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Do you remember the TV show Dallas that was such a big hit in the 1980s? The story of the Ewing family and the cut-throat business of Oil production? That was the show that spawned "Who shot JR?" and also the show that had at least once season being an entire dream after ratings plummeted after Patrick Duffy left the show, only to be persuaded to return as Bobby.
The overarching theme of the show was the Oil Business and JR was your typical Texas Tycoon, which is neatly segueing into this new slot from Realtime Gaming. Like most Texan Tycoon's JR was brash, bold, brave and intimidating. Like our mustachioed tycoon in the slot, JR also had a penchant for cigars and a ten-gallon hat.
Oil Tycoons can make serious money in Texas and we're now going to see whether the Texan Tycoon slot is going to see you strike it rich by landing a gusher of a win, or whether this is one oil well that is going to run dry after a few spins. Let's take a closer look at the game and find out more.
Overview
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Presentation
As one of the older Realtime Gaming slots, Texan Tycoon is a rather more simple affair than some of the more recent released by the company. The sounds are sparse, with just sound effects clicking into action when you hit the spin button. Otherwise your accompaniment is silence, although when you hit a better value win involving the Texan Tycoon Wild, you do get a blast of Texas-themed music to accompany that win.
The presentation is also somewhat simplistic with a Texan Oil Field as the backdrop with derricks pumping the Black Gold out of the ground. The reels are equally simplistic (or you could be kind and call it 'retro') with a simple black backdrop on each and simple symbols that are not animated in any way shape or form.
The top of the slot displays your key information including your balance, current bet size, any wins you may achieve and the current Random Jackpot prize. At the bottom of the slot are the Bet and Line selectors and the Spin and Auto-play buttons. Either side of the reels displays each of the 25 pay lines which can be selected individually.
What's on the reels?
When it comes to the symbols on the reels then there are essentially three different types. The first of these is the lower value symbols, which are the ubiquitous playing card low symbols which are from the 9 through to the ace. These award wins of between 5 to 250 coins, with five of the Ace, King or Queen on a pay line paying the higher value.
There are four higher value symbols on the reels too and as you would expect all of these are based on wealth and the oil business. First is the Barrel of oil, then the Oil worker, then there is the truck used to deliver the oil and lastly a large pile of dollar bills. These symbols award payouts for just two symbols on a pay line as well as three, four and five, although these payouts are very small (between 2 to 5 coins).
However, you can earn up to 1,500 coins for landing five of the higher value symbols on a pay line and that is a significant win, especially if you are playing at a higher level of initial stake.
The other two symbols on the slots are those that trigger the features and they are the Oil Well Scatter and the Texas Tycoon Wild symbol and we'll discover what each of these symbols does in more detail in the relevant sections below.
Wild Features
The Wild symbol in the game is the Texan Tycoon himself, complete with ten gallon hat, although his cigar has mysteriously disappeared. This symbol only appears on the third reel in the base game and it can be used to substitute for all other symbols, apart from the Oil Well Scatter symbol, to create additional winning pay lines.
Furthermore, when you land a win using the Texan Tycoon Wild, you will hear a special piece of music play and in addition to your prize, you will receive a multiplier bonus which can be either 2x, 3x, 5x or 10x the stated amount.
What this means is that if you can land any of the big prizes with the Texan Tycoon Wild used as part of the winning pay line, then all the top cash prizes for every one of the low and high value symbols could potentially be 2x, 3x, 5x or even 10x more than the stated amount. This is how the 15,000 coin jackpot is possible.
Free Spins Features
The Free Spins feature is activated when you land three or more of the Oil Derrick scatter symbols anywhere across the reels. You also win a cash prize of between 2x and 200x your stake depending on whether you land 3, 4 or 5 scatters on the reels.
When the Free Spins bonus triggers you have to select one of the oil wells to reveal your prize. This can be up to 25 free games. During each of your free spins any of your cash prizes are subject to an automatic 3x multiplier.
Furthermore, if you land three or more scatters once again during the free spins bonus round, you can also re-trigger the bonus once again and land some additional extra spins.
Other Bonus Features
The other key feature of the slot which is almost seemingly mandatory on many of the older Realtime Gaming slots is the Progressive Jackpot, or as they prefer to call it in the game, the Random Jackpot.
This is because this prize could be awarded on any spin, win or lose, at any time to any player playing the slot. There is no strategy or in game feature you can use or activate in order to land the prize, it is simply down to good fortune and being the player playing when the jackpot is triggered.
Best Feature of the Texan Tycoon slot
Although the free spins feature is good and the 3x multiplier is a nice touch, I think the Wild symbol is the best feature in the Texan Tycoon slot and there are a couple of reasons for that. Firstly, it is much easier to trigger this feature in the base game and pick up some nice valuable wins using it than it is the free spins bonus.
Secondly, the fact that the Wild offers a random multiplier of either 2x, 3x, 5x or 10x the stated win does add excitement when you trigger a Wild win in the game. The fact you can earn a 10x multiplier also means that there is the potential for some potentially huge wins in the base game without even needing to trigger the free spins bonus.
Indeed, land the 15,000 coin potential jackpot and you may find that you earn more from that than you would from triggering the Random Jackpot prize.
What does the Texan Tycoon slot lack?
Although the Texan Tycoon slot works perfectly well as a slot, I'd have liked to see a bit more in terms of features of the game. As it stands, this is a slot with good features but in other respects it is also rather basic and its lack of bonus features to add to the core of features it has, does diminish its appeal.
Even a simple Pick'em game would have livened things up, selecting an oil well for example to reveal a cash prize, would have been a nice way to offer the player an easier to trigger bonus.
I also feel that it can be fiendishly difficult to hit the free spins bonus at times, while the majority of Wild wins multipliers do tend to be the lower 2x score, with a select few offering any of the three higher values. I'd have liked to have seen a bit more variation here too.
Conclusion
Texan Tycoon does a lot of things right and this is an enjoyable slot to play. The Wild feature does brighten the base game up and the free spins, when they can be triggered can earn you some decent wins. Base game wins are fewer than in other comparable games, but with that Wild floating around on the third reel, they can prove to be a bit more lucrative at times.
To me this is a medium variance game which can be lower variance at times when it rewards players a bit more readily. It is a basic game however and the presentation and format is pretty much the bog standard we've come to expect from Realtime Gaming in their formative years as a company.
Ratings
Good Luck!
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