Life of Brian’s RTP is 94.0%, which is below average for an online slot. Low RTP seems to be a theme with Ash Gaming products, but this isn’t the worst example that we’ve seen.
Life of Brian Slot Machines
Life of Brian is a 5 reel, 30 pay line slot machine that Ash Gaming developed for online casinos.
This online slot is based on the 1979 movie Life of Brian, which was produced by the famed British comedy group Monty Python.
This film tells the story of a young Jewish man named Brian Cohen Graham Chapman, who’s born next door to Jesus Christ on the same day and is eventually mistaken for the Messiah. People then mobhis home and demand that he cure them and offer his divine secrets.
Laced with heavy religious satire, Life of Brian was very controversial at the time of its release. Many religious groups deemed the film as blasphemy and protested against it.
The result was a ban in 39 UK locations, and a complete ban in Norway and Ireland. Monty Python used this to their advantage, putting up posters in Sweden that read, “So funny, it was banned inNorway!”
Despite the drama, Life of Brian became a success, earning $20 million on a $4 million budget, making it the UK’s fourth highest grossing film of 1979.
Of course, a few decades have passed since Life of Brian shocked movie audiences. This begs the question of if the game’s humor and subject matter can appease modern slots players.
Let’s find out by discussing Life of Brian’s background, music, animations, bonuses, and betting options.
Life of Brian Slot Machines Overview
Atmosphere / Background
This slot opens with the same introduction as the movie, where “Brian Song” plays while the credits are introduced. Ash Gaming put their own unique spin on this introduction by including keyfeatures of the game, including a progressive jackpot and 10 bonus rounds.
Once the intro is over, you’ll see all 10 of the bonuses laid out in colorful format. When you’re satisfied, you can click Continue on the tombstone to start playing.
The game’s background is a desert scene, which makes sense given that the movie is set in Israel. Unfortunately, the background also makes Life of Brian blend in with the numerous Egyptian themedslots found in the gaming world.
Music and Sound Effects
The music matches tunes from the film, which, if you’re a Monty Python fan, will make the game more enjoyable.
Sound effects during winning pay outs are standard for any slot machine. But these generic sound effects are forgiven when you consider how many movie scenes play, which we’ll discuss next.
Animations
Aside from the 10 bonus features, the best part of this game is how many film scenes play after winning pay outs. The reels feature several major characters from the movie, and each one comeswith their own scene.
Here are some examples: Mr. Cheeky (Eric Idle) says that he wants freedom over a crucifixion, the Centurion (John Cleese) yells at a villager, Brian yells that he’s not the Messiah, Brian’s Mumsays what a naughty boy he is, and Pontius Pilate (Michael Palin) delivers a line with his speech impediment.
Other than the movie scenes, you’ll see the stone letters crack when they appear in a winning pay line.
Life of Brian Pay table and Graphics
Pay outs and symbols for Life of Brian include:
Life of Brian wild icon
The wild icon substitutes for all other symbols except scatters to form winning pay outs. The wild symbol pays 1,000 credits for 5 symbols, 500 for 4, and 100 for 3.
Brian
The main character of the story offers 1,000 credits for 5 symbols, 300 for 4, and 60 for 3.
Brian’s Mum
Played by Terry Jones, Brian’s Mum pays 500 credits for 5 symbols, 200 for 4, and 50 for 3.
Pontius
The Roman leader pays 300 credits for 5 symbols, 150 for 4, and 40 for 3.
Centurion
Leader of the local Roman soldiers, this character pays 200 credits for 5 symbols, 120 for 4, and 30 for 3.
Mr. Cheeky
Mr. Cheeky pays 150 credits for 5 symbols, 90 for 4, and 30 for 3.
Jailer
The Jailer pays 100 credits for 5 symbols, 60 for 4, and 30 for 3.
Brian Temple
If you get 3 temple symbols on reels 1, 3, and 5, you’ll trigger a wheel that you spin to determine one of four bonuses.
A
The A pays 50 credits for 5 symbols, 30 for 4, and 10 for 3.
K
The K pays 40 credits for 5 symbols, 20 for 4, and 5 for 3.
Q
The Q pays 30 credits for 5 symbols, 10 for 4, and 5 for 3.
J
The J pays 20 credits for 5 symbols, 10 for 4, and 5 for 3.
Symbol Graphics
This game uses real life depictions from the movie, so Ash Gaming didn’t need to do anything special with the graphics. The few symbols that are animated are mediocre, but not many players willcare since this game is mostly about the character symbols and bonuses.
It would be nice if Ash Gaming used more characters, rather than including generic letters for the low pay ing symbols. Ash could’ve also made the letters more unique than just a solid tancolor.
Life of Brian Bonus Features
Even if you’ve never heard of this movie, you should consider playing Life of Brian due to the many different bonus features. As mentioned earlier, there are 10 bonuses in all, which you can readabout below.
Life of Brian Wheel
3 Brian temples anywhere on the reels trigger a wheel bonus with four different sections, each representing another bonus round. The short hand points to your bonus, and the long hand delivers acash prize, bonus multiplier, or mystery prize. This wheel isn’t considered one of the 10 bonuses, but it acts as one by offering you side prizes.
Stoning Bonus
Brian’s Mum takes him to a stoning, where you’ll see eight different characters lined up. You choose one person to throw a stone at, while other players are hit with small stones. If the StoningOfficial suspects that a woman is in the lineup, you can tug on a fake beard to earn another cash prize.
People’s Front of Judea Bonus
This bonus deals with satire from the movie, where the People’s Front of Judea want to overthrow the Romans under the claim that they’ve done nothing to help people. You then select differentitems to figure out what the Romans have done for you, including Aqueducts, Education, Irrigation, Medicine, Roads, and Public Order.
Romani Ite Domun Bonus
As a new member of the People’s Front of Judea, Brian must paint anti Roman graffiti on castle walls. The more he paints before the sun comes up, the more credits you win.
What’s So Funny?
Brian has been captured by the Romans, and Pontius Pilate attempts to interrogate him. You select one of 3 guards whom you think can hold their laughter while listening to Pontius’ speechimpediment. The longer your guard keeps from breaking out into laughter, the higher your bonus will be.
Wild Spaceship Re Spins
After random losing spins, Brian will fall through the reels and be caught by an alien spaceship. Once he’s caught by the ship, one reel stack will turn wild and you get a re spin. Extra wildsare added, and the reels continue spinning until you win.
Foot of God Progressive Jackpot
When the Foot of God steps down, you’ll be awarded a random cash prize. You may even be awarded the progressive jackpot during this bonus.
Pick a Holy Item
Choose from a sandal, juniper bush, or gourd to win a cash prize. Once you make your selection, the crowd of believers will gasp at your item as a holy relic.
Pledge Your Allegiance
Choose one of three anti Roman factions for a prize. The groups include: People’s Front of Judea, Popular Front of Judea, and the Judean People’s Front.
Always Look on the Bright Side Free Spins
This bonus is triggered when you get crosses on reels 3, 4, and 5. You choose members of the Judean People’s Front Crack Suicide Squad to earn free spins. Your multiplier goes up after everylosing free spin, and you can trigger the Crucifixion Bonus after free spins by collecting 3 scatter symbols.
Crucifixion Bonus
You’re shown six people who are being crucified, and you choose one to collect a cash prize or retrigger your free spins.
Betting Options
The 30 pay lines are fixed, but you can change the coin denomination from $0.01 to $10.00. This makes for a minimum bet of $0.30 and a max wager of $300.00.
The gripe we have about the coin denomination is that you can’t just hold down the plus and minus symbols to change this. You instead have to click every time, which is annoying since there areso many different coin denominations to sift through.
Other Options
You can speed up the reels by clicking Turbo Mode. We didn’t notice a huge difference between regular speed and Turbo Mode, but the reels will spin somewhat faster.
You can also turn the sound on and off by pushing the little speaker below the Spin button.
Volatility
The volatility on this slot is average, and we found ourselves picking up a lot of small wins with the letters. We were betting $3.00 per spin ($0.10 per line) and netting quite a few pay outsranging from $0.30 to $3.00.
Life of Brian isn’t too rough on your bankroll, but you’ll eventually need to hit a couple bonuses to keep your funds from slowly grinding down.
Return to Player RTP
Comparison to Other Ash Gaming Slot Machines
One thing that sticks out about Ash Gaming is how they’re able to make slot machines that differ from each other considerably. This differs from many slots makers, which have games that tend torun together.
Below you can see a couple other slot machines from Ash Gaming and how they compare to Life of Brian.
Wonderland
This 5 reel, 30 pay line online slot is a generic adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The feel of Adventures in Wonderland is very different from Life of Brian, with this slot taking a more serious tone. You’ll also notice that every symbol is animated, unlike the real lifedepictions in Life of Brian.
Another difference in these slots is that Adventures in Wonderland allows you to adjust pay lines from 1 30, rather than the 30 fixed pay lines in Life of Brian.
The bonuses are quite different in Adventures in Wonderland, both in terms of frequency and style. This slot has 3 bonuses, with two of them occurring on the reels. Contrast this to Life ofBrian, where many of its 10 bonuses occur on second screens.
Overall, we like the feel of Adventures in Wonderland and think that it’s a quality slot. Which game you like more depends upon what mood you’re in and the type of movies/stories you like.
Little Britain
This 5 reel, 30 pay line slot is based on the British comedy TV show Little Britain, which parodies British people in different economic classes and situations going through their dailylives.
Like Life of Brian, Little Britain has a deeper meaning in its comedy, using these parodies to show cultural differences between Americans and British.
Anybody who’s a fan of the show will appreciate the main characters appearing on the reels, including Andy, Dafydd, Emily “I am a Lady” Howard, Lou, and Vicky Pollard. Just like Life of Brian,you’ll see these characters in TV scenes when they appear in winning combinations.
Another similarity between these bonuses is that they both have plenty of bonus rounds.
Our favorite bonuses from Little Britain include: Dafydd’s Big Gay Bonus, where you help Dafydd complete an outfit, and Lou and Andy’s Love It Bonus, where you help wheelchair bound Andy pickout his favorite items.
If you like Life of Brian, chances are that you’re going to enjoy Little Britain and its multiple bonuses too.
Conclusion
While Life of Brian may not have the same cultural significance as it once had, the movie is legendary for taking on a subject matter that few filmmakers dared to in the 1970s.
Anybody who’s a fan of this work today – or any Monty Python movie – will appreciate how Ash Gaming’s online slot helps keep this film relevant.
Even if you haven’t seen Life of Brian, you can fill in the storyline through all the animations and bonuses that are available in this slot.
Some of the bonuses that really shine in Life of Brian include: Always Look on the Bright Side Free Spins, People’s Front of Judea Bonus, Stoning Bonus, and What’s so Funny? These features arenot only fun to play, but they help shed light on the movie’s plot if you haven’t seen it.
If you have watched Life of Brian, then you’re going to love the online slot by Ash Gaming, which stays true to the film and has enough extra frills to entertain non fans.