In late 2014, Microgaming released three online video slots with the same format but different themes: So Much Candy, So Much Sushi, and the slot reviewed here – So Many Monsters.
So Many Monsters is a five-reel 25-payline slot that is fairly simple despite some interesting variations on the usual video slot features. Its quirky monster-themed reels are populated by a colourful horde of cartoon critters who’d appear perfectly at home in a Pixar film – with an ever-so-slightly eerie arcade-style soundtrack to match.
Slot Variance, Coin Values and Bet Max
The bet max for the low-to-medium-variance So Many Monsters slot is set at 20 coins per payline but starts at just one. Players may also adjust their coin values, which range between 0.01 and 0.20 credits but they must play all 25 paylines.
Go Wild with the Monsters
The wild symbol in this video slot takes the form of the slime-drenched So Many Monsters logo. As is usually the case in online video slots, the So Many Monsters wild has the unique ability to stand in for other symbols to complete winning paylines. The only So Many Monsters symbol that the wild cannot replace is the scatter.
Unlike those of most other games of this kind, the So Many Monsters wild is not the most valuable symbol, although it does pay out a respectable 30 000 coins for five of a kind. In fact, it can sometimes even get in the way of the really big wins up for grabs via the game’s multiplying symbol feature.
So Many More Monsters
The most distinctive feature of So Many Monsters is the ability of its top five symbols to clone themselves to potentially increase the size of wins. These top five symbols are, of course, the five different monsters – red, yellow, green, purple and blue – that star in this reel-spinning freak show.
Any time three or more symbols depicting the same monster appear on the reels to complete a winning payline, each monster may multiply between two and five times, thus adding extra symbols to the payline.
If players are fortunate enough to land five toothy-grinned red monsters in a single So Many Monsters payline, they may just be up for the slot’s base game jackpot. For the 64 000 coin jackpot to pay out, each of these symbols must multiply by five, resulting in a 25-of-a-kind winning payline with the game’s most valuable symbol. The second-highest win in the game can come either from 24 red monsters or 25 little clones of the multi-eyed Dorito-shaped yellow monster.
However, the wild symbol does not enjoy this multiplying effect when it stands in for a monster, which is why it often gets in the way.
Eyeball Some Free Spins and Bigger Wins
If players spot three or more blinking monster eyes anywhere on the reels, they can prepare to receive several free spins. Before they can take their free spins, however, So Many Monsters players must choose between one of the five monsters, each of which presents its own number of free spins, to replace all other high symbols for their duration. The trick is that less valuable monsters offer more free spins, and vice versa. It’s up to players to decide which So Many Monsters option looks most lucrative.