Pink Panther Slots

Gameplay

The Pink Panther is a 5-reel, 3-row video slot game by Playtech featuring 40 pay lines. All prizes are paid from left to right on active pay lines, except for scatter wins. Prizes are paid in multiples of bet per line, except for the scatter prizes, which are paid in multiples of total bet made.

The pink panther character is used to liven up the action. He stands leaning against the playing area and occasionally taps the glass on the slot machine (computer) to get your attention. If his symbols pay a prize he'll reach behind himself and pull out some cash. He may also interact with the game in several ways described below.

Playtech uses a sophisticated game control interface. They place a special ribbon across the top of the screen that allows the casino to integrate other games into the playing experience, although the ribbon also holds the control for toggling sound on and off and for bringing up the game options sub-menu system.

There are two display widgets at the top of the screen. They are used for the random jackpot bonus game and during normal play just say "Not Active".

The playing reel area is bordered on both sides by 20 numbered buttons. These buttons allow you to activate and deactivate pay lines at will. Clicking on a button activates all the pay lines up to that number and deactivates all higher-numbered pay lines.

The controls players are most interested in are positioned across the screen below the playing area. From left to right they are: Coin Value, Info, Auto Start, Lines, Bet Per Line, Bet Max, Gamble, and Spin.

• The Coin Value control

  This is a just a simple button. Click on it and a menu with eight options pops up. Click on any value to alter the value of your bets per line and total bet.

• The Auto Start control

  This is a widget with a plus and minus button to control how many spins the game plays for you. The spins continue until they have completed, you run out of money, you leave the game, or you click on the Stop button. All spins play at the same number of pay lines and bet per line that was active when you started the Auto Spin.

• The Lines control

  Line Control is a button that cycles through the 40 active pay lines. This button only activates and deactivates pay lines according to the number in the display. It does not control individual pay lines.

• The Bet Per Line button

  This button cycles through 10 options, their values depending on the current Coin Value you have selected. You'll see how much you are betting per line in the small display just above the button.

• The Bet Max button

  This button activates all 40 pay lines and changes Bet Per Line to the 10th (highest) level and then initiates a spin.

• The Gamble button

  This button is only active immediately after any spin where you have won a prize. You use this button to go into a special card game feature where you can wager half or all of your winning against a card draw. Once you have chosen how much you will risk the left-most card is turned over. You must then choose one of four remaining cards. You win if your card is higher than the first. You can continue playing until you lose your money, collect, or reach the limit.

• The Spin button

  This initiates one game but also doubles as a Stop button after the reels have spun for a while.

Pink Panther Slots Pay Table

There are thirteen symbols in the game. The two special symbols are the Pink Panther, which serves as the game's Wild symbol, and the game logo, which serves as the game's Scatter symbol. The Pink Panther substitutes for all other symbols in the game except for the Scatter.

Inspector Clouseau, featured in both the movies and some of the cartoons, is the highest paying symbol in the game. His five of a kind prize is 500 times Bet Per Line.

The Little Man, a character from the animated shorts, pays 300 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind.

The Bomb and Paint Bucket symbols both pay 200 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind.

The Inspector's Magnifying Glass and the Panther's Pink Footprints both pay 150 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind.

The Scatter symbol pays 5, 25, and 125 times total bet for 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, and 5 of a kind.

The remaining symbols, "A", "K", "Q", "J", and "10" all pay 100 times bet per line or less for five of a kind.

Pink Panther Bonus Games

Unlike many slot games, all five bonus feature games are triggered randomly in the Pink Panther slots. This may be a nod to the running joke in the movies where Inspector Clouseau's man-servant, Cato, is constantly attacking him by surprise.

After every spin the game checks to see if a random bonus is awarded. In addition to the five regular bonus games there is also the progressive Jackpot Adventure, which is only available to real money players.

The Pink Pow bonus begins with a clever animation of the panther grabbing a detonator. He then activates it and blows up several tiles on the screen, turning them into Wild symbols.

The Crack the Pink Code Bonus begins with the Panther opening several safes. He collects free spins and either a multiplier or an Expanding Wild on reel 3. When he opens a safe with dynamite he collects 2 more free spins and then the free spins game begins with either the multiplier or the Expanding Wild.

The Color Pink Bonus takes you to a screen where the Panther and the Little Man paint a wall with numbers. The sum of all the numbers is multiplied by the total bet you just played. If you are happy with the prize you can collect it and be done. If you want to try your luck again you can click on Repaint. You get three chances to collect the best possible prize.

In the Wheel of Pink Bonus game the Panther and Little Man stand beside a set of two wheels, one inside the other. The outside wheel lists numbers that represents multipliers to be applied to the total bet of the spin that triggered this bonus. The inside wheel is divided into Respin and Collect pie slices. When the Panther spins the wheels you win a prize of the chosen multiplier times your total bet. If the inside wheel settles on Collect you are done, but if it settles on Respin you play again.

The Pink Trail Bonus game takes you to a screen where Inspector Clouseau must follow a trail of pink footsteps to find the diamond. As he follows the trail each footstep reveals a prize. The prizes are added up and multiplied by the total bet of the spin triggering the bonus game. The trail is divided into four sections or rounds. At the end of the first, second, and third rounds you may choose to Collect prizes won so far or to Continue. If you choose to Continue the Inspector may step on a bomb, reducing your accumulated prizes by half and ending the Bonus round. If the Inspector makes it all the way to the end of the trail and finds the diamond your total win is multiplied by 2.

The random Progressive Jackpot Adventure guarantees you win either one of the two jackpots or a consolation prize. You play the game by opening twelve doors. You continue opening doors until you find the Little Man standing behind three (winning the consolation prize), Inspector Clouseau hiding behind four (winning the Minor Jackpot), or the Pink Panther hiding behind five doors (winning the Major Jackpot). If you do nothing or don't open enough doors within a time limit the game will time out and award you one of the prizes automatically. Progressive jackpots can only be won by real money players.

Conclusion

For anyone who loved the Pink Panther cartoons or the movies this is a fun game to play. The title character makes it interesting not only by encouraging you to keep spinning the reels but through his interaction with the game. The animations are well done and closely match the movie and television show animation styles. The music is upbeat and "jazzy" but not really on a par with the original Pink Panther soundtrack.

The wagering options border on looney and dangerous at the same time. If you are not careful, betting the maximum when you have the coin value set all the way up to the maximum could clean out your balance (although the game will tell you if you don't have enough money in your balance to make a high stakes bet).

Still, one of the strengths of any slot game is that it gives the player a sense of control over what happens. The extensive flexibility in the wager settings is a significant measure of good value. But players may feel less in control because of the way the bonus games are awarded. If you are accustomed to looking for certain combinations of symbols you'll be left with a feeling of "where is the bonus game?" as you watch the same symbols spin past you.

That slightly off-balance feeling is to be expected because, frankly, it's hard to fit five bonus games into any sane winning combinations. The relatively low stakes prizes may seem less than exciting but the theoretical return to player is a respectable 95.39%. You should win a lot of small to moderate prizes while waiting for the bonus games to show up.

The slot's intro movie shows you all the bonus games in the form of a classic Pink Panther short animation film. You may be tempted to reload the game a few times just to see it all again. The jazzy soundtrack is fun and upbeat.

The in-tile animations that play when you win a prize are somewhat limited. In fact, it almost feels as if more effort was invested in animating the pay lines, which tick off their prizes in succession against the ambient sound of a metronome. But each animated tile does come with its own little sound clip so you at least have that much to look forward to.