Badger Miners

Review Badger Miners

While Badger Miners initially appears to be an exhilarating pokie with its enticing multiplier system, the gameplay experience may not fully live up to the initial expectations. The multiplier system, although promising at first glance, fails to deliver the anticipated excitement during actual play. The computer game-like 3D visuals, showcasing the industrious badgers in their mining endeavours, offer an appealing touch. However, the novelty wears off rather quickly after extended gameplay sessions. Nevertheless, the Cash Wild feature demonstrates potential as an innovative addition, and it would be exciting to see it incorporated in future releases. By absorbing the value of wins and gradually ascending with Respins, coupled with substantial multiplier enhancements, this feature can lead to significant rewards for players in New Zealand and beyond.

How to Play

Badger Miners presents itself as a fresh addition to the online casino gaming landscape, delivered by the reputable game provider Yggdrasil. The gameplay adheres to a standard setup featuring 5 reels and 3 rows, ensuring easy comprehension for players around the world. To familiarise yourself with the game rules without any financial commitment, we offer a free demo version at CherryRed. Here is nonetheless how you can play Badger Miners:

• Additionally, within the game, you can access a help page that provides detailed information about the paytable, rules, and features. If our Badger Miners pokie review fails to cover any aspect, you can find comprehensive information in the game menu. 
• Moreover, like other pokies, even in demo mode, you have the option to adjust your bet according to your preferences, using the stack of coins button. 
• To mute the sound effects, locate the mute option in the bottom corner. 
• Lastly, it’s essential to prioritise responsible gaming by maintaining control over your gambling activities, avoiding chasing losses, and recognising when to stop.

This thrilling title is available at various NZ online casinos that offer games by Yggdrasil. You will find a shortlist of reputed casino sites that are tested by our reviewers. We recommend you check out these websites after having tried out the free demo. 

Symbol Wins

The symbols on the reels consist of various coloured gemstones, representing the low value symbols. These are accompanied by different mining equipment, such as a bag, a flask, a shovel, and a pickaxe. Two badger symbols, one in red and one in blue, also make their appearance. The red-hat-wearing badger symbol holds the most value, awarding payouts of 10, 20, or 50x your total stake when landing in combinations of 3, 4, or 5 symbols.

The Wild symbol in the game takes the form of a mining cart filled with gold. Referred to as the Cash Wild, it exclusively appears on the middle 3 reels, presenting the opportunity to unlock fantastic cash prizes.

The Scatter symbol is depicted as a stick of dynamite, with 5 Scatters triggering the highly anticipated Free Spins feature. Each additional Scatter that lands to activate the bonus round grants 2 extra free spins. During this feature, a metre collects any Scatters present on the reels, resetting at the end of each Respin. Refer to the list below for a comprehensive overview of all the symbols encountered in the game:

Various coloured gemstones (lower-paying symbols)

• Mining equipment: bag, flask, shovel, pickaxe.
• Badgers: one in red, one in blue (red-hat-wearing badger being the most lucrative).
• Wild symbol: mining cart filled with gold (Cash Wild)
• Scatter symbol: stick of dynamite.

Below, we’ll dive into the different symbols and explain what they can mean for you. 

Bonus Features

Badger Miners boasts an array of enticing bonus features that add an extra layer of excitement to your gameplay experience. The game first offers a Free Spins feature that presents the opportunity to acquire additional spins. Furthermore, a Wild Respins feature awaits, providing players with thrilling Respins triggered by the appearance of Cash Wilds. For those looking to expedite their journey to the bonus round, a buy feature is available, allowing players to purchase the Free Spins feature. Lastly, this free online casino game NZ incorporates colour-coded multipliers, further enhancing the potential for substantial winnings. Allow us to delve into each feature in detail, ensuring you have a comprehensive understanding of all the captivating elements at play.

Multipliers and Operators

Multipliers are colour coded into 3 categories on the middle 3 reels – low, medium and high. Operators + and * can appear between the multipliers and the values are randomly selected. The operation sequence is always from left to right. Here’s an example:

Wild Respins feature

The game incorporates three categories of colour-coded multipliers on the middle 3 reels, namely low, medium, and high. Short codes such as “+” and “*” can appear between the multipliers, and these values are randomly assigned. It’s important to note that the operation sequence always proceeds from left to right. Throughout gameplay, Cash Wilds can land on the middle 3 reels. When these Wilds are part of a winning combination, they absorb the associated win amounts, subsequently triggering Respins. During these Respins, the Cash Wilds progressively ascend by one cell. It’s worth noting that the multipliers remain constant throughout the Respins. The Respins continue until no further Cash Wilds contribute to a win.

Free Spins feature

By collecting 5 Scatters in the base game, you unlock the Free Spins feature, awarding you 7 free spins. Additionally, each subsequent Scatter that triggers the bonus round grants an extra 2 free spins. The mechanics of this bonus feature mirror those of the base game, with the following exceptions:

• Cash Wilds that haven’t reached the top of the reels during Respins persist, retaining their collected value for the next spin.
• Scatters do not appear in the Free Spins feature.

Bonus Buy 

There is no way to retrigger the bonus round, but NZ players can purchase access to the feature for 95x the stake. This round comes with an organic hit rate of 1 in 300 spins. If you decide to make use of this feature, we suggest you do this moderately and only if your bankroll allows you to. The bonus buy is not available everywhere so it might depend on the casino where you’re playing if this feature can be selected or not. 

Payout Metrics

The Badger Miners RTP comes at a flat 96%, which is just about the online average for NZ online pokies of this type. Do note that there are other RTP’s as well that go as low as 94.2%, 90.5% and 86.0%. The exact RTP may depend on your preferred online pokie site in New Zealand which is why it is always recommended to check the RTP rate before you make your first real money bet. The game comes with a hit frequency of 24.78%, which means that just under a quarter of all spins on average will result in a winner. As for the game’s variance, it’s in the high range. The maximum win is 10,000x your total bet. This is best achieved in the Free Spins feature which is clearly thanks to the extra free spins and numerous multipliers. The free spins frequency is labelled as 1 in 300.

Summary

The gameplay experience in Badger Miners is refreshingly straightforward, allowing for easy comprehension. However, it manages to captivate players with its dynamic Cash Wilds and ever-changing multipliers. The graphics of the game are truly outstanding, featuring bold colours that enhance the overall visual appeal. Furthermore, the Free Spins feature seamlessly integrates with the base game, simplifying the gameplay. Yggdrasil proudly states that the Free Spins feature triggers more frequently than in other pokies out there, a claim we can confidently endorse based on our testing. Although many of our wins during these bonus rounds were relatively modest, it’s important to acknowledge that this badger hole holds immense potential, with a maximum win of 10,000x your bet. 

However, on occasions where fortune doesn’t favour you, Badger Miners may become somewhat monotonous. Nevertheless, credit is due to Yggdrasil for daring to break free from convention and delivering a mining-themed pokie with innovative concepts waiting to be unearthed. Thus, while Badger Miners may not represent the epitome of mining-themed gambling, it unquestionably offers mining enthusiasts a distinct underground gaming experience that deviates from the norm. In conclusion, Badger Miners makes a worthy addition to the ever-expanding collection of mining-themed pokies. Before making any real-money commitments, we encourage you to try our free demo version. This allows you to become acquainted with the game mechanics and make an informed decision yourself.