Frankenstein Slot Machine

Frankenstein slot machines came about because of a licensing agreement between Universal Studios and the designers at Net Entertainment. While the latter has been building a solid reputation formaking virtual games for online casinos, the former has been cranking out blockbuster movies since being founded in 1912 as the Universal Film Manufacturing Company.

One of the greatest and longest-lasting contributions from the studio has come to be known as the “Universal Monsters.” This is a collection of big-screen creatures that primarily thrilledmoviegoers in the 1930s through the 1950s, although adaptations continue into the present era. Examples of these celluloid boogiemen include the Wolf Man, Dracula, and, of course, Frankenstein’sMonster.

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at Netent’s slot machine based on Frankenstein. If you’d like to know more about slot machines with a similar theme, I suggest reading my reviews ofThe Invisible Man and The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

In 1816, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin journeyed to the Swiss villa of Lord Byron with her older, married lover, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Writer and physician John Polidori was also present, and thegroup planned to spend the summer enjoying outdoor activities. Their itinerary was derailed, however, by the eruption of Mount Tambora during the previous year, an event that altered weatherpatterns around the globe and created what’s become known as “the Year without a Summer.”

Instead, the group remained indoors, engaging in lively conversation on topics ranging from philosophy and religion to modern social concerns. During one rainy evening, they passed the hoursreading German ghost stories translated into French. Lord Byron, inspired by the tales, rose from his seat and proposed that everyone present should write their own ghost story.

Mary struggled to come up with anything worth committing to paper, but she received a waking dream several days later that provided her with the necessary inspiration. She began developing hervision into a short story, but her lover (and eventual husband) encouraged her to expand it into a novel. This resulted in Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus being published in1818.

While Lord Byron never completed his story, John Polidori took his basic idea and expanded it into The Vampyre, a tale that’s often credited with creating the romantic vampire genre ofliterature. Thus, during a cold, rainy summer in Switzerland, two of the most influential works of horror fiction were created.

Mary Shelley’s story was initially published without the author’s name attached, and it enjoyed immediate popularity among readers despite poor critical reviews. Numerous stage adaptations wouldfollow, and the invention of the motion picture camera led Edison Studios to produce the first Frankenstein film in 1910. It wasn’t until 1931, however, with the release of Universal’sFrankenstein, that the story achieved immortality.

The cinematic adaptation focuses on Dr. Henry Frankenstein, a brilliant scientist who seeks to conquer death. He and his assistant Fritz raid cemeteries, stealing body parts and patching themtogether to create a new being. Unfortunately, Fritz puts a criminal brain into the creature’s skull instead of a normal one, making the creation prone to outbursts of violence and murder. WhenFrankenstein realizes his creation’s flaw, he sets out to destroy it. This leads to a series of confrontations between the two individuals, with a number of innocent people getting killed in theprocess.

If you’ve seen the film and found it to your liking, here are some other related movies you might want to check out:

The opening scene of the Frankenstein slot immediately sets the tone for the game, as we find Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant, Fritz, in a cemetery on a rainy night. We quickly realize thatthey’re there to do some digging in the graves, and the scene then shifts to the duo hauling their loot back to Frankenstein’s distant and imposing castle.

This sequence lasts less than a minute, but it’s an indication of the kind of quality and attention to detail you can expect from Netent releases. If you look closely, you’ll even notice that theimages of Fritz and Dr. Frankenstein are taken straight from the movies, which gives the entire affair an eerily realistic look. They’ve been patched together and inserted into an illustratedworld, which seems appropriate considering the story’s depiction of bodies being sewn together into something terrible.

The following symbols are found on the main game and make up the standard pay table for the Frankenstein slot machine:

• The Monster

  Most people refer to the creature as Frankenstein, but that was the name of his creator. In actuality, the monster never has a name in the film, and the closest he came in the books wereseveral references to the biblical Adam. While he’s capable of murder, the creature is mainly portrayed as childlike, frightened, and alone in the world. He’s a figure of sorrow and pity,which is one of the main reasons he’s struck a chord with audiences across the decades. Along with Dracula, he’s grown into one of the most iconic movie monster of all time. The creature wasoriginally portrayed on film by legendary performer Boris Karloff. When creating a winning combination on the reels, the symbol pays one of the following amounts: 40 credits for threematches, 150 for four, or 1500 for five.

• Frankenstein

  Henry Frankenstein is a good man with a desire to help the human race by finding ways to prolong life. Unfortunately, he’s also got a bit of a god complex, and so he takes his experiments toofar. In doing so, he dooms his devoted fiancée, a little village girl, and a number of others to an untimely death. Portrayed on the big screen by actor Colin Clive, the wayward doctor paysone of the following for a winning combination: 30 credits for three matches, 125 for four, and 1200 for five.

• Fritz

  The somewhat deranged assistant of Dr. Frankenstein, Fritz is the embodiment of the phrase “good help is hard to find.” Sure, he’s got no qualms about digging up corpses in the graveyard, buthis ability to select suitable brains is sorely lacking. His love of tormenting the frightened creature with a torch doesn’t help things, either, but he eventually pays the ultimate price forbeing such a crazed nitwit. He’s portrayed in the film by Dwight Frye (who also played Renfield in Dracula). His symbol offers the following payouts: 25 credits for three, 100 forfour, and 700 for five.

• The Brain

  This is the criminal brain that gets put into the skull of Frankenstein’s monster by the dimwitted Fritz. I’ve always wondered why someone would leave a criminal’s brain sitting around in ajar, but that’s the kind of thing you have to overlook in works of fiction. When part of a winning combination, this symbol pays one of the following: 20 credits for three matches, 75 forfour, or 500 for five.

• Ace

  In the game of poker, this card is usually the highest value. Among the following symbols, this certainly holds true, with the icon providing one of the following payouts for a winningcombination: 10 credits for three matches, 50 for four, and 150 for five.

• King

  Acting as a filler card to round out the available icons, this symbol pays one of the following credit amounts: eight for three matches, 30 for four matches, and 125 for five matches.

• Queen

  The highest-ranking poker card with a female theme (the only one, in fact), the queen pays one of the following values when part of a winning combo: six credits for three matches, 25 forfour, and 100 for five.

• Jack

  The lowest face card in the game of poker, this icon pays five credits for three matches, 20 for four, and 75 for five.

• Ten

  When part of a winning combination, this icon pays one of the following values: four credits for three matches, 15 for four, and 50 for five.

• Nine

  The least valuable symbol in the main game, this poker icon pays three credits for three matches, 10 for four, and 25 for five.

If you’re looking for additional ways to win on the Frankenstein slot machine, he sure to keep an eye out for the following icons and bonus rounds:

There are a number of control options beneath the reels that allow the player to customize their gaming (and betting) experience. The following are the most notable:

• Paytable

  Contains details about bonus features, special symbols, and the payline configurations.

• Bet

  This display indicates the size of the wager for an upcoming spin.

• Lines

  The number of active paylines. This can be as high as 20 or as low as a single line.

• Level

  Increasing the level causes the total bet to rise. Decreasing the level accomplishes the opposite.

• Autoplay

  The slot spins the reels automatically without the player having to press the button each time. Opens for autoplay include 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750, and 1000.

• Spin

  Clicking this button sets the reels in motion.

• Max Bet

  Places the highest possible bet based on denomination and number of active paylines.

• Coins

  The number of coins currently available to the player.

• Coin Value

  The denomination of money currently being used. Options include 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, and 0.50.

• Cash

  The total amount of money in the player’s casino account.

• Bet

  The size of the wager placed by the player.

• Win

  If the player wins, the total amount is shown here.

The Frankenstein slot machine from Net Entertainment is a solid addition to the “Universal Monsters” family of games. The graphics and audio aren’t as slick as what’s found on a release like TheInvisible Man, but fans of classic horror films should still be entertained. This game should definitely be on your list of horror-themed slot to play in the near future, although I suggestsampling similar releases to find the one that best meets your needs as a player.