Big Ben is an online video slots games developed by Aristocrat, one of the most prestigious names in software design. Its background graphics and reel animations pay tribute to Great Britain, and in particular the metropolis of London. The game is played on a five-reel, three-row interface with 25 bet lines available. In true British stiff-upper-lip style, gameplay is mostly silent except for the reel-spinning FX, although wins are celebrated with a short burst of a traditional British tune.
While the low win symbols are taken from the poker deck as is typical of slots games, Big Ben does so with one stylish variation: the poker symbols used are 9, 10, J, Q and K, rather than the more usual 10-A. Obviously, no rank higher than Queen or King is welcome in a monarchy. This quirk is reinforced by a knightly coat of arms attached to the Jack symbol, while the Queen and King each sport crowns.
The other standard symbols used in big Ben, ranked from lowest to highest, are a tavern sign, a gas lamp, a red telephone box, a double-decker London bus, the Union Jack flag and the jewel-encrusted golden crown of state. The highest wins possible without multipliers, five crowns or five Union Jacks, pay 800 times the line bet. There are, however, two additional features to increase wins.
The Big Ben Feature
The Scatter symbol, true to the game’s name, is the Big Ben clock tower, and it increases wins in two ways. If the Big Ben symbol appears anywhere on reels 1 or five, it activates the Big Ben feature, in which the win multiplier depends on the number of times the clock chimes the hour. The maximum, 12 chimes, will multiply any wins on that spin X500. In addition, any three, four or five Big Ben symbols scattered over any reels will trigger 15, 20 or 25 Free Games respectively.
All wins made during these free spins are doubled, and another cluster of three, four or five Big Bens during free spins trigger another 15, 20 or 25 free spins. However, the bet lines played during free spins can only include the lines that won on the spin that triggered the Free Games feature, for example, many slots follow the similar pattern here. The regular appearance of Big Ben symbols, combined with the Wild symbol, nevertheless delivers some substantial wins.
The Grenadier Guard is Wild
A Buckingham Palace guardsman, complete with bearskin hat, serves as the Wild symbol in Big Ben. He substitutes for any other symbol (except Big Ben) to make up winning bet lines, and the Wild also doubles any wins on bet lines in which it appears. Once again in keeping with the reserved British theme, any win involving a Wild symbol is celebrated only with a brief, discreet flourish of confetti around the guardsman.
Five Wild symbols on one bet line win 30000 coins, but if a Big Ben also appears anywhere on reels 1 or 5 at the same time, and the clock follows up with 12 chimes, that win will be increased 500-fold, to 15 million coins.
