What on Earth
What on Earth is a 5-reel 9-payline combination of science-fiction and pub games; another exciting online slots trip to the distant stars…The sound effects are mostly polite little robotic boops, understated pings and kachungs of computers straight outta the more valium-prone Doug Adamsian artificial intelligence. Ethereal space music wins out over a pompous John Williams score thing. The first bonus round is a slight letdown, sending you into suburbia, but a suburbia above which float five weird aliens and their sporty single-being spaceships.
About the Game
There are 9 paylines over 5 reels on this video slot game, meaning that there is always a good chance that a winning combination will come up trumps for spinners. There are also scatter symbols and wild cards in play, which will undoubtedly keep you on your toes while you explore the cosmic landscape of this slot machine.
When you start the game simply click “Select Lines” to see which lines are in play – there are only 9 available so it won’t get too crowded even if you were to toggle all of them. Then click “Select Coins” to alter the amount of coins that you wish to bet per active pay line. Finally you can toggle the size of the bet by clicking the (-) and (+) buttons.
The total bet amount will appear on the control panel and it will be equal to the number of lines multiplied by the number of coins and the size of the bet. This means that players can bet from as little as 0.01 on a single pay line to a maximum bet of 45.00 over all paylines. Indeed, there certainly is plenty of scope for you to play around until you find the right bet size to suit your playing style.
There is also an option to play in “Expert” mode – if you fancy yourself as a bit of a space cowboy. This mode doesn’t actually make the game any harder per se, but it does give players the option to go into autopilot with up to 500 autoplay spins.
Symbols in the game
Now that you are comfortable with the controls of this online slot machine, you are ready to explore the gambling galaxy. Along the way, you will come across some peculiarly fruity looking cosmic bodies. There is a spectacular cherry comet, a blazing orange sun, a planet-sized plum and a watermelon which is so massive that is has it’s own system of moons. There is also a glowing asteroid, a mission control panel and an alien character – all of which are among the higher valued symbols in the game.
What on Earth features a wild symbol that is depicted by the game’s title over an image of the planet Earth. This wild card works a little bit differently from most other wilds in that it only substitutes for the alien character and the control panel symbol. Nonetheless, this is the most rewarding symbol of the entire slot machine, so it’s always good news to see it appear.
Scatter symbols
Another unique aspect of What on Earth is the fact that it features 3 different scatter symbol; a blue rocket, a green UFO and a red rocket. The first two of these symbols only appear on 3 reels while the red rocket will appear on all 5. To win from a scatter, you simply have to line up at least 3 on adjacent reels – there is no need for them to appear on any active paylines.
Admittedly, these scatter cards don’t actually pay out a great deal. But they do trigger the special “Beam’em Up Bonus” round. This game asks players to choose one of the slot machine’s main alien characters to send down their beams to earth. There are thirteen different characters available to abduct, including a teddy bear, a policeman and a little old lady! Each of these characters represent a different multiplier value, ranging from 3x up to 200x. The multiplier value relating to your abducted character will be applied to the amount won from the qualifying spin.
There is also a destination bonus in which players can choose to travel to New York, London, Cairo and Beijing. When they reach their destination, they have the chance to abduct a special character that is native to that city. So, for example, if you travel to New York then you would want to find the Statue of Liberty. Find the native character and you will be rewarded with a 400x multiplier bonus.