Jade Idol

It seems not so long ago that we had to contend with old visuals, annoying sound effects and the infancy of online gambling which all had their sets of issues. But as much as it might have negatively affected us in some ways, we still yearn for those days – hence why NextGen Gaming has been hard at work creating the new Classix range of titles. The latest release from this section is Jade Idol, which allows you to relive the experience of playing old looking slots without much of the headaches, scratching the itch of people who want to experience nostalgia, and no doubt saving the developers a bit of money as they avoid spending too much on graphics. It offers a simple free spins bonus to entice gamblers into trying it out, and the standout experience there is that all wins are tripled while the special feature is active.

It’s a bit difficult to really stop and criticise the developers on the graphics, because the whole thing is intentionally made to look older and aged. Of course, it has a modern resolution and the benefits of being able to play it on mobile devices as well, but there isn’t much in terms of amazing animations or fancy symbols that really catch your eye. While it’s meant to evoke an older age of visuals, we’re not sure if it sits well with us to encourage laziness in the aims of meeting nostalgia demands. The user interface is standard for NextGen Gaming – your balance and wager are on the upper side of the screen and all of the menu configurations are hidden behind the settings button. It’s passable, but we’d appreciate a bit more settings on our screen.

As for how it plays, there aren’t really any fancy tricks this game pulls off. There’s only one special feature, which are the free spins, but there aren’t additional bonuses or random triggers you can potentially hit.

Instead, this NextGen Gaming release has you grinding through the regular portion of the title with dead spins and small wins, until the bonus is activated. With between ten to twenty free spins and all wins being tripled for the duration of the special feature, it’s a more or less guaranteed medium to large sized win. Add onto that the fact the extra turns can be retriggered, and you’re looking at a medium to high volatility slot that can really make you flush with cash.

There is one good thing about emulating the classics, and that is the return of flexible paylines. Gamblers can pick between having just one, all twenty, or any number in between active at once. You can also wager your bets between $0.01 to $10 per line, and when it all comes together, it leaves the option lower end players to play with as little as a single cent per spin, while high rollers can spend $200 for each spin, which is probably out of most people’s pay grade! Jade Idol’s RTP is 95.044%, which seems fitting for a title which focuses its wins around a single feature. There’s no progressive jackpots to bail you out here!

To NextGen’s credit, this game does have a nice mix of unique visuals as well as poker card icons. It’s clearly meant for the Oriental market, as the ship, the fans, and the jade statue itself are all things which make prominent showings in Chinese culture. Alongside that, you have a rather large diamond, and a pretty woman of Asian descent. It all looks nice, though they don’t have any fun animations to liven them up.

When three or more Scatters appear, you’re rewarded with free spins. Three Scatters net you 10 extra turns, Four Scatters reward you with 15 free spins, and Five Scatters grant gamblers 20 extra games to play around with! On top of this, all wins during this bonus are tripled, and it is possible to get Scatters while the special feature is running, allowing you to retrigger the bonus while its active.