Country-simple relaxation, a lot of goofy fun and a bunch of different ways to win – that’s Scruffy Duck in an eggshell. It’s something of a departure for NetEnt, the wizards of online casino game design famous for high-octane, immersive block-blusters like Guns ‘N Roses and Wild West: The Great Train Heist, in that the theme entails nothing more than sitting pond-side watching cartoon ducks dabble in the water ... But like the ugly duckling that turned into a swan (because he was a swan all along), the hidden merits of Scruffy Duck soon come to light.
For a start, it has a lot more bonus features than most video slots – so it can be a surprisingly lucrative diversion. In fact, this is one of those slot games styled just like the ones you’d find in an actual Las Vegas casino.
Scruffy Duck offers the familiar mobile slot game set-up of 5 reels and 3 rows, with 25 paylines. Set your bet from level 1 to 10, set your coins from 0.01 up 1. The minimum bet is 0.25 and the maximum is 250. The maximum default win is 4 000 coins on a single bet line. Scruffy Duck displays swimmingly well on laptop, desktop, tablet and mobile. The game is coded in HTML5 and compatible with iPhone and Android platforms. Volatility is disputed – some say it’s medium variance, some say it’s high – but the stated Return To Player is 96.38%.
So you’re sitting beside the pond listening to a tune that sounds like a collaboration between a slow jazzy oompah band and a DJ scratching vinyl, harmonising with the whining of a dragonfly and the friendly croaking of unseen frogs.
On the water float the low-value symbols – J, Q, K and A, nested inside broken eggshells – and the medium-value symbols – a family of four ducks: Pop, Mom, Big Brother, complete with reversed peak cap and boombox, and Junior, in descending order of value. (Dad with the antique mobile phone has the highest value at 400x). Scatters labelled “Free Spins” appear on reels 3, 4 and 5 only are the words “Free Spins”.
The Scruffy Duck Wild can land on any reel, expanding with a rubbery pop into a beguiling swan princess when you form a winning combination to cover all three positions and substituting for all symbols except the Scatters. And that’s pretty much it for the base game. Mellow out and spin the reels...
Did I mention Scruffy Duck has a lot more bonus features than most online casino game slots? I wasn’t lying. Land 3 Scatters anywhere on reels 3, 4 and 5 for some zany Free Spins action. A Pick and Click screen offers you a choice of five bottoms-up ducklings from which to select one of five randomly distributed Free Spin features.
