Old Drac Slot Demo
Old Drac Slot Review
Is it Halloween already? Not quite, but Backseat Gaming feel like treating us to a spooky slot nonetheless, and who spookier to take the spotlight than Count Dracula? or Old Drac, as he’s affectionately named here.
He might be old, but he’s still got all of the required teeth to bite his victims but the question is, does Old Drac have enough bite to leave a mark on his players?
Backseat Gaming has done quite well under Hacksaw Gaming’s OpenRGS platform, which has allowed them to fast-track production without all of the burdens of distribution and licensing to worry about. Slots like Roman Bonanza and Gladius Death or Glory scored well, and without jumping the gun, Old Drac looks fairly rich in features and alluring enough to score well, too.
Without further ado, let’s sink our teeth into Old Drac, pun definitely intended.
Base Game & Features
Old Drac is a 6-reel, 5-row slot that uses the Scatter Pays system, meaning wins are awarded when 8 or more matching symbols land anywhere on the grid, without needing to follow traditional paylines.
There are 9 regular symbols in total, split between high and low-paying. Premium symbols include rings, candles, cups, and bats, while the lower-paying ones are represented by 5 coloured gems. Payouts for winning clusters range from 0.1x up to 300x your stake, depending on the symbol and the number that lands.
Winning symbols are removed from the grid, leaving room for new symbols to fall into place, potentially creating more wins.
Total Win Bar
During gameplay, all winning amounts are gathered in a Total Win Bar displayed above the reels. If any Garlic Symbols land, they reveal Multipliers, which are then added together and held until the end of the spin. Once no further wins occur, the combined multiplier is applied to the total win amount.
It works in a similar way to the multiplier system seen in Gates of Olympus by Pragmatic Play, where multipliers accumulate during the spin and only apply once all cascades have finished.
Garlic Symbols
Garlic symbols are multiplier symbols which are collected in the Total Win Bar once the grid is settled and no wins occur.
If more than one is activated at the same time, then their values are collected in the Total Win Bar and added together. The sum of all collected Garlic Multipliers will multiply the total win amount before the win is awarded.
Garlic symbols can have one of the following possible multiplier values: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 50x, 75x, 100x, 200x. Garlic symbols are only activated if there is at least one winning combination on the grid.
Old Drac Free Spins
Old Drac has two Free Spins modes, as is usually the case with Hacksaw Gaming and their partner studios.
The first bonus is called The Garlic Hunt, and the best bonus round is Drac Attack.
The Garlic Hunt
Landing 4 Scatter symbols in the base game triggers the Garlic Hunt Bonus, awarding 10 Free Spins.
During this feature, a Progression Ladder comes into play. This ladder sets a minimum value for any Garlic Multipliers revealed, which increases as you move through the levels. Progression is achieved by collecting additional Scatters during the bonus round.
- Level 1 – Collect 2 Scatters to unlock a minimum x5 Multiplier
- Level 2 – Collect 3 more Scatters to unlock a minimum x10 Multiplier
- Level 3 – Collect 3 more Scatters to unlock a minimum x25 Multiplier
- Level 4 – Collect 5 more Scatters to unlock a minimum x100 Multiplier
Each time a new level is reached, +5 extra Free Spins are added.
Drac Attack
The Drac Attack bonus requires 5 scatter symbols, awarding 10 Free Spins.
This round is more or less the same as The Garlic Hunt, except you begin on a random level of the progression ladder.
Like in The Garlic Hunt, +5 Spins are awarded for each new level reached.
Bonus Buy
Players have access to five Bonus Buy options, three of which fall under the Featurespins category.
- Bonushunt Featurespins – Increases the chance of triggering the Free Spins round by 3x, with each spin costing 2x your stake
- Garlic Blast Featurespins – Guarantees Garlic symbols appear on every spin, each carrying a Multiplier between x2 and x25, for 15x your stake
- Garlic Mayhem Featurespins – Ensures Garlic symbols land with a higher Multiplier range of x25 to x200, at a cost of 50x your stake
- The Garlic Hunt – Triggers 10 Free Spins with the Scatter collection mechanic active, priced at 100x your bet
- Drac Attack – Also awards 10 Free Spins, starting you on a progression ladder (Level 1 to 4), for 200x your bet
All options are rated as Very High volatility, apart from Garlic Blast, which is rated as High. RTP across these modes sits between 96.24% and 96.31%, depending on the chosen feature.
Our Honest Verdict
Old Drac, in essence, is a Gates of Olympus alternative. It’s fine if you like the spooky demeanour, but it brings nothing massively new to the table. It’s a popular genre, so you can’t blame Backseat Gaming for trying to capitalise on it.
If within allowed territories, then you can make use of some of the FeatureSpins, which can up the ante with guaranteed Garlic Symbols with 2x to 25x or even 25x to 200x if you’re feeling brave. These don’t guarantee a win, though, so use them wisely
The higher-level Drac Attack is great if you landed it naturally, but a bit of a gamble if you buy it, considering it starts at a random progression level between 1 and 4. A bit of an upgrade is guaranteed, but it doesn’t really feel like it when you start with a 5x minimum.
Backseat Gaming took a different route to persistent multipliers in this one. Some versions of Gates of Olympus and copycat games make previous multipliers dormant until another unlocks all of them at once for that tumble win. As mentioned, this one uses a progression meter, offering a minimum multiplier instead.
Progressing to the higher levels with the juicier multipliers makes Old Drac a very appealing game, and its 12,500x win potential feels quite realistic.
Overall though. We think it’s a good release, nothing more, nothing less. Just Good. It would have made a better Halloween slot than just a general release, but hopefully it’ll garner enough fans to retain a few players.
*The images found in this slot review are currently from Demo Play. On average, our reviews are written prior to the initial release date and before real play is available.
