Builder Beaver Slot Machine
Released by Realtime Gaming in 2012, Builder Beaver is a 5 reel, 25 pay line slot that offers a colorful take on this rodent.
Beavers are famous for building dams out of wood, which they gather by biting trees with their powerful teeth. Builder Beaver takes this fact a step further by having these animals run their ownlogging company.
We’ve never seen a beaver logging slot, so originality is evident here. But does Builder Beaver have anything to offer beyond an original theme?
Find out as we cover this game’s background, pay table, graphics, bonuses, betting options, and compare it to other animal slots.
Overview
Builder Beaver’s background features a North American wilderness scene, with a river, pine trees, mill, and felled trees. You’ll also notice that the Balance, Bet, Win, and Jackpot signs arecovered in wood.
The background graphics won’t amaze you, but they look pleasant and do a good job of conveying the theme.
This game offers two animations, which are accompanied by music. One animation involves the beaver in the hardhat (wild) hoisting logs onto his shoulder while banjo music plays.
The other animation happens when the Beaver Logging Co. sign appears on the reels. The sign spins around in the water while a slow banjo tune plays.
Sound effects are limited to a grinding sound during spins, and a ring when the reels come to a stop.
Like most Realtime slots, Builder Beaver won’t amaze you with its special effects and music. Instead, it offers the minimum while relying on the theme to win you over.
Builder Beaver Pay Table and Graphics
The following symbols and payouts are offered through Builder Beaver:
- Beaver Wild
The beaver in the hardhat substitutes for all other symbols except the scatter to form winning combinations. By itself, the wild beaver pays 10,000 credits for 5 symbols, 1,500 for 4, 500 for3, and 15 for 2.
- Beaver Logging Co. Sign Scatter
The sign multiplies payouts by 1x for 2 symbols, 2x for 3 symbols, 20x for 4 symbols, and 200x for 5 symbols.
- Beaver with Pie
This female beaver is carrying a delicious pie, and she pays 5,000 credits for 5 symbols, 500 for 4, 100 for 3, and 10 for 2.
- Log Cabin
The cabin pays 3,000 credits for 5 symbols, 300 for 4, 30 for 3, and 5 for 2.
- Beaver in Red Shirt
Complete with a red plaid shirt and yellow suspenders, this beaver pays 2,000 credits for 5 symbols, 200 for 4, 25 for 3, and 3 for 2.
- Beaver in Blue Shirt
Carrying an axe and wearing blue suspenders, this beaver pays 750 credits for 5 symbols, 150 for 4, 15 for 3, and 2 for 2.
- Tool Chest and Saw
These symbols can combine to form winning combinations, and they pay 300 credits for 5 symbols, 50 for 4, and 5 for 3.
- Apple and Steam Whistle
These symbols also combine to form wins, paying 250 credits for 5 symbols, 25 for 4, and 5 for 3.
- Flower and Pinecone
These symbols pay 100 credits for 5 symbols, 20 for 4, and 5 for 3.
Symbol Graphics
For what Builder Beaver is – a fun, happy slot – the symbols look good in the framework of this game.
You’ll also notice that all of the symbols contain the same quality, which isn’t always the case in other slots, where a few symbols can look great while others are subpar.
The best aspect of these symbols is that you won’t find any generic letters or numbers involved. We’re not saying that apples, pinecones, and flowers are the most inventive symbols, but they’rebetter than using A, K, Q, etc. to fill out the low payouts.
Builder Beaver Slots Bonus Features
Builder Beaver is a simple slot, but it does offer a couple of bonuses along with a progressive jackpot. You can read more about these features below:
Beaver Feature
When three of more beaver symbols appear anywhere on the reels, you trigger the Beaver Feature, which consists of 12 free spins and a 3x multiplier.
When this feature starts, fast banjo music begins playing, the background changes to a lake with mountains in the background, and the reels have maple leaves lining their edges.
We found that 3 or more beavers appear on the reels frequently, allowing you to trigger the Beaver Feature often. It’s also easy to retrigger these spins by getting another 3 beavers on thereels.
During one Beaver Feature round, we retriggered free spins twice and won over $145 on a $1.00 total bet.
Sign Feature
If 3 or more Builder Beaver Co. signs appear anywhere on the reels, you’ll trigger the Sign Feature. This awards you 10 free spins along with a 2x multiplier.
During these free spins, signs act as beaver substitutes and help you form winning combinations. You can retrigger the Sign Feature by getting 3 or more signs anywhere on the reels.
One thing we found is that the Sign Feature is harder to trigger than the Beaver Feature, despite the fact that it offers two less free spins and a smaller multiplier.
Progressive Jackpot
Builder Beaver offers two progressive jackpots in the Major and Minor Jackpot. When we played, the Major Jackpot was worth $2,398, and the Minor Jackpot was worth $405.
These prizes are awarded randomly, meaning you can win on any spin, regardless of bet size or if you win.
This makes Builder Beavers’ jackpots perfect for low rollers who don’t want to bet very much to play for progressive prizes.
Betting Options
You can adjust pay lines from 1 25 and change your coin denomination from $0.01 to $0.25. This makes the minimum bet worth $0.01 and the max wager $6.25.
You can change coin denomination using arrows next to the Bet button. Pay lines can be adjusted using arrows, or the buttons on either side of the reels.
Many low rollers will appreciate that you can bet one cent per spin, but high rollers will look past this game since you can only wager $6.25 per spin.
Other Options
Most other options in Builder Beaver revolve around auto spin, which allows you to automatically spin the reels with your betting preferences.
Auto spin options include: stopping after X number of spins, when the jackpot is won, if a win exceeds X, if your balance increases by X, if your balance decreases by X, or if you trigger thebonus feature.
One other option enables you to turn volume up and down. You can find this by clicking the Menu and choosing Player Options.
Comparison to Similar Slots
Builder Beaver is one of many slots to put animals in human roles. Below you can see other games that have similar themes and how they compare to Builder Beaver:
Realtime’s Coyote Cash
Sheriffs chasing bandits is a familiar story, but not when the sheriff is an eagle and the bandit is a coyote.
This 5 reel, 25 pay line takes you into the desert, where the coyote has stolen loot and the sheriff is in hot pursuit. You’ll also see a knife wielding rattlesnake, armored truck, cactus, andskull in this cops and robbers adventure.
The coyote acts as the wild symbol, and the loot is the scatter, multiplying payouts whenever it appears 2 or more times on the reels. The loot also triggers 20 free spins when it appears 3 ormore times anywhere on the reels.
Coyote Cash’s background is a simple desert landscape that looks average in comparison to other slots. But the symbols look good since they feature rich color and detail.
Taking everything into account, Builder Beaver and Coyote Cash are equal, and it comes down to which theme you prefer when deciding what to play.
NetEnt’s Jungle Games
This 5 reel, 20 pay line slot features some of the strongest animals in the African Savannah competing against each other in sports.
Some of the athletes in Jungle Games include a basketball playing giraffe, boxing lion, ping pong playing rhinoceros, and weightlifting gorilla.
The background features track lines painted onto the Savannah landscape, thus completing the Olympic style atmosphere.
You can trigger free spins by getting three or more medals anywhere on the reels. You’ll be prompted to choose one of the medals to reveal your number of free spins and multiplier.
The best thing about Jungle Games is its graphics because they look excellent. We also think that the theme is as good as it gets in the human animal genre.
Our one complaint, though, is how limited the features are in Jungle Games.
It’s nice that you can get free spins and choose medals to reveal your free spins and multipliers. But this game has the potential to offer more, like a second screen bonus round where you guesswhich animal will win a race.
Combining the stellar graphics with the limited bonus features, Jungle Games is on equal footing with Builder Beaver.
NetEnt’s Piggy Riches
This 5 reel, 15 pay line slot is about a wealthy pig who dresses like Scrooge McDuck. Most of the symbols relate to money, including a gold card, new car keys, piggy bank, bag of gold, and awallet full of cash.
The pig is the wild symbol, substituting for everything except the female pig, who’s the scatter. If the female pig lands 3 or more times on the reels, you get to choose your bonus.
Available bonuses include: 9 free spins with a 5x, multiplier, 15 free spins with a 3x multiplier, and 22 free spins with a 2x multiplier. Once you make your choice, you’ll see the female pig atthe top of a staircase with the male pig waiting for her below.
Fast paced classical music plays during your free spins, and they can be retriggered at any time. Once the free games are done, you see a screen with the male pig throwing money in the air whileyour win is added up.
Even though Piggy Riches only offers one bonus opportunity, it features good theatrics behind the free spins. The graphics and animations are also on par with Builder Beaver.
Overall, we don’t see one game or the other having an advantage because they’re equal in most areas.
Conclusion
Builder Beaver is not the industry’s most detailed slot, nor will it wow you with animations and bonus features. But this game offers just enough to make it worth playing.
We like the unique theme that revolves around beavers running a logging company. The graphics and background also fit in well with this lighthearted theme.
Another aspect to like is the two different free spin opportunities that Builder Beaver offers. You can pick up 12 free spins through the Beaver Feature and 10 free spins through the SignFeature.
One more good thing about this game is how you can play for two progressive jackpots. Considering that the jackpots are awarded randomly, any low roller has an opportunity to win big.
On the downside, Builder Beaver only has two animations and the music is limited to different speeds of banjo playing. We also think that one of the bonuses could have been a unique second screengame, rather than having both revolve around free spins.
But these negatives aren’t so bad that they should prevent you from trying Builder Beaver, especially if you enjoy laid back games that are easy to dive into.