Continental gamblers are likely familiar with the Deal or No Deal phenomena, despite the show’s popularity being mostly a British television fascination. Blueprint Gaming must be singled out as the company responsible for the transition from television to slot machines. The show is in Blueprint’s hands, and they’re using every bit of it to their advantage. With the release of Deal or No Deal Banker’s Bonanza, an online slot that provides two distinct justifications for its existence, it is clear that there is still plenty of blood left in the stone. One of them is a scatter payout structure similar to that of Sweet Bonanza. If you’re a fan of the program, the second is going to blow your mind. The iconic Noel Edmonds makes an appearance as a voice actor for the first time in the game’s bonus round.
Those who believe “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” will be pleased with Blueprint’s graphical and auditory presentation. Players engage with a game grid encircled by orange lights and a bonus game trail as a show-inspired pounding music plays in the background. It’s all quite standard and boring, but fans of banking culture will like the style.
DONDBB is a medium-to-high volatility slot machine game that employs a 6-reel, 5-row grid matrix and a scatter payout system in place of traditional paylines. You win when you see 8 or more identical symbols anywhere on the board, at which point the cascade feature begins. You can challenge the Banker with a bet as low as 10 p/c and as high as £/€20 every spin, regardless of the device you’re using.
The nine pay symbols on the reels are a mix of low-paying regulars and higher-value icons from the program. For 12 or more in sight, cherries, lemons, plums, watermelons, and bells are each worth 2-8 times the stake. The prizes for getting 12 or more of a kind are various cups with a question mark, letters, seals, and boxes, and they range from 10x to 25x the initial wager. There are no wilds in this game, but there are secret symbols that change into the same symbol at random.
Take it or leave it Riches of the Banker Slot Machine
When you get a win, the cascade function will eliminate the winning symbols. Extra winnings may occur if symbols above them fall into the empty spaces. The bonus round is activated when a certain number of consecutive cascades occur.
Extra Pathway
Players enter the Deal or No Deal Bonus Round, the Super Deal or No Deal Bonus Round, or the Mega Deal or No Deal Bonus Round, respectively, when 6, 8, or 11 consecutive cascades occur on a single base game spin.
After being triggered, the screen switches to show free spin rewards on the right and cash awards on the left. The base bonus shows cash and free spins as rewards, the super bonus shows less cash prizes, and the mega bonus shows just free spins.
Each player chooses one box at the outset and keeps it until the finale. The rest of the boxes are opened one by one, and the round begins. When a box is broken open, a prize is shown and taken off the screen. The Banker routinely makes sales calls at predetermined periods. You can choose to take the offer and go back to the main game, or you can decline it and continue opening boxes. If you make it to the finish, you get to open the box you chose at the beginning and claim your prize.
Bonus Turns
During the bonus round, a golden box with multiplier values from 2x to 100x appears. Any visible multipliers are totaled together and applied to the final win of a winning cascade. Additional free spins of +5 are awarded whenever 3 or more bonus symbols appear during the round.
Take it or leave it Cash Cow: The Slots Judgement
It’s hard to keep track of all the Deal or No Deal slots that Blueprint has put out, but they keep on coming at a furious pace. DOND looks to be gaining steam, and the relationship between Blueprint and license holder Banijay Brands appears to be as strong as ever. Banker’s Bonanza has a scatter pay structure that is appealing, but getting Noel Edmonds on board is practically revolutionary. If there was a glaring omission in earlier DOND games, Banker’s Bonanza has successfully filled the void left by Noel. Having Noel’s face appear in future DOND slots or having him appear as a guest star on Deal or No Deal Live would be the only things that could top this.
So, to bring ourselves back down to reality, let’s review Banker’s Bonanza. That’s OK. Nothing spectacular if you don’t care about DOND. The bonus game where you open up boxes can be entertaining. Imagine yourself in the hot seat, opening boxes, debating whether or not to accept the Banker’s offer, and reveling in the tension that ensues with just a little bit of creative thinking. There are, however, certain problems. One major issue is that the Banker isn’t offering anything of value. Decisions to accept or decline offers in the thousands of British pounds were incredibly difficult for candidates on the show. The stakes of slot judgments are often lower. There is little reason to not open every box, given the Banker’s offerings are usually uninteresting and the monetary incentives are rather little. It’s nice to get a taste of the performance, but the bonus rounds usually just turned into a mad dash to the finish line so we could find out what was in the first box.
Another DOND release will be celebrated like an after-party for the Eurovision Song Contest in specific gambling circles, and the opinions of critics will not be taken into consideration. While the majority of the content here is rather predictable, the newer sections—and notably the addition of Noel Edmond’s dulcet tones—should be well appreciated.