Pub Fruity
Few things are as British as a trip to the pub. The enjoyment of greeting the pub landlord or lady you know so well, chatting to your mates, having a drink of your favourite tipple, cracking a few jokes with the regulars and just enjoying yourself after a hard day’s work isn’t just something to do: it’s practically the national pastime.
Sadly, one of the pub’s greatest features is very close to extinction. A staple of the trip to the pub was for you or a mate to put a couple of quid in a pub fruit machine while other friends and random bystanders gathered round to watch those reels roll and see if the person playing the fruity was going to enjoy some fortune. If they did, there was a good chance the next round was on them!
The nation seems to have lost an appetite for the pub fruity over the years and they’re a rare sight in pubs up and down the country these days. They’re unlikely to make a return but for those who have got nostalgic just reading this introduction or never witnessed them in the first place, we’re about to talk you through Pub Fruity. It’s a Microgaming game that’s part slot, part fruity and celebrates this iconic form of gambling game and…the pub itself.
Paylines and Symbols´
There’s more to Pub Fruity than first meets the eye and we’ll obviously come to what we mean by that in due course. But what’s extremely straightforward is the fact that there are solely three reels and just the one winning payline. It’s far cry from some of the more recent slot releases where there are 20-25 paylines and another world to the Megaways slots where there are sometimes thousands of ways to win! A reminder, however, that the number of active paylines doesn’t affect your chances of winning; it just means there are more different ways to win.
The equally cheery and chatty barmaid watches on as the reels spin. Those who are from the era when the fruity ruled supreme in the pub will recognise many of the symbols: the cherry, lemon, purple grapes, Liberty Bell and Bar symbol.
Much like a packet of peanuts is probably the cheapest thing you can buy in the pub, a payout based on getting cherries is the lowest payout you can get here but the good news is you only need two, not three, of them to get paid. Check the pay table for which symbols pay what, based on getting two or three of them.
Because there’s just one payline, working out your stake is as simple as ordering a pint. If you click on 20p, that’s what you’re wagering; there’s no need to multiply that by the number of paylines because the number of paylines is…just one.
Nudges and Holds
We’re really rolling back the years here but yet another element of playing a fruity down the pub was the bending down of the person in the hotseat to see which symbols were above or below the one on the central line. Why? The answer is nudges.
Both there and in Pub Fruity, you’ll randomly be given the opportunity to nudge the reels so the symbols you want on the main line are in a good position to do one of three things: secure you an instant winning combination, activate one of the bonus features, or put yourself in a good position to do one of the first two on the next spin.
If you see the ‘Let’em Spin’ feature awarded to you, you can be forgiven for clinking your pint glass with your mate in pre-celebration because it means the net spin is a guaranteed win for you.
The Hold feature works completely differently, and fans of video poker will know exactly how it works. You can hold one or two symbols and they’ll stay locked in position for the next spin rather than spinning like the other reels that weren’t held.
So, if you had two lemons and the ‘Hold’ notification comes up, you could do worse than hold the two lemons and wait for a third one on the next spin. Don’t be ‘sour’ if it doesn’t; there’s always next time.
Drinks Trail Bonus Game
Now this wouldn’t be a pub-themed game without some references to some booze, would it?
For the record, this is a good example of one of the more commonly seen features in the pub fruity: the cash ladder. The concept is as simple as mixing a gin and tonic; the further you go, the more you’re likely to win.
Strawberries aren’t just for Wimbledon. They’re also an important part of the Pub Fruity game.
The strawberry symbol has numbers on it. If you weren’t great at maths at school, worry not, because you’re not about to be tested for your arithmetic or algebra skills. You’ll need it to appear three times to activate the round, meaning it’s activated quite often. The greater each of those numbers is, the better. Once you get three strawberries, the total of the numbers on them will determine the number of steps you’re going to get on the trail.
As you move along the trail you can pick up such things as: a free spin, multipliers of 2x, 4x, 10x, 25x or 100x your bet, a win spin (guaranteed win), a bonus nudge, a cocktail shaker (it ‘shakes’ you to a random position) or a stoppa win. The latter means the lights will flash from one stop to another and whatever you stop on, is what you get.
If your luck is really, really in – the equivalent of being handed the keys to the pub for the night by the landlord and told to just enjoy yourself- is the 500x multiplier, the game’s jackpot.
The spoilsport of the round is the blank drink that gives you nothing. How appropriate.
The Darts Bonus Game
And finally, to another crucial element of pub life: the darts board.
The dart symbol can appear at anytime and just one of them will activate the round where throwing a dart on the board will get you a prize. But whatever it is won’t be nearly as good as getting three darts!
Doing so is your passport to the Darts Contest Bonus game. Three aces of the oche will compete against each other by each throwing three darts and you need to pick which one you want to go to battle for you.
If you picked the one with the lowest score, 50x your bet is coming your way. If it was the runner-up, you’re looking at 100x your stake. And if your money was on the eventual winner, it’s a whopping 1000x your bet. Not bad result for a leisurely trip to the pub!
Other games you might like at 32Red.
So that’s what you need to know about the Pub Fruity game that celebrates all that’s great about a trip to your local public house, in all its glory. If alcoholic beverage drinks are your, err, cup of tea then Octobeer Fortunes may be one for you to try out and enjoy as well. Alternatively, if all that chat about darts whets your appetite for some ‘exercise’ then Sports Bonanza might be one for you to give a spin.