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Mobile Money # 14: Scatter Slots

Who doesn’t want to get paid for playing video games? This series follows mobile applications, some of which are borderline games at best, that claim to reward users with cold hard cash (or gift cards). In my pursuit of extra cash to blow on games, or Steam gift cards to add to my collection, I have tried a number of these applications. I hope my experiences can help others steer clear of the more dubious of these applications.

This time we’ll be looking at Scatter Slots, a free-to-play mobile game released by Murka Games Limited in 2015. This is a simulation of playing various slot machine games, but it does not involve gambling with real money. The way that you can get paid for playing this game is through third-party referral services, which at the time of this writing I know Stormplay is currently offering, but may also be available on other similar services.

After recently making a couple of easy bucks completing a task to play Club Vegas, written about here, I decided to try another one of the multitude of slot machine mobile game tasks. The goal this time was to complete level 51 in Scatter Slots, within 30 days of first downloading the app. The reward for completing this is a little over $2 in cryptocurrency.

Yup, it’s a slot machine app all right.

While I expect most people know the basics of how a slot machine works, there are multiple variations on Scatter Slots. Unlike a casino simulator, the style here is done more to resemble a role-playing game. There is a map with various levels, and for each map you get to choose a “character” to use. This choice determines the style of slots machine that you play on and the goal for the current level.

The above screenshot shows the “Thief” character. The gimmick for this slot machine is that if there is a winning combination, the winning images will be removed from the screen and other images will drop down. If that leads to another winning combination, then those images are removed and this continues until there are no more winning lines. If you get more than four wins on one spin through this process, then you win free spins.

The previous screen shot is from level 34 .

You unlock additional characters as you progress through levels and there are temporary characters only available for a few days at a time. There is some overlap in mechanics, albeit with different graphics. These mechanics all boil down to bonus games where you earn more coins or free spins.

About every five levels, after unlocking a new character, you get a bonus game where you typically get five free spins at the maximum amount you can bet. This would be the level marked with a chest on the screenshot above. There is also an hourly free slot machine where you get 30 seconds to mash the spin button to earn more coins.

The hourly free slot machine. After a number of spins you earn upgrade points, the green arrows, which can be spent to improve payouts.

There are various objectives for each level. As stated previously, these are determined in part by the character you choose. These objectives are usually winning a set number of coins, spinning so many times, spinning so many times with a maximum bet, or winning a certain amount with free spins or bonus games.

There are also some random collectibles, such as cards and “runes” that you can find while spinning. Completing collections of these earns you more coins to spin with. However, in my limited experience these rewards seem to lag behind the difficulty of completing levels.

The rune collection side goal screen.

At the time of this writing, I am basically stuck on level 34. All of the goals are to earn multiple millions of coins and I have essentially hit a point where I am out of coins. Every hour I can pick up enough free coins for a couple of spins, but it feels like it’s going to take a long time to make it out of this level.

Granted, this may just be bad luck on my part. During the last bonus chest, I won nothing on five free spins at the max bet of fifty million coins. There is also no goal available to do something simple, like spin a set number of times, which can be accomplished with a minimal bet.

The art and music for the game are both well done. The main music track on the map is Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, which is the definition of a classical track. The various slot machines each have their own music tracks, which are more geared toward a dark fantasy game than a casino simulator. The sound effects can be a little annoying on some menus, though I personally tend to just leave the sound off.

The art choices seem to have been made with a certain gender and age group in mind.

Being a free-to-play game, it is monetized through in-app purchases. They try to sell you in-game currency for real money. This is, of course, a terrible idea if you are trying to earn money playing games, and in general for these sorts of casino games. It does not have external advertisements, which is always nice.

Overall, I would give Scatter Slots a “C+/B-” rating, or 6.5/10 stars. In my experience, the payouts seem a bit tight, which makes completing a task to get paid fairly time consuming. If you are using a service that pays you for just spending time in the game, it might be a better option. The music and lack of ads is nice at least.

If you like the idea of slots with pictures of scantily clad female fantasy characters, you can check out Scatter Slots on the Google App Store here. Currently it has a 4.6/5 stars rating there. And, as a reminder, if you are trying to earn through a service, you should make sure to download it through that service.

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