Quest for Beer sounds like the perfect slot machine to play during the weekend, when it’s not such a danger if you succumb to the temptation and you go have a few cold ones. The game, a Microgaming creation, is themed around Viking warriors that are on a quest for beer, which is much better in my opinion than if it was a quest for boring old treasures. The game looks very good, with a Viking theme that feels appropriate for a Medieval beer related story. There are perhaps a few too many playing cards, but that’s an issue that most modern slots have.
The action of Quest for Beer takes place on 5 reels, which host a total of 25 bet lines. The bonus game, the free spins, multipliers, scatters and wilds are all part of the game and they’re entertaining. A $25,000 top payout is advertised.
Features of Quest for Beer
The game has everything you could need, including the wild symbol with its own multiplier, which in this case is capable of triggering free spins, plus a scatter symbol which offers prizes and access to a bonus game.
Quite appropriately, one of the more important symbols of the game shows you a Beer Tankard, with overflowing foam. It’s the wild feature, the only symbol that can be part of other symbol’s combinations. Whenever the wild manages to lend assistance, by acting as a substitute, it also doubles payouts of those combinations thanks to its 2x multiplier. It’s also the one to trigger the free spins, but it has no payouts of its own to give away.
The Beer Wench, showing a young blonde woman with pigtails, will act as the slot’s scatter symbol. You will get paid whenever a minimum of two such symbols are present in the game, even if they’re not arranged on the same payline. The biggest prizes are available when you have all five Beer Wenches present, at which point you get a prize worth 100 times the triggering bet.
Free Games Feature
Unusually enough, though not unheard of, the free spins get their start with the help of the wild Beer Tankard. The wild’s presence is required on the three middle reels of the slot (2, 3 and 4) and they all have to be there at the same time.
In exchange, the game will offer you 10 free spins, with all their prizes doubled. This feature can be triggered once again, as the initial 10 spins are running.
Axe Throwing Bonus Game
Whenever 3+ Beer Wench scatters are on the reels, you will find that the Axe Throwing bonus game starts up. This feature is triggered in addition to the cash prize that the scatter symbol offers for 2+ symbols.
You receive 3 Axes that you have to throw, and you pick for each one a keg as a target. There are a total of 5 kegs, each one with its own prize, so depending on how well you choose you could get a smaller or bigger prize in each case. The Keg, once hit, will start filling up a beer tankard, which is placed underneath. If you get a keg that doesn’t have beer inside, the feature ends earlier, even if you still have axes to throw.
Betting options and jackpots
You can place bets of up to $5 per line, using as many as 20 coins. These coins have a top denomination of $0.25, while the minimum is at $0.01. When all the lines are selected, with the maximum wager in place, you can use up to $125 per spin.
The game promises a top reward of 2,500x when the Viking symbol takes over the entire line, which would mean $12,500 cash. With the wild helping out, the value of the jackpot could go up to $25,000.
Design and symbols
The design of Quest for Beer looks more like the setting of a play, with red velvet curtains on the side which makes it look like it’s a theater stage. The reels do look Medieval though, having a parchment like look to them. The symbols are very good when they’re themed, cartoonish but looking just right for the Viking theme. The symbols without a theme are playing cards with a bit of a rune like look to them, but you see them way too many times on the reels as you play.
Symbols: Beer Tankard (wild), Beer Wench (scatter, 100x triggering wager), Viking (2,500x), Longboat (1,000x), Beer Keg (400x), Helmet (250x), Ace (200x), King (200x), Queen (150x), Jack (150x), 10 (100x) & 9 (100x).
Is It Worth Playing?
If a theme that involves thirsty Vikings, blonde wenches and good beer sounds like a great premise for a slot machine, you’re going to be very happy with this game.
You will find Quest for Beer at any online casino which chooses to use software from Microgaming, playable either for free or for real money.
