The latest episode of Beyond the Reels sees SlotBeats blast off into the Cosmos with Lady Luck Games‘ Head of Marketing, Dorota Gruszka, as she manoeuvres us through the stars to explain their new slot.
Astro Anna is a 5×5 reel slot with a maximum win of up to x2,500 the player’s bet and no paylines, as players are challenged with connecting pipes to collect cash values.
When a player spins the reels, a set of 25 pipes rotate to reveal new positions. Around the reels are multiple different prize values, ranging from x0.5 to x10 the player’s stake.
The aim of the game is to fill up Astro Anna’s fuel tank by connecting pipes to lead to the cash prizes. The top middle cell contains a red immovable pipe that connects down on all sides to start leading the fuel to different areas of the reels.
Delving into how Astro Anna came to be and the title’s pipe mechanics, Gruszka noted that the game actually stemmed from a previous title in the studio’s portfolio.
She commented: “We’re a group of very creative people and we have team meetings on a regular basis where we share our knowledge, what we would like to see in our games, interesting features and how we can approach things and improve our product, etc.
“During one of those meetings, someone came up with the pipe mechanics and we decided to bring it to life in last year’s title, Mr Alchemister. The game was performing extremely well, we received great feedback from both players and operators so we had an idea that we should try and use those mechanics once again.
“We also wanted to have a cosmic game in our portfolio so then we thought, why not combine those two things together and that’s how Astro Anna was born.”
During the base game, if players can access at least four prizes on the same spin then the free spins feature will be activated.
Gaining four prizes in one spin awards 10 free spins, getting five awards 15 and achieving six prizes will award 20 free spins.
Landing seven, eight, nine or 10 prizes will award 20 free spins with x2, x5, x10 or x20 guaranteed multipliers respectively.
“Astro Anna is a very innovative game, it’s also a beautiful game,” stated Gruszka. “Anyone that likes cosmic team adventures I do believe will like this game. Anyone who wants to see something fresh and innovative on the reels, that’s definitely for those particular players.
“Our aim was to attract two groups of players, both who have already played for quite some time and they want to see something different, rather than the usual reels, but also players that are newcomers. Even though the pipe mechanics are very innovative, the game is still very straight forward.”
Gruszka also went into how the new mechanic stands out amongst others in the sector and is able to grow Lady Luck Game’s customer base and also revealed a little secret about who provided their voice for Astro Anna!
