iGaming aggregator and supplier Relax Gaming is conjuring the luck of the Irish for St.Patrick’s Day in its latest feature-rich slot, Emerald’s Infinity Reels. Relax Gaming Chief Product Officer Simon Hammon spoke to BonusFinder.co.uk about the new title and its theme.
BonusFinder: Do Irish-themed games tend to be launched around St Patrick’s Day, or are they a year-round phenomenon?
Simon Hammon: Games with seasonal themes are commonplace and crop up as we go through the calendar, like Christmas, Easter and indeed St. Patrick’s Day. However, Irish themes, just like Egyptian, hold a special place in many players hearts, especially in the UK – where it has been a staple part of slot culture since the early days of online. For this reason, we’re confident that it can be a year-round favourite.
After all, the traditional association with luck is a major reason behind the Irish theme chosen for slots, so there is much to go at, including Shamrocks, ‘luck of the Irish’, pots of gold and leprechauns. There is also the fact that with St Patrick’s Day being a date celebrated internationally, unlike most other patron saints’ days, it makes the theme even more suited for our industry as it has a wide appeal.
BonusFinder: Emerald’s Infinity Reels uses your Infinity Reels mechanic – what does this add to the playing experience for the end-user? How does it work?
Simon Hammon: Infinity Reels is a mechanic devised by ReelPlay, a third-party studio partner of Relax, who has granted us IP rights. It is an engaging mechanic that offers almost unlimited opportunity: each spin provides a chance for a new reel to be added, with each new reel increasing the multiplier for all wins.
In Emerald’s Infinity Reels, three matching symbols trigger the feature, causing the reels to shift to the left, re-spinning for as long as matching symbols continue to appear. Every time a reel moves out of screen, symbols are collected and applied to the win as multipliers, adding to the player’s pot of gold throughout the game play experience.
BonusFinder: It’s a game described as feature-rich – what features enrich Emerald’s Infinity Reels, exactly?
Simon Hammon: The bonus round brings 12 free spins, during which collected symbols are stored, building up multipliers as they go. Collecting a special x2 multiplier symbol doubles all collections in the bonus round, while three Bonus symbols can re-trigger Free Spins! These features paired with the Infinity Reels mechanic combine to create the engagement that we strive to provide in our games and what we look for in Silver Bullet and Powered By Relax partner games.
