Casino Bonuses
Provider | Habanero |
Reels | 5 |
Rows | 5 |
Paylines | 259 |
Bonus Rounds | 1 |
Bet Range | 0.30 - 150 |
Volatility | High |
RTP | 96.80% |
Our Rating | 7.3 |
Latest Slots
Game Overview
Here’s an interesting looking idea for an online slot from Habanero – NineTails looks like a grid slot, but the paytable will soon reveal that it’s a regular slot which uses a unique pay way layout. This “connected ways” idea results in a total of 259 pay ways. The game has four casino selectable RTP settings which range from 92% up to a much more acceptable 96.80%. I couldn’t find a manufacturer-approved maximum win figure for the game, although several sources state that 46,865x your stake can be won from a single spin – that’s enormous, if it is correct!
The unusual number of payways results in lots of other strange numbers throughout the rest of the slot as well. This includes the amount you win for regular paylines and even the number of free spins which can be awarded; there are no round numbers just for the sake of it here! In addition to the free spin’s bonus, a single “lady” modifier which can add additional high-paying symbols to the reels has also been included.
Intrigued? There’s certainly lots of interesting things going on here, so why not give our free demo slot of NineTails a try right now?
Ninetails Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
The phrase “nine tails” has many associations that spring to mind, most notably the “cat o’nine tails”, an ancient type of whip that was used to invoke punishments centuries ago. More recently, nine tails is sometimes used to refer to Japanese “Kurama”, which are a group of nine-tailed monsters or beasts. It doesn’t look as if the slot is directly based on that legend, although the symbols and overall imagery used do have a distinctly Japanese/Far-Eastern feel to them.
The largest win on the paytable is the circular yin and yang type symbol that has three inner sections rather than two… I apologise if this symbol has a proper name that I have missed, but the paytable doesn’t name the symbols! This pays 77x your stake for a five-of-a-kind. I had to look super closely before realizing that the next symbol down is a fox which may just have nine tails – only five are visible, and the character is entirely blue so difficult to discern, but I’d guess he must have nine tails.. right? This symbol returns 42.5x stake for five-of-a-kind, as does another animal symbol which is coloured pink but only shows a face. There are three more high paying symbols all with strange pay outs (25.9x, 19.2x, 12.6x) when represented as a multiple of stake, but the numbers make much more sense on the paytable. The simple rule used is that every win should have as many sevens in it as possible!
Betting ranges are simplified in NineTails compared to other Habanero games I have tried in the past. All bets must be a multiple of the minimum bet of €0.30, with the maximum allowed being set to €150.00. That seems extremely high for such a high variance slot – if the maximum win that other sites are stating is correct, this would mean that you can potentially win over €7million from playing NineTails. As I said earlier, I have my doubts!
Base Game & Modifiers
The NineTails online slot utilizes an unusual 5×5 playfield, but much stranger than this is the innovative “connected ways” system of pay outs. To score a full line of five your symbols must not be separated by a row or column as they make their way from left to right – in simpler terms, symbols must be arranged adjacent to one another either horizontally or diagonally to result in a win. This results in 259 unique pay ways rather than the 3,125 which would normally span a 5×5 grid.
Lady Feature
Keep an eye on the lady in the bottom-right hand corner of the screen whilst you are spinning the reels. If her dress changes colour you will be awarded some additional high-paying symbols:
- If she turns red one of the highest-paying yin/yang symbols is added to the reels
- When she turns gold, three of the blue fox symbols are added to the reels
- If she turns green, four matching symbols will be added to the reels. The symbol used is randomly selected each time the ladies dress turns green and can be any one of the bottom four picture symbols
Ninetails Slot Free Spins Feature
The main feature is a free spins bonus that is awarded when three or more yin/yang symbols appear anywhere on the screen. Three of these awards 7 free spins, whilst four will award 27 free spins and all five gives you a massive 57 free spins!
The free spins feature has an unusual aspect to it whereby wins that equal a certain specific amount will be randomly upgraded or doubled. You’ll need to check the paytable before playing to see what those amounts are before beginning to play as they change according to your bet size.
For example, if you are playing with a bet of €7.50 then the two amounts are €1.75 and €19.25. A win of €1.75 will be upgraded to €19.25 whereas a win of €19.25 will be doubled. You’ll need to collect a prize for each of the nine tails shown during free spins to actually receive these winnings, however, which I found quite disappointing the first time I entered the bonus and did not accomplish this!
Ninetails Slot Review Final Thoughts
For much of the time I was testing NineTails I found myself quite confused by all of the strange numbers that are involved in the game. Sure, you can just sit back and watch the action unfold, oblivious as to what you can expect to win… personally, however, I like to be able to see things on the screen and understand what is going on.
By the time I’d finished testing the game I was just about up to speed on everything but found myself wondering why Habanero chose to overcomplicate things quite so much. What is the significance of those two random amounts during the free spin feature? The mind boggles!
I did like the adjacent pay ways feature, however – I can see this being used by other developers at some point as it allows more RTP to be allocated to each pay way. NineTails just hasn’t quite nailed it yet, in my opinion.
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