Smooth Sailing Slot Machine – Free Play & Review

Smooth Sailing delivers a cruise ship theme, and the design they went with is appropriate for it. It places its set of reels on a deck, and some of its mechanics will involve ship symbols in some form. They went more towards the cartoon genre with the graphics, but that doesn’t hurt them. It’s not the most modern look that I’ve seen in Microgaming’s collection lately, but it will do just fine.

Starting with the lowest paying symbols, we find the standard six Royals (9-A) there, in bright colors, but otherwise quite simple-looking. The ones which pay better through regular combinations, would be the Ship’s Bell, Anchor, Wheel, and Captain’s Hat. The Female Captain will be the wild, and various Boat sections will serve as triggers for some very special prizes.

Developer

If you’re familiar with Microgaming’s releases in recent years, it will not come as a surprise that their slot machines are developed by other studios, and offered exclusively on their platform. It’s what we’re seeing in Smooth Sailing as well, a game that was created by Gold Coin Studios.

How To Play It

Smooth Sailing’s regular betting range starts from a $0.20 minimum, and could go up to $40. If you use the extra bet, for additional advantages, you will spend 50% extra, and the new range is $0.30 to $60.

This is the type of slot machine to form combinations on regular lines, 20 of them, present on 5×3 reels. The Connectify Pays system is the one that stands out, being used by the game to deliver special prizes when you have several matching boat pieces on active lines, but the regular side of it is about as expected. If a 2x symbol lands on reel 5, the Connectify Pays win is doubled in value.

Special Features

The Captain is marked as the slot’s Wild. As such, it will be a substitute for most symbols, the only exception being the scatter. The wilds are only available during paid spins. When they don’t act as replacements, they could pay themselves, by landing 3 to 5 times on a line. Up to 1,000x the stake is paid for one such line.

Two types of scatters can be found on the reels, though typically only the Ship is going to be used. If you activate the extra bet, then the Ticket scatter is also added, and you can trigger the free spins with a combo of 3+ matching scatters of either type. Prizes of up to 200x the stake are also paid for either type of scatter, when they land 3-5 times.

You will get 10 free spins when 3+ matching scatters are visible. The biggest advantage they have, comes from the Connectify Pays that can bring rewards of up to 6,000x the stake, and from the fact that Royals now pay 10x more when forming combinations.

Maximum Payouts

You need the Connectify Pays system working in your favor, to reach the slot’s top jackpot. At 6,000x the stake, I’d say that it’s the type of prize that can motivate a player to give the game a chance.

One has to know that the game is not easy on the player, and that the volatility is high. It helps somewhat if you pick a casino that uses the maximum RTP for this game, of 96.22%.

Summary

Smooth Sailing gives you a chance to experience a new mechanic, something that a lot of developers are trying these days. I’m not convinced that the Connectify Pays system is the answer, but it’s not a bad game overall.