Platooners

Elk Studios pulls out all the stops in Platooners. This five-by-four slot offers 178 ways to win, prodigious bonuses, and best of all, snake fights.

Theme

The Platooner action stars are hard at work in the studio, and players, not producers, get to reap the benefits. The five reels are situated on a film set, with a jungle behind and light and camera before: players provide the action.

Gaming symbols include dog tags, machetes, first aid kits, binoculars, and the playing card values ace through jack. A glowing snake mask acts as scatter, while wilds substitute for other symbols in order to form winning combinations. A rollicking soundtrack keeps things upbeat.

Betting Options and Functions

As in Hollywood, production values are paramount in slot gaming. Elk Studios has brought excellent work to bear here.

There are 5 fixed paylines, each paying from left to right. Per-spin bet is set simply from 0.20–100.00 times the betting currency. Autoplay is available for up to 100 spins. The settings menu allows players to a just sound options, quickspin, and toggle between coin and currency displays. There’s also a “reality check interval,” which reminds players of how long they have been active and how much they have won or lost during that time. The overall theoretical return to player ratio is above-average at 96.3%.

Elk studios offers a truly innovative approach to betting with its ‘betting strategies’ options. Players can choose to have their bet size vary according to four possible strategies, or play with a traditional flat bet.

Features

Action Spins are randomly triggered during the base game. There are three varieties, each of which lasts for one spin only. Rockets covers reels one and three with identical symbols; Grenades adds wilds to reels three, four, and five; while Bullets generates five-of-a-kind pay lines from one of the symbols on reel one.

A fascinating feature offers players their best chance to win big: the Snakes of Fortune bonus feature. This is showdown with the massive Snake of Fortune. The bonus game starts with 15 rounds of ammunition; every win helps the Platooners in their goal of crushing the snake, in one form or another…

there are bomb attacks, which destroy whole sections of the snake, attack waves from the Platooners, ammunition refills, and coin payouts of all sizes. As players progress, the battle can rise from level one to two to three, with increased difficulty and winnings at each step. Three snake bonus symbols anywhere on the reels trigger the feature with one active platooner per round… four symbols let two platooners attack per round, while five symbols let all three platooners attack each round.

Our Take

The delightful, original, and immaculately-executed Platooners is a five star release from Elk Studios. Players who enjoy this designer should explore DJ Wild, which has a similar structure but wildly different theme.