Rolling Roger

One of Habanero's most popular slot games over the last few years has been Rolling Roger. Having not played it before I reviewed it, I did wonder what the title would be about. I had assumed it would be perhaps a rotund gentleman, rather like Humpty Dumpty, who perhaps rolls about at the side of the reels when one of the bonuses kicks in.

In actual fact, to my surprise and delight, Rolling Roger is in fact a hedgehog. But not just any old hedgehog, but a blue hedgehog. Furthermore, on every spin Roger gets his "Rolling" epithet because he rolls across the reels and as he does, he collects symbols which then go towards you receiving a win on that spin or not.

It is relatively clear that Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog has been the inspiration for this slot, even down to the fact that Roger is colored blue, however while Sonic's byword was speed, Roger's is the ability to collect symbols leading to a player landing a cash prize.

Joined on the reels by four more woodland friends, Rolling Roger is a cheery and colorful slot which takes a standard slot game and gives it a real twist, which actually makes the end product part slot game and part lottery.

It's proved very popular with Habanero customers over the years, let's see if we can find out why.

Overview

• Game: Rolling Roger
• Developer: Habanero
• Reels: 5x3
• Pay Lines: None (see description below)
• Minimum Bet: 0.25
• Maximum Bet: 500.00
• Jackpot: 13,350 coins
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: Medium

Where can I play the Rolling Roger slot?

If you want to play the innovative Rolling Roger slot from Habanero then the best place to head in order to do this is the Black Diamond Casino, which has a very appealing New Customer Offer available for players that join up for the first time.

Simply for registering with the casino, you will receive a bonus of 25 Free Spins, which you can use before you even make your first deposit at the casino. Once you play through your Free Spins, you can then deposit some cash into your account and when you do, you will receive a very generous 200% Matched Deposit Bonus on that deposit, meaning you will have three times the amount of money to play with when you start at the casino.

Alternatively, if you want to join the casino using bitcoin as your preferred currency, then there is a different sign up offer available. Deposit with bitcoin and the bonus you receive increases to 400% of that bonus, offering you five times the deposited amount to spend. Remember too, you will still receive those 25 Free Spins when you register with the site and before your bitcoin deposit.

With a fantastic choice of slots from Habanero and a number of other top quality casino games to enjoy, you will not be short of high quality options to play at Black Diamond Casino.

Presentation

The presentation of the Rolling Roger slot looks like it is going to be a standard 5-reel game, but in fact, how the slot works out wins is different to a typical slot. At the foot of the five reels is the eponymous character Rolling Roger and after you spin the reels, Roger will set himself in motion, rolling across the reels, in a way that Sonic the Hedgehog would be proud of.

Roger will roll across between three and 15 symbols on the reels and every symbol he rolls over, he collects for that spin. This generates two things, a number of acorns which you can collect (and which are used in the Free Spins bonus feature as you will see below) and also if Roger collects three or more of any symbols on the reels for that spin, then he will generate you a win, the size of which is based on the number of symbols collected and the type of symbols collected.

Roger can collect between three and six symbols on a spin to activate the different pay levels for each of the different symbols on the slot. The actual patterns the symbols form across the reels, including the Wild symbols, do not generate the wins, it is just those symbols Rolling Roger collects.

Add to this a jaunty soundtrack and cheerful, vivid visuals of a woodland scene and you have a slot that looks and sounds great, but which plays very differently to your typical slot game.

What's on the reels?

There are a number of different symbols on the reels which Rolling Roger can collect on his journey around the reels after each spin. The lower value symbols are the playing card low symbols which range from the 10 through to the Ace and which offer relatively low value wins, especially for three or four symbol wins.

Higher value symbols include some of Rolling Roger's woodland friends including a Frog, a caterpillar, a bumble bee and a snail. These offer higher value wins, but once again the size of the wins for three and four symbol collections are relatively small.

The other two symbols on the reels are the Wilds and Scatters and how they are utilized in the slot are outlined in the sections below.

Wild features

The Wild symbol is easy to spot as it is simply the word Wild and it appears anywhere on the reels in the base game. However, when you land the Wild on the reels, it does not immediately offer a pay out and nor does it substitute for other symbols.

In order for any benefit from the Wild to trigger, you need Rolling Roger to collect the symbol. The more Wilds he collects, the greater the value of your payout (as the Wild is the highest paying symbol). Furthermore, each Wild you collect adds one to the tally of all the other symbols collected by Rolling Roger, which can in turn increase the payouts from any symbols you collect enough of to trigger a win.

Free Spins features

The Free Spins bonus is triggered when you land three or more of the Scatter bonus symbols anywhere across the reels. You do not need Rolling Roger to collect these symbols. While each spin doesn't cost you cash, it does cost you one of the acorns you have collected during the game.

During Free Spins any of the lower value playing card symbols that Rolling Roger collects on the spin can randomly turn into a Wild symbol (which costs you five acorns). You continue to play your Free Spins until you run out of acorns, so if you have collected a lot of acorns, then you have a good chance of landing a higher number of free spins.

Other bonus features

The only other bonus feature available is a Gamble feature which occurs after any cash win in the base game which allows you to wager your winnings against the pick of a card. Guess the color correctly and you double your win, guess incorrectly and you lose.

Best feature of the Rolling Roger slot

Without doubt Rolling Roger himself is the best feature of the slot and it is a very clever and innovative way to work out whether a spin generates any wins. The problem is, it can feel a little unrewarding to spin, say three Wild symbols, only for Rolling Roger to ignore them and not collect them. However, if you like slots that have medium variance pays and are packed with innovation in the base game, then Rolling Roger ticks all the boxes.

What does the Rolling Roger slot lack?

For me, there isn't enough variation in the bonus features in the Rolling Roger slot, the Free Spins bonus is fine, but hardly original and the fact that the Wild is the only other bonus feature in the slot, and is often ignored by Rolling Roger, does diminish its impact. That and a Gamble feature which is always a risk to any win means that for all its base game creativity, its bonus features are perhaps too derivative and not rewarding enough frequently.

Conclusion

Rolling Roger is a very nice little slot game, rather than a standard slot, which at first glance looks highly innovative which it is, and you do seem to win relatively frequently. However many wins are low value and it can be frustrating to land higher value symbols and not have Rolling Roger collect them for you. For a slot player, that can be irksome and is perhaps the biggest down side of the slot which is otherwise a very intelligent adaptation of a standard slot with some nice but uninspiring bonus features added on.

Ratings

• Presentation: 15 / 20 - Rolling Roger is not your standard 5-reel slot game, but instead it offers a novel way of generating wins by the eponymous hedgehog hero rolling over the reels to collect the symbols. It sounds a complex game but once you start playing, you understand how the slot works intuitively and a lot of that is down to the simple but effective presentation, complete with a jaunty soundtrack as you play along on the reels.
• Game-play: 14 / 20 - It is a little unusual at first to play the base game and see that your spins don't actually amount to a win, but it is the movements of the rolling blue hedgehog and the symbol she collects that do, but after a while it becomes somewhat enjoyable, if a little frustrating to see you land Wild symbols and them not be collected. That said, it is a novel way to generate wins on the reels and it does make for a change of pace from the standard type of slots available.
• Bonus Features: 12 / 20 - To be fair to the Rolling Roger slot, its innovation tends to come in the base game, rather than in the bonus features so perhaps it is not surprising that the main bonus features here are the Wild symbols (which are used differently to other slots) and the Free Spins bonus game, as well as a Gamble option for any wins. They are pretty standard but as with the base game, how they play out is different in the slot (and not necessarily for the better in terms of cash wins).
• Entertainment Factor: 14 / 20 - There is no doubt that the Rolling Roger slot is one that Is going to put a smile on your face, from the jaunty music and clever cartoon style graphics, the game is very much designed with the 'cutesy' meter turned up high and on that score, it does deliver well as this is a slot game you cannot fail to play without a smile on your face.
• Play Value: 12 / 20 - With a relatively high RTP, you would expect Rolling Roger to be a lower variance slot but due to the way the wins are collected in the game, you actually find that this is more a medium variance game with most wins being small with the occasional bigger win to bolster your funds. Big wins are possible, though I feel they may well be a little more difficult to hit than in other slots simply because you need to land the right combination of symbols and then have Rolling Roger collect them all.
• Overall 67 / 100 - There's a lot to like in the Rolling Roger slot and the innovative way in which you play the game is very different to your typical slot, while retaining all the key aspects of a slot game. After the initial wow-factor though, the game does tend to be a little unrewarding at times, especially when you hit higher value symbols and Roger doesn't collect them. That does add a layer of frustration to playing compared to a standard slot and as such, the enjoyment factor does go down. This is still a fun and enjoyable slot to play in the main though.

Good Luck!

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