A slot designed for fans of horror movies, Haunted House from Playtech software is designed in blacks, reds and greys. A hovering vampire and his flock of bats appear in front of a castle silhouetted by the rising full moon, while a witch flies past on her broomstick from time to time.
It is all so over-the-top that it is more camp and amusing than scary, but Haunted House does offer players a decent range of symbols that would not disgrace any Halloween. It has only three reels and only five pay lines, but players can play any number from 1 to 5. Bets can be varied from 1 to 500 coins per line.
Six Symbols Do All the Work
With only three icons displayed per reel, only three reels and just 5 pay lines, players used to more expansive slots might imagine Haunted House holds no interest for them. However, because the title uses only six symbols in total, and the highest possible combo is three of a kind, the prizes on the pay table and the frequency of winning combos helps to offset this limitation.
The lowest symbol pay-out possible is for a single garlic clove on a pay line: this will win 5 coins. The next prize is for two garlic cloves, paying 25 coins. All other icons require three-of-a-kind matches to win prizes.
Spooky Symbols Carry the Theme
All the Haunted House symbols are theme related. Next up in value from the garlic cloves is the lighted candle. Three matches win 50 coins. Then comes a gold chalice; three on one pay line will win 75 coins. Three stiletto daggers win 100 coins.
Haunted House uses only two more symbols. The coffin wins 200 coins for three matches, while the ornate Christian cross wins 300 coins.
Garlic is Better than Bonuses
Opposite to many Neteller pokies AU, Haunted House offers no Wild symbols or Scatters, and there are no free spins or bonus rounds. However, the game partially makes up for this by saving the big wins for three garlic clove matches on a pay line. So the symbol that scores the lowest win is also responsible for the game’s biggest prizes.
The prize for three matching garlic cloves depends on the pay line on which it occurs; presuming, of course, that the player has a bet on that pay line. This is why it is always a good idea to play all 5 pay lines on Haunted House, even if this means reducing the stake per line.
On pay line 1, three garlics win 1,000 coins. For pay lines 2, 3, 4 and 5, the prizes are 1,200 coins, 1,400 coins, 1,600 coins and 1,800 coins. Of course, in the rare event that a spin ends with the reels covered by a 3X3 grid of garlic cloves, the player wins all five prizes, for a total of 7,000 coins. So Haunted House is a simple slot with few surprises, but it can deliver some substantial payouts.