Blackbeard’s Treasure is a culmination of all the unique bonus schemes, play mechanics and game features AGS has created since it perfected its “Roadrunner” platform.
The primary game math is unique in itself—it’s what Game Design VP Olaf Vancura calls a “WYSIWYG game”—for “What You See Is What You Get.” The reel strips are not weighted, so each symbol on the strips is equally likely to appear. Many of the bonus events are equally weighted as well.
Besides these departures from standard virtual-reel mapping and programming, the game itself is designed to take the familiar pirate theme to levels never before seen in a slot. The prominent features of the top box are a bonus wheel—also equally weighted between the slices—and a display of five progressive jackpots: “Captain,” “First Mate,” “Navigator,” “Deck Swabber” and “Plank Walker.”
The voice of the game’s star, the infamous 18th century buccaneer
Blackbeard (the original “Pirate of the Caribbean”) is omnipresent during game play. The primary game features the AGS trademark “Lock & Bump” feature, which both adds wild symbols and increases the chance at triggering more of the bonus events.
Three scattered map symbols trigger the free-spin round, but the number of spins depends on the number of triggering symbols. When they land, they lock in place and become wild symbols. After any additional win is paid, all the reels “bump” three positions downward (to the backdrop of “boat-creaking” sounds). If at least one bonus trigger bumps to a payline, the whole process starts over again, accumulating up to five triggers for the maximum number of free spins—21.
The mystery features include “Firecracker Reels,” “Sink the Ship” and
the “Mermaid Feature.” In “Sink the Ship,” Blackbeard orders the ship to be fired upon, and cannons pop out of the bottom corners of the screen and blast away at the ships, which remain in place on the reels. Misses turn the symbols wild.
When the mermaid appears on the third reel, it triggers either a “Big Bomb,” “Little Bomb” or the wheel feature. The mermaid splashes back into the water and leaves one of the three features behind.
On the wheel future, all but six of the wheel slices are multipliers of the total bet, up to 100X. Six are Blackbeard. If the spinning wheel stops on one of the six Blackbeard slices, it triggers the “Hyper Wild Super Spin.” The player chooses two from a field of 11 medallions, and new set of red bonus reels appears, with one reel completely wild.
When symbols on any spot of each of the five reels include one of the five letters in the word “BONUS,” it moves to the top of the reels. When the entire word is completed above the reels, the “Jackpot Treasure Bonus” is initiated. The player selects from several hidden
treasures, each relating to one of the progressive jackpots.
Manufacturer: American Gaming Systems
Platform: Roadrunner
Format: Five-reel,27-line video slot
Denomination: .01, .02, .05
Max Bet: 225
Top Award: Progressive; resets—$450, $500, $900, $1,000, $2,250, $2,500
Hit Frequency: 45%
Theoretical Hold: 5%-13%
