Homegrown

Magnet Gaming has really hit the nail on the head with this one. Pastoral, peaceful, tranquil and adorable are the adjectives this reviewer would choose to describe this video slot, one of the most delightful one's he has played yet. Featuring a rarely used 3x3 grid and an unconventional theme, Homegrown's strengths lie in its originality, richness of the gameplay and numerous extra features. Step inside Annie's garden, where all is blooming and all is bright!

Theme

Spring is in full swing at the time I am writing this and the time could not be more fitting for experiencing a game such as Homegrown. Tired of pop-culture cliches and recurring theme, often violent and bloodthirsty, feasting on greenery and this ode to gardening was a sight for sore eyes. Annie is a simple and joyous red-headed girl who is tending to her big garden full of vegetables, fruit and an occasional hen wandering about. The scenery in which this game is set is drop dead gorgeous – wonderfully drawn lawn with flowers, a little with trees in the background and a small garden shed in bright blue paint, along with smiling Annie standing to the left of reels which is really a small parcel of land from which various symbols grow, some juicy, some fragrant, some tasty, some all of that. We have a sunflower symbol, a tomato, a cauliflower, lettuce, pumpkin, chamomile, and a gorgeous purple flower whose name is escaping me right now (sorry, botanical purists!). The reel/land parcel only has 9 fields and 8 paylines in total. Aside from the already mentioned symbols, there are a few special ones that, if landed in enough quantities and in all the right places, will trigger mini games: Snail Hunt, Flower Game, Pick Apples and Game Flash. Seriously, this game's beauty must be one of the most undisputed facts this world currently has in stock, and to add to the overall feeling of pleasantness you get from laying back in your garden chair after a hard day of digging land and roots, there's the beautiful music featuring acoustic strings and a healthy dose of piano.

Betting Options and Functions

The entire visual appeal of the game has been given a careful treatment so that not even the player's dashboard feels out of place – it looks as organic and 100% natural as the fruits of Annie's labor of love. Upper parts of the screen signal the current amount of jackpot and supper jackpot to be won, and right down below, in left to right, you'll see the remaining balance, a home icon that opens up a Game Guide screen, the Auto Spin button that just switches on and off and can go for as long as you want it, the Spin button, Max Bet button, the cog icon that lets you set your bet level from 1 to 10 and finally the credit value, which depends on the bet level you've set. Clicking on the blue garden house will open up the Paytable screen, with 8 payline diagrams depicted as well as each and every symbol's value.

Features

Flower Game - This mini-game is triggered once you land three Flower Game symbols. During this, a little notebook will appear to the right of the reels and there you need to collect seven of a kind flowers that are randomly selected before the round begins. You collect them by spinning reels and should they land on the reel, they will be added to the notebook – the more you collect, the bigger the final prize!

Snail Hunt – Snail Hunt is triggered by landing three corresponding symbols on reels. The screen changes to a kind of a labyrinth and you take the role of – Annie's pet hen! There are also some cute-looking snails in the labyrinth that you should try and catch and you do that by choosing which direction you'll take, but not until the dice on the right has finished rolling. When it stops, you need to make 1-6 chicken steps in any of the possible directions and try to land on a bunch of flowers or a snail (who is also moving with every turn) that chicken will eat and earn points. Finishing off a snail also earns you a couple of more dice rolls! Eating a few in a row triggers an extra-extra game (!) - a Jackpot Flash, where the hen is randomly picking something from a ground – one of those things could be a jackpot.

Pick Apples – This one is fairly simple. You are transported under a big apple tree and you need to pick ten of them, hoping that you'll pick at least one carrying a jackpot flash prize – that's the reddest one! Slightly less red is worth 150 points, green one 75, and the one with the worm in it (ew) grants you two extra picks.

Game Flash – Game Flash is kind of the combination of all of the above, in a way that you're transported into the little blue garden shed and one of the mini-games will be randomly selected for you. Either that or a big cash prize.

Our Take

Needless to say, Homegrown is not your everyday video slot. It even lacks (for the better, it has to be said!) that unavoidable feature that has become a staple of any slot anywhere – extra spins! Instead, get: a) a gorgeous theme and visual execution b) pretty hefty potential wins c) fun and distinctive mini-games. Game's RTP stands at 96.5% and it works just as well on any mobile device as it does on desktop computers. It's time to flourish with nature's beauty in Homegrown – don't miss out on this game!