Viva Las Vegas

Elvis Presley famously sang Viva Las Vegas and while the King is no longer with us, the famous Sin City is still very much alive and kicking and it has provided the inspiration for a number of top slot games including this Red Rake Gaming slot.

Based on the nightlife set along the famous Las Vegas Strip, the slot features an array of beautiful dancing girls, as well as the famous fountains at the front of the Bellagio hotel in what is a rather attractive and surprisingly non-garish 5x4 reel slot with 50 pay lines in play.

Spins start at just 0.20 per game but you can bet up to 50.00 per spin if you prefer. The slot also features Rolling Reels and uses this feature to unlock the Free Spins bonus game. So if you are ready for the bright lights, unbelievable sights and the entertainment that runs long into the night, let's say a proper hello to the Viva Las Vegas slot.

Overview

• Game: Viva Las Vegas
• Developer: Red Rake Gaming
• Reels: 5x4
• Pay Lines: 50 (non-selectable)
• Minimum Bet: 0.20
• Maximum Bet: 50.00
• Jackpot: 500
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: No
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: Medium to High

Where can I play the Viva Las Vegas slot?

To enjoy any of the top Red Rake Gaming slots and casino games available, one of the first places you should point your browser at is Black Diamond Casino. There's a good reason for this as simply registering your details with the site will see you receive 25 Free Spins, no deposit required and no questions asked. This will enable you to trial the site at no cost to yourself to see if you like how the casino looks and plays.

Then if you do decide to sign up and make a deposit, then your first deposit into your account will see you earn a 200% Matched Deposit Bonus, which will treble the amount of money that you have to play with on site within seconds. That's not where it ends though as on your next few deposits, you can also earn similar great value bonuses too!

Presentation

The presentation of the Viva Las Vegas slot is very nicely done. The graphics are bright, colorful and good quality, though I don't think that they are quite the match of some of the other Red Rake games that I have reviewed previously. The sound is also very engaging, although it is a little loud and it did have me reaching for the volume button as soon as the slot loaded. However, with the volume dialed down a tad, the slot played very nicely.

Rolling Reels are in operation on this slot and it is fundamental to the main bonus features in the game, with the exception of the Wild symbol. The animations for these are nicely done and when you are close to Free Spins, the game plays a little more slowly to draw out the tension. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of this as more often than not you don't trigger Free Spins and it is something of a let down when this happens.

What's on the reels?

There are just eight standard symbols on the reels in the base game. The four lowest paying symbols are the four playing card symbols, heart, spade, diamond and club and these pay out from 1/10 of your bet up to 1x your bet for 5 across the reel. That is a punishingly small amount and these lower value wins are somewhat problematic in the game if you are seeking a bit of value.

Higher value slots include the fountains at the Bellagio hotel, the Viva Las Vegas logo sign plus the green and blue showgirls and these offer wins up to 4x your total bet. Again, this is not a huge amount and you are very much reliant on the Free Spins and Rolling Reels bonuses kicking in to help you land a decent win on the slot.

Wild features

The showgirl wearing the gold costume and top hat is the Wild symbol in the game and she can appear on any reel and also, she is stacked up to four symbols high, which means that she can completely fill a reel.

The Wild is vital to the base game as it is through this symbol that you will land most of your wins and certainly most of your bigger value wins. It is also a key symbol when Rolling Reels kicks in as it can be a vital symbol when trying to unlock the Free Spins bonus through successive Rolling Reels win.

One nice touch is that if you do land a Rolling Reels win using a Stacked Wild, then only the symbols in the Wild that made up a winning pay line disappear, so the remaining Wild symbols will stay on the reels if they are not used in a winning line.

Free Spins features

You trigger the Free Spins bonus game via the Multiplier reel and by landing successive Rolling Reels wins in the base game. You need to land four Rolling Reels win following a winning spin to trigger a Free Spins bonus and if you win more than that, you can increase the multiplier you receive on those free spins from 1x up to 10x.

When you land Free Spins, you will see that the Viva Las Vegas symbol now becomes an additional Wild in the game and you can also earn additional Free Spins by landing successive Rolling Reels wins. The more you land the more you can win in addition to the 10 Free Spins that you receive initially.

Free Spins is the bonus which can pay out the largest amounts in the game but the amount you win can vary significantly from very small amounts up to huge amounts. It is also very difficult to land Free Spins. You can take a long time to trigger it once but then trigger it two or three times within the space of 30 spins. This volatility does make for an exciting game but also a frustrating one at times.

Other bonus features

Other than the Wild symbol and the Free Spins bonus listed above, there are no additional bonus features on the Viva Las Vegas Slot.

Best feature of the Viva Las Vegas slot

Although it doesn't tend to pay as much as the Free Spins bonus, the stacked Wild symbol for me is the best aspect of the Viva Las Vegas slot because it is an absolute fundamental of the game if you are to play the base game for any length of time. The number of times this symbol will be the key to you landing a win would mean that without it, the slot would cease to function as a meaningful game.

What does the Viva Las Vegas slot lack?

I think the biggest issue with this game is that the size of the lower value wins on the slot are punitively small, around ten percent of your stake. That really does mean that you need to trigger those bigger value wins more often to avoid seeing your bankroll dwindle away. The fact that Free Spins can be tough to trigger also makes this a somewhat repetitive game, especially with no random bonus in the base game to play.

Conclusion

Viva Las Vegas for me is a decent slot, but it is definitely one that has been aimed more at the higher roller. Unlocking the main Free Spins bonus in the base game is very tough, perhaps tougher than hitting Scatters across the reels and in truth, your Free Spins bonus is the best chance of a sizeable win, which makes this a slot tougher for lower stakes players to get much out of. Even when you do trigger Free Spins, the payouts won can vary hugely and can be small. This is a decent slot for higher rollers, but I think low to medium variance fans won't get an awful lot from this game.

Ratings

• Presentation: 14 / 20 - The Viva Las Vegas slot is set in one of the many show halls around the city and there's nothing to dislike about the slot. It captures the glitz and glam of a Vegas show perfectly well but having seen the standard of the presentation on some other Red Rake Gaming slots, I feel Viva Las Vegas is a little lacking in comparison. The sounds are good, but rather loud, so tone the volume down a little before you start to play.
• Game-play: 15 / 20 - One of the most appealing aspects of the Viva Las Vegas slot is that its extremely appealing to play. The reels and symbols are bright, cheerful and you tend to win relatively frequently and there is a nice mix of wins as you play. I would have liked an additional bonus feature somewhere along the way, perhaps in the base game, but even so, playing for those free spins is enjoyable.
• Bonus Features: 13 / 20 - The Free Spins bonus game and the fact that you access it by landing consecutive wins on the Rolling Reels feature rather than by landing scatters across the reels, is a nice touch but it can be very difficult to get to. Rolling Reels wins don't actually trigger that often, so even though you win frequently, those wins tend to be in isolation. That makes the Free Spins bonus tough to get to, but it is worth persevering as you can land some sizeable wins in the bonus.
• Entertainment Factor: 13 / 20 - This is a fun game to play but there are a couple of issues that do make it less appealing than some other slots. The first is, as we will explore below, the size of the wins in the game. You win a lot but the majority of wins are very small, some just 10 per cent of your total bet. That and a lack of a base game bonus does make this game one you feel like you need to work hard at to get the best out of.
• Play Value: 12 / 20 - As a medium variance slot, you can experience some real mixed-bag sessions on this slot. Hit it at the right time and you can land a sizeable win almost immediately, yet at others, you will find you get small win after small win for a considerable time which just eats into your bankroll. That and what seems to be a very difficult Multiplier Trail to unlock the Free Spins bonus makes this one of the more testing slots when it comes to your bankroll.
• Overall 67 / 100 - Viva Las Vegas has lots of nice touches, but it also does have a couple of issues that drag this score down a little. The size of the small value wins is a real problem as I don't see a win of 1/10 of your bet can be described as such. The multiplier trail is incredibly hard to trigger anything from and you need patience to unlock free spins, great patience to be truthful and that is problematic for those with smaller bankrolls. For me, this is a slot aimed more at higher rollers who are patient and willing to accept a loss sometimes for a rarer big value win.

Good Luck!

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