IGT has used the blockbuster 1980s trilogy of Back to the Future films starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd as the basis for a feature-rich video slot series drawing on all three installments of the film series, about a teenager and his scientist friend who invents a time machine—traveling back to 1955, ahead to a very futuristic vision of 2015, and back the Old West.
In a talent coup for IGT, stars Fox (“Marty”), Lloyd (“Dr. Emmitt Brown”), and Thomas F. Wilson (“Biff”) all revised their roles in voice-overs for various bonus rounds of the slot machine. Features such as mystery wilds, picking bonuses and free spins all switch among the three time-travel destinations in the films. This version of the slot series, called “Marty’s Game,” is the first of three installments based on the three main characters of the films. (“Biff’s Game” is next, according to the company.)
The bonus events recreate images and action sequences that will satisfy all fans of the three films. In a free-games bonus called “Time Flies,” the player spins the dial of the familiar Hill Valley clock tower from the films to award a multiplier for five free spins, with the possibility of re-triggers.
In the “Wild West Train Bonus,” players select familiar icons from the film to find “fuel logs” to speed up the locomotive which, in the film, got the time machine up to the required speed to activate the “time circuits.” Every fuel log causes a dial in the corner of the screen to move up in multiplier levels, through green, yellow and red zones—it is, of course, a replica of the gauge scientist Emmitt Brown used to mark the changes in speed of the locomotive.
In “Time Circuit Scramble,” the time circuit from the DeLorean that was the film’s time machine appears, and players enter a date. Matching the numbers of the date that subsequently appears on the machine results in a higher bonus.
Other reminders of the films appear in mystery events including the interactive “Marty’s Feature Wheel,” and in the music, which features the Huey Lewis and the News song “The Power of Love.”
Manufacturer: International Game Technology
Platform: AVP
Format: Five-reel, 30-line video slot
Denomination: Operator-selectable
Max Bet: 300
Top Award: 30,000
Hit Frequency: Approximately 39%
Theoretical Hold: 6.5%—14.1%
