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Ghost Pirates

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Ghost Pirates Slot Review

It’s very hard for a slot game to be so successful that it maintains a fan following long after its release. The new features constantly being developed, along with improvements to graphics and technology often make it a tall order. The Ghost Pirates slot though, much like Dead or Alive, is one of those NetEnt slots we never see ourselves getting tired of. True, the game is knocking on a bit now and is missing a few things from the very latest NetEnt games. That just doesn’t take the edge off what is a very playable and entertaining slot game with good payout potential to boot.

The Ghost Pirates slot doesn’t attempt to hide the fact that NetEnt were clearly latching on to the popularity of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, it’s part of the game’s charm. It isn’t however, what makes the game unique. Instead, it’s the slightly odd set of game mechanics that NetEnt experimented on this slot which makes it, overall, very different to other popular slots in the range. With a fully selectable ‘’ways to win’’ reel layout and lucrative free spins feature, this game is sure to appeal to a huge number of video slot fans despite the lack of a mobile version. See if you can locate the buried treasure on this pirate-themed slot game with us in our full review.

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Game setup for the Ghost Pirates slot

The game structure on the Ghost Pirates slot will take a little more paying attention to than many other games from the developer. There are no pay lines in play but, unlike other 243 ways to win games, it isn’t an all or nothing choice. Instead, you can activate different rows on the 5×3 reel grid to have 3, 9, 27, or 81 ways to win in addition to the full 243. If this seems familiar – it’s borrowed largely from the ‘reel power’ mechanic popular on slots such as Aristocrats legendary Buffalo game. Even innovators like NetEnt aren’t above borrowing someone else’s great ideas! As with the Aristocrat slots, we’d still recommend playing all rows so that any combination from left to right forms a win – unless your bankroll so small that it isn’t practical.

Bet range is quite narrow on the Ghost Pirates slot. With a max bet of 62.50 credits, it is one of the lowest in the NetEnt range although, only the true high roller players demand more than that. The minimum bet, in contrast, is quite high at 0.25 credits, which explains why NetEnt felt that forcing people to play the full 243 structure might be a bit too much. The slot is listed as medium variance but, the way it delivers this is quite odd. It has quite a high hit ratio for a slot with large top wins, compensating for this by the average win typically being very low indeed. This justifies the low max bet as this will turn many of the higher stakes players off.

Gameplay and Theme for the Ghost Pirates slot

Be in no doubt at all, Ghost Pirates, even years after release, is still one of the best looking and most entertaining NetEnt slots. The sound effects, music and game characters are fantastic. It’s totally absorbing for any fans of the pirate genre and especially the movie series it seems to be based on. Our favourite icon is the mad monkey, because who doesn’t love a cheeky monkey on the deck of their ship? It’s the great design that allows you to gloss over the lack of a few of the more modern NetEnt slots features such as quick spin and graphics adjustment for older devices.

Gameplay wise, it’s easy to become so lost in the animations and entertaining visuals that you forget all about the payout potential. Which in the base game, is a good thing. To call the usual wins in the base game weak would be an understatement, in fact, we are sure they only exist to activate the 3D slot animations and keep you occupied until you trigger the free spins feature. That isn’t to say you can’t hit a big win in the stock game round, you can. Though that’s only possible with multiple combinations, big sets or lucky wilds and it will be the rarity rather than the norm.

Free Spins

If the bulk of the entertainment on the Ghost Pirates slot lies in the base game then the majority of the wins are clearly buried in the free spins feature. It’s here that playing the full 243 ways really pays off as it affects not only the size of the overall payouts of combinations but also the initial spins allocation. You have to be playing all five rows to get the max 25 spins – otherwise, it is 20, which is still quite generous. There’s a bonus re-trigger in the free spins game and that is where X marks the spot, a good set of spins on the bonus game here can often produce several hundred times the original stake – much higher than a low variance game.

Summary

NetEnt played with quite a lot of structure changes on the Ghost Pirates slot. Many of those have found their way into other titles since but Ghost Pirates remains the only one to have them all. To describe it in a sentence, you have a game which is incredibly entertaining as a free slot thanks to the base game but with high pay potential as a real money game thanks to the free spins feature. It’s that latter option which keeps it in stock at popular NetEnt casinos like Casinoland. As for us – we are off to spin those reels again and board some innocent ships in search of plunder. Drink up me hearties – yo ho!

Ghost Pirates written by Garry Edgards average rating 5/5 - 1 user ratings