EN
10 October 2024 
Dam Beavers Slot Review
Dam Beavers from ELK Studios introduces us to a new set of characters, and may we say, they’re rather suave indeed. When you think of a beaver’s dam you probably think of sticks and earthly debris strewn across a river, but forget what you think you know, because ELK know better. The Dam Beavers have built themselves a lavish resort fit for the highest echelons of society, and they plan to make the most of it by partying until they drop.
Join them in the Bever Night Fever and boogie all night in a slot with some striking similarities to their critically acclaimed Pirots series. ELK are a creative bunch, and while the similarities are obvious, the differences are very noticeable, culminating in a game that feels very unique.
Dam Beavers Base Game and Features
Dam Beavers is a 5×5 Video Slot that expands to a 6×6, 7×7, and 8×8 grid size during gameplay. Winning combinations are formed when a cluster of the same coloured symbols land adjacent to the matching Beaver symbol on the grid.
The minimum bet available here is £.€0.20 per spin and the maximum bet available is £.€100 per spin, with plenty of other options in between the two. This game has a theoretical RTP of 94.00% and a max win cap of 10,000x.
There are 4 Beaver symbols (Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green) that move around the grid (left, right, up, and down), collecting Fruit symbols of the same colour. Under each symbol are Floorboards that get destroyed when a Beaver moves over them. Special Feature symbols can be revealed underneath these floorboards.
Feature Meter
Sat atop the grid is a special Feature Meter, similar to that seen in Pirots. This meter keeps track of all collected Fruit and Wild symbols. It will continue to count collected Fruit symbols until the Beavers are unable to collect anymore.
In addition to this, there are 3 Feature Reward Cards next to the meter. One card is always face-up, and an additional Card is revealed each time the Feature Meter is filled. Each Card will reveal one of the following rewards.
- Wild Scatter – Replaces a number of symbols in view with Wilds.
- Refresh Symbols – Replaces all symbols currently on the grid.
- Symbol Swap – Two random symbol types will swap positions, for example, all red symbols will become green symbols, and all green symbols will become red.
A pending feature release is activated when the game cannot progress further on the grid. Once released, its Card is consumed and turned face down. This feature card can represent any of the 3 feature Rewards mentioned above when it is turned back over.
Feature Symbols
A feature reward will be pending when the feature meter reaches max capacity, starting a new collection toward triggering another Feature Reward. Up to 3 Feature Rewards can be pending at any one time, one for each Reward Card.
A feature symbol can only be activated on the grid when a Beaver symbol collects it. There are a total of 8 Feature symbols available during this time, with 5 of them appearing on the grid and the remaining 3 hidden beneath the floorboards.
- Firework – Upgrades the Beaver symbols’ collectible paying symbol to the next Level. Symbols can upgrade one payout level at a time, up to a maximum level of 8. All other paying symbols can be upgraded in the same manner.
- TNT – Triggers a series of underground explosions, causing the floorboards to be removed.
- Blender – Triggers an Instant Boost of the feature meter, filling it to maximum capacity.
- Wild – Substitutes for all Fruit symbols at their respective payout level.
- Coins – Coins are giant symbols that appear beneath the floorboards. Coins are collected when fully in view. Coin symbols may occasionally overlap other Coins, but the top Coin symbol is always awarded first. Collected coins will pay their total value times your current bet. Unearthing the Max Win coin will top up your total win to 10,000x.
- Passages – Revealing a passage will allow the Beaver symbol to move under the grid and into a new position elsewhere on the grid. Beavers can also use passages as a way to swap positions with another beaver.
- Breaking Points – These are 2×2-sized hidden points under the floorboards. Revealing the full Breaking Point will progress you to the next Floor Level. Each floor is equipped with a breaking point, except Floor 4.
All symbols are upgraded by one level when a Breaking Point is revealed. When floor 4 is reached, the corner tiles and those adjacent will have no Floorboards. The Max Win Coin is hidden below the floorboards, and revealing it entirely will award the max win cap of 10,000x.
Beaver Night Fever
After the removal of all floorboards from a level, a Mini Bonus game called Beaver Night Fever will be awarded. Once active, all paying symbols will drop out and new symbols will drop in. These new symbols will be upgraded as follows.
- Floor 1 – Upgrades all symbols to payout Level 5.
- Floor 2 – Upgrades all symbols to payout Level 6.
- Floor 3 – Upgrades all symbols to payout Level 7.
Beaver Night Fever cannot be awarded once you reach Floor 4 as the Max Win Coin is present. All upgraded symbols will reset at the end of the Beaver Night Fever Mini Bonus.
Dam Beavers Free Spins
The Free Spins round is triggered when 3 Pie Scatters are collected by Beavers during the base game, awarding 5 Free Spins. The Free Spins round will begin on the current active Floor Level.
During Free Spins, the floor level, feature meter progress, payout level for all symbols, and the collection of Scatters are all persistent during this time. Beavers are still able to move to new positions in between each Free Spin.
Collecting 3 Pie Scatters by the Beavers during this time will award an additional +5 Free Spins, where there is no limit to the number of retriggers.
Dam Beavers X-iter
Those outside the UK will benefit from ELK Studios’ X-iter Feature. It’s here you will have access to 5 Bonus Buy options as follows.
- Bonus Hunt – Awards 1 drop with 1 Pie Scatter already stored, with 4 times the chance of triggering the Free Spins round for 3x your bet.
- Eager Beaver – Awards 1 drop starting on Floor 2 for 10x your bet.
- Dambuster – Awards 1 drop starting Floor 3 for 25x your bet.
- Bonus – Triggers the Free Spins round for 100x your bet.
- Super Bonus – Triggers the Super Free Spins round, where you will start on Floor 3 with all symbols upgraded to Level 3 for 500x your bet.
Dam Beavers: Our Verdict
When we first looked at Dam Beavers, we were hoping that it wasn’t too much like Pirots. ELK aren’t generally ones for straight reskins, but we were still cautiously optimistic. We were needlessly worried because Dam Beavers stands apart from Pirots in a very significant way. Wild, Refresh and Symbol Swap Features put you on the edge of your seat, as does the actual Feature Symbols, of which there are many.
In many ways, we feel like ELK took the blueprints or at least the foundations from Pirots, and built up into something even better. There’s always a sense of anticipation, and we’re quite fond of the lost relic-esque coin symbols behind spaces on the grid. Removing them all reveals an instant win, and on the very last stage, a max win is up for grabs, which is 10,000x.
Dam Beavers excels in both gameplay and design. We love the quirky characters, and the Beaver Night Fever is a real blast. It’s nice to have something light-hearted and comedic to lighten the mood, and Dam Beavers puts you in a real good mood.
To summarise, Dam Beavers could be easy to write off if you make the assumption that it is just like Pirots, but it isn’t, and you’d be doing yourself an injustice by not experiencing what it has to offer.
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