applied to any wins they contribute to. However, this feature is not an expanding wild and cannot be retriggered.
The Duel round is triggered by landing three or more Duel scatters, which awards 10 free spins. Expanding wilds are available during this round, and each free spin will always feature at least one wild symbol. Unfortunately, this round cannot be restarted.
The Lost Relics scatter triggers the Lost Relics bonus round when three or more are landed, which starts with three free spins. Players choose nine of the 25 shovels displayed on the screen to reveal either assured wilds or randomly selected multipliers before the spins start. Wild values are 1, 2, or 3, while multiplier values are x1, x2, or x3. Each spin guarantees that the chosen number of wilds will appear in a random location, and each win is doubled by the initially chosen multiplier. However, this round cannot be retriggered, and there are no expanding wilds.
Players also have the option to buy any of the three bonus rounds, but this option may not be legal in some countries. The cost of purchasing the Beer Game is 100 times the bet, Duel is 200 times the bet, and Lost Relics is 400 times the stake. However, the RTP for each round is the same as playing without a bonus.
Wild West Duels: Slot Verdict
Wild West Duels may not be the most original slot game out there, as it closely resembles Hacksaw's Wanted Dead or Alive. It seems that Pragmatic Play may have rushed through with their version, hoping that people's memories of the previous game would fade over time. However, if you can look past that, Wild West Duels is still an enjoyable Western-themed slot game, though it does have instances of heinous brutality. Its bonus rounds have the potential to bring all of its elements together and create something remarkable, but there is also a risk of them falling flat. While the game lacks the novelty of its rival, it does offer enormous winning potential, with up to 20,000 times the bet to be won.
Considering all of the above, Mr.Chips decided to give Wild West Duels a Chips Stack Rating of 7 chips out of 10. It may not be the most original game, but it's still worth a spin for fans of the genre.
Chips Stack: 7 out of 10 Chips
“May not be the most original, but still packs a punch.“