Snake Arena Slot Review

Relax Gaming products are no strangers to BTCGOSU. We’ve reviewed quite a few titles from this Malta-based developer. Even though in the past, they have focused mainly on RNG table games and had great success with their Roulette and Blackjack offerings, in recent years, they’ve shifted gears toward slots. Snake Arena came out at the tail end of 2019 (pun intended), and after an immediate spike in player activity, its popularity started to fizzle during the summer of 2020. It surged again in August, before dropping again in September. Relax had high hopes for this game, and despite its popular theme and throwback bonus round, it failed to connect with players.

Theme & Design

If you ask most mobile phone users, what is Snake? They’ll tell you that it is a Nokia mobile game from the late 1990s. The Finish telecommunication company did introduce the concept to a mass audience, but its origins date to 1976 and the arcade title Blockade. Over the years, there have been many knock-offs, and currently, there are over 300 iOS games alone that incorporate this concept. Though, few have the monochromatic charm of the 1997 release of the Nokia 6110 phone.

Snake Arena greets you with a fun animated intro that features a style and character design that is a cross between the DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon film and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions franchise. After you get done with this 30-second clip, which you can skip, the load screen should appear. The game utilizes 3D graphics that have a block design that gives off a Lego-type vibe. The reels spin here within a square castle’s court, which has watchtowers at each corner. Stone tiles make up its floor, with each tile representing a symbol position. Once you enter the Free Spins mode, the floor lights up, and lava runs over parts of it. We were quite fond of the animations and sound effects in Snake Arena. They are quite charming and come in decent doses.

The buttons’ panel is at the bottom of your screen. The spin and auto-spin buttons are in the middle of this bar, while the bet and balance info is on your right. The bet-adjuster, mute, and settings options are on the left. The setup is par the course for Relax, so we are not going to complain.

Specs & Gameplay

Snake Arena plays out on a five-reel, five-row grid. Note that at first, you’ll think that this game features the cluster pays system due to how winning combos get formed. However, that is not so. It has 30 paylines. Thus, the gameplay may take a bit of time before you feel comfortable. It has an RTP of 96.25% and is a high variance online slot with a max exposure of x2,758 your stake. Bet sizes here range from $0.1 to $100, making this game suitable for all bankrolls. Do not expect any substantial wins in the base game, as rarely does anything of note happen there.

There are four low-paying and high-paying symbols. On the low-paying side, we have silver, blue, bronze, and gold coins. Five of a kind from this batch will get you a win that is x2 your stake. The high-paying ones are the beer mug, the piece of ham, the green gem, and the king’s ring. Five matching symbols from this group will provide a prize that will range from x4 to x 20.

The snake and the knight are the game’s Wilds. The first can extend to cover multiple reels, mimicking the original Nokia game. Snake Arena has no Scatter symbol.

Bonus Features

There is a Wild Chase feature that activates at random. In it, the Snake and Knight come into play. If they appear on the same reel, the serpent will eat the knight and turn the entire reel into a stacked Wild. It can happen on all five reels.

You enter the Free Spins bonus round by landing both Wilds on the reels, the snake on reel one, and the knight wherever. Once this happens, the feature becomes active, and an x1,000 meter appears. The knight will land on a different position on every spin, while the snake will move to eat him. As it reaches the knight, via the most direct path possible, its body grows by the distance covered on the reels. The right-side meter grows as well when this happens. The orange serpent’s body is Wild during this mode, and getting it to cover the entire reels from two to five will fill the meter and award you the extra prize of x1,000 your wager.

Players in specific jurisdictions can use the Bonus Buy option (x70 your base bet) and immediately experience this authentic snake mobile game mechanic.

GOSU Verdict

If you are an old Nokia user and are a sucker for nostalgia, then playing this slot is a no-brainer. It is a visual upgrade from the original, and the Free Spins round is quite engaging. That said, the symbol value here is not terrific, and the base game is dull. Things can get tedious, and the novelty wears off quickly. There are other high variance titles out there that feature larger max prizes and offer more consistent entertainment value. Relax Gaming’s Money Train 2 is one better such option.

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