Jack and the Beanstalk
- Jack and the Beanstalk Slot
- Overall Score: 4.3/5
- Graphics:
- Sounds:
- Engagement:
- Overall rating:
The tale of Jack and the Beanstalk hasn’t really aged well at all, has it? I was first exposed to it through the always wonderful Disney adaptation where Mickey Mouse and his friends are suffering from horrible famine to the point where Donald tries to eat a live cow and has to be subdued by Mickey and Goofy, after which he bursts into tears out of sheer despair. You know, for kids! In that version, the characters buy some magic beans which transport their house to the skies through a large beanstalk, placing them in the castle of a rich giant who is also kinda sorta evil. Considering these circumstances, their subsequent actions (robbing the giant and eventually killing him – you know, for kids!) are a bit more understandable. But in the original fairy tale Jack doesn’t rob and murder the giant because he’s starving and the giant is evil – no, he’s doing it because he’s kind of a dick. I’ve never seen an adaptation of the story where Jack is rightly portrayed as the bad guy… Until now.
Basic Features
On the surface, “Jack and the Beanstalk” is a pretty regular slot – 20 paylines, no bonus games, average winnings, nothing to really catch anyone’s eye. And in a way you’d be right, but doing that would be missing the point. This slot wasn’t designed to be revolutionary, with a ton of bonus games and huge jackpot. Instead, it was meant to be just a pretty slot with beautiful animation that you can play for fun, both on your computer and mobile device. Everything about “Jack and the Beanstalk” has been designed to be fun – from the aforementioned mobile version to the relatively low bet value.
| Jack and the Beanstalk Slot | ||||||
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Software: | NetEnt | Double option: | No | ||
| RTP: | 96.30% | Mobile version: | Yes | |||
| Progressive: | No | Coin value: | £0.01-£0.50 | |||
| Autoplay: | Yes | Bet value: | £0.20 – £100 | |||
| Quick spin: | Yes | Max. bet: | £100.00 | |||
| Reels: | 5 | Free spins: | Yes | |||
| Paylines: | 20 | Bonus round: | No | |||
A gigantic shout-out has to go to the graphics and presentation of “Jack and the Beanstalk”. The slot opens with a short CGI animated intro of Jack being a rascal and stealing the golden hen from the Giant. It is beautiful – maybe not “Pixar” beautiful, but I’d definitely watch it if it was a full-length movie! The animation is fast-paced and whimsical in the way that only cartoons can achieve, and I love it! The visuals of the slot follow the same trend – much like in NetEnt’s Gonzo’s Quest, the animated Jack appears on the screen pretty often to express his joy whenever the golden hen lays a big winning. The symbols and backgrounds are all equally colourful and pretty, and whenever you activate the bonus round you get treated to another hilarious animation in which Jack gets dragged by the beanstalk. Overall, this could very well be the best-looking slot I’ve ever played.
Paytable
But visuals don’t a good slot make, so let’s examine the paytable and see exactly what winnings await us if we play “Jack and the Beanstalk”! For the most part, the individual winnings tend to be rather average-to-low, which is understandable considering the fact that the slot was not designed to really bring gigantic winnings, like Mega Moolah is. Still, I can’t help but be a little disappointed when the lowest you can possibly win is 3 times your bet, which – for a 20-payline slot – is basically nothing. For the symbols with letters, the highest you can get is 100 times your bet, which, again, is more or less on the lower end, but it’s definitely not the lowest I’ve ever seen. Overall, the highest you can get is 1000 times your bet.
An interesting feature that’s definitely worth a mention is the Treasure symbol. You remember that Jack managed to steal two treasures from the Giant – the harp that plays itself and the golden hen (as well as some cash, according to this version of the story). To unlock them, you need to collect keys that will occasionally pop on the 5th reel. Once you get a certain amount of keys (3 for money, 6 for the hen and 9 for the harp), you’ll get their respective treasure as a Wild symbol that will appear somewhere on the reels, and it’ll always be either a stacked Wild or an expanding Wild. It’s a pretty cool feature that rewards longer play sessions!
Bonus Rounds/Free Spins
Definitely one of the most unique features of this slot is the so-called Walking Wild. Unlike in other games, where you can get 2-3 or more Wilds at once (and often doing so nets you rewards), here you can only have one Wild symbol at a time… But trust me, that’s all you need! Because once a Wild shows up, you get some free spins! You see, when you get that symbol, the rolls will spin again automatically, and you get to keep whatever you win. After that, the Wild will move a reel to the left and you get another spin, until it completely leaves the stage, in which case you’ll get one last free spin before the game goes back to normal. It’s brilliant, and I love it!
But besides that, there’s also a completely ordinary Free Spins round which is activated by getting three Scatter symbols, represented by a chest with purple gems inside. There really isn’t much to say about it because it’s rather standard – once you get the Scatters you automatically go into free spins, and getting 3 more Scatters during the bonus round earns you 5 more spins. So there’s no multipliers, no bonus rounds, no games, it’s about as basic as it gets. Which, honestly, isn’t that bad – I’d say that I commend NetEnt for keeping it nice and simple instead of trying to shove in some terrible and uninspired bonus games just because it’s expected of them. While I would’ve certainly liked to see a bonus round of some sorts (maybe involving Jack climbing the Beanstalk and collecting rewards along the way? Call me, NetEnt!), I’m not too bothered by their absence.
Experience of Playing the Slot and Other Recommended Games
While it’s definitely not the greatest slot ever made, “Jack and the Beanstalk” is one that is worth at least your curiosity. Its visuals are pretty and colourful in ways that few other slots’ are, and while the bonus features that make it unique are tiny and not all that glorious, they’re still rather well executed and well-crafted, and they add some much needed variety which, in a world filled with nearly identical slots, is a breath of fresh air. I’d say give it a few spins, see if it’s your thing, and if you find out that it is, then awesome! If you find out that it’s a bit too simplistic for your taste, though, there are other NetEnt slots you could try out. A great example is Gonzo’s Quest, which is similarly animated – with an intro and a cartoon character who hangs around and occasionally reacts to what’s happening. You also can’t go wrong with South Park, which is based on the show by the same name. It’s got awesome bonus games and fantastic bonus features, for those of you who are looking for that sort of thing!