New York, NY (Top40 Charts) While the UK might have ditched Europe in terms of its' Union - our affinity for the band that brought us the 80's power anthem 'Final Countdown' will live long in our hearts. Selling over 15 million copies and making over $50,000,000 in International sales and covered several times since its' 1986 release - even by the Crazy Frog - this inter-galactic showstopper fit the glam metal and hard rock scene down to a tee. So when we read that Big Time Gaming had taken this hit in March 2019 and made it into a slot machine - with the same great theme, tune and coupled with insane multipliers - we HAD to give it a go.
The Final Countdown Slot Machine itself is a little different to most of the bog-standard ones that many of us are used to trying. Rather than a stale 5-reel, 20-payline fit, this has 4-rows, 6-reels and boasts a whopping 4,096 ways to win! The idea is simple - get the rocket on the left hand side to the planet Venus then face the Final Countdown where you can win up to 36,000x your stake … so on a spin of just £2, that's a £72,000 pay out. But before that point - there's lots of fun to be had in the main game itself. Aside from the obvious winning paylines, the game features 'clone reels' where reels 2-5 can produce between 2-4 identical symbols across the connected reels - thus offering the chance for a bigger windfall. Landing a wild on the cloned reels can see it fold out both horizontally and vertically - similar to the roaming wild elements in the bonus games.
But the bonus games are where the REAL money is at. Featuring a choice of two bonus games, the first being the 'Countdown Free Spins' where the 8 spins won can be re-triggered and roaming wilds float between 4x and 256x, the right reels can produce big money wins for anyone lucky enough to reach this stage. The second bonus game is the 'Heading for Venus Free Spins' where the chance to re-trigger is sufficiently lessened, but a guaranteed clone reel will appear on all of the 15 spins, whilst roaming wilds paying out between 4x and 888x randomly can net the right player a life-changing amount of cash. Whilst not enough to go to Venus - it can certainly afford you a trip on the Virgin Galactic where a 90-minute space flight will set you back a cool $250,000 for a ticket.
All in all, we were impressed. While the Final Countdown slot machine won't deliver Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson (Joey Tempest) to your door, nor will it shatter your ear drums as you belt it out from your portable boomboxes, it certainly will bring the nostalgia back into your life … and for that reason alone, this slot machine is approved by everyone of us who has had a turn!
