Geisha Slot Game Review

Last Updated
November 17, 2022 6:15 pm PST

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The Geisha is a traditional Japanese performer, usually a woman, who is skilled in music, dance, and ritual. Geisha are retained as entertainers by wealthy clients and business establishments.The profession has declined and now only a few hundred legitimate Geisha still practice their arts in Japan. Some westerners mistake Geisha for prostitutes, a confusion that arises in part frommisrepresentation of the Geisha’s role in society through liberties take in drama and literature.

The Geisha tradition shares roots with Kabuki theatre and at least one class of entertainer prostitutes. Historians generally agree that the earliest female performers emerged in the7^th century, which represented the end of the Asuka Period, a time of great artistic and intellectual advancement in Japan due to the influence of Buddhism and Chinese culture.However, the Japanese were innovators who extended the arts in their own ways, especially in the late 600s.

Poor girls from disenfranchised families began performing as musicians, singers, and dancers during this time. Some were accomplished enough to be invited to the Imperial Court in Nara. Thesuccess of these independent performers eventually led to the rise of odoriko (chaste “dancing girls”), theatre troupes, and elite prostitutes called courtesans. The wordgeisha, which means something akin to “performing artist”, was originally used only of men. Although recruited as teenagers, the odoriko often became prostitutes when they cameof age.

In the 1700s a prostitute named Kikuya, from Fukagawa, began calling herself a geisha and she both sang and played the three-stringed shamisen. Within a few decades the female geishawere performing alongside male geisha and no longer permitted to compete with traditional Oiran, prostitutes. Over time different ranks of geisha emerged and some did offersexual services. The Second World War profoundly altered the world of the Geisha and started their decline. Most geisha were forced to work in factories and when Allied soldiers occupied thecountry many prostitutes promoted themselves as “geisha girls” to the unwitting soldiers.

New laws were passed in the 1950s and 1960s that had an adverse impact on the Geisha culture, particularly compulsory education for girls, which made it very difficult for young girls toenter into traditional apprenticeships.

In 2001 Aristocrat Leisure Limited launched the Geisha slot game in its high-performing MKVI cabinet. The game came in two versions, one offering 9 pay lines and one offering 20 pay lines. TheMKVI cabinet supported 16 buttons and Aristocrat used some of them to support the (then) new “Gamble” feature. This article reviews the online version of the game, which Aristocrat released in2012. Some versions of the game may participate in a progressive jackpot network. Progressive jackpots are awarded on a random basis to real money players.

Rules of Geisha Slot Game

Geisha is a 5 reel, 3 row video slot game with 25 partially selectable pay lines. The game closely emulates the original physical slot game in several ways, including control design, althoughsome buttons such as “Service” are not included in the interface for lack of purpose.

All wins are displayed as credits. A credit is worth 0.01 currency unit (US dollars). Each pay line highlights the winning combination that triggers its prize and only the highest prize per lineis paid. The line wins are calculated as Bet Per Line times Combination Credit Value. Scatter wins are added to line wins.

Wild Symbol

The Geisha symbol is the game’s wild and it substitutes for all other symbols except the Scatter. All winning combinations including one or more Geisha symbols pay double the normal prize. TheGeisha pays 2 times Bet Per Line for 2 adjacent symbols, 25 times Bet Per Line for 3 adjacent symbols, 100 times Bet Per Line for 4 adjacent symbols, and 800 times Bet Per Line for 5 adjacentsymbols.

Scatter Symbol

The Torii (gate) symbol is the game’s Scatter. The Torii pays 2 times Total Bet for two Scatters, 25 times Total Bet for 3 Scatters, 100 times Total Bet for 4 Scatters, and 800 times Total Betfor 5 Scatters. Three or more Torii symbols trigger the bonus game.

Other Symbols in Geisha Slot Game

The Golden Dragon and the Golden Flower are the game’s two highest value symbols. They both pay 750 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind, 100 times Bet Per Line for four of a kind, 25times Bet Per Line for three of a kind, and 2 times Bet Per Line for two of a kind.

The Golden Fan symbol: Pays 400 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind, 100 times Bet Per Line for four of a kind, and 15 times Bet Per Line for three of a kind.

The Mount Fuji symbol: Pays 250 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind, 75 times Bet Per Line for four of a kind, and 10 times Bet Per Line for three of a kind.

The Black Headed Gull (white bird) symbol: Pays 250 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind, 50 times Bet Per Line for four of a kind, and 10 times Bet Per Line for three of a kind.

The Ace symbol: Pays 125 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind, 50 times Bet Per Line for four of a kind, and 10 times Bet Per Line for three of a kind.

The King symbol: Pays 100 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind, 50 times Bet Per Line for four of a kind, and 5 times Bet Per Line for three of a kind.

The Queen, Jack, and 10 symbols: All pay 100 times Bet Per Line for five of a kind, 25 times Bet Per Line for four of a kind, and 5 times Bet Per Line for three of a kind.

The 9 symbol: Is the game’s lowest value symbol but it pays 2 times Bet Per Line for two of a kind and matches the Queen, Jack, and 10 on all other prizes.

How to Play Geisha Slot Game

The game controls are divided into two groups. The top two controls handle player data and technical functions for the gaming platform. The controls at the bottom of the screen emulatebuttons from the land-based casino versions of the game. The “HELP” button just below the playing reels area brings up the game’s pay table system.

Click on “Account” to view the “Game Balance” and “Account Balance”. Only real money players have an account balance, unless they transfer it all to the game.

Click on “Menu” to view the widgets for managing the display screen’s functions including sound, full screen mode, etc. Be careful not to click on the white “X” accidentally because that ends thegame.

The pay tables screen uses a single-button navigation system. There are five screens and you click on the “HELP” button to move from one screen to the next. After you have viewed the fifth screenclicking on “HELP” brings you back to the playing reels.

The green Auto Start button places the game in continuous play mode. It spins the reels for you, deducting the amount of the total bet from your current Game Balance, until you interrupt the gameby clicking this button again, exit the game, or until you win a free spins bonus. Be sure the bet amount is set to the level you want before starting the Auto games.

The next five buttons, colored yellow, change the number of active pay lines. You can choose from 1, 5, 10, 15, and 25 active pay lines. There is no option for choosing any other number of activepay lines.

The red Set One button changes the Bet Per Line amount. Click on this button to cycle through the options for Total Bet. With 25 active pay lines your options are: 25 credits, 50 credits, 75credits, 100 credits, 125 credits, 250 credits, 375 credits, 500 credits, 750 credits, 1000 credits, 1250 credits, and 2500 credits. Clicking on the button when the Total Bet is 2500 creditstakes you back to the first option, 25 credits.

Click on the black Max Bet button to change the Bet Per Line to 100 credits. This has no effect on the number of active pay lines. To bet the total possible maximum wager you must activate all 25pay lines and then click on Max Bet.

The green Start button initiates a single spin of the reels at the current number of active pay lines and Total Bet.

After any spin awards a prize the “Bet One” and “Max Bet” buttons change to “Gamble” buttons. Click on either of these buttons to enter the special gamble screen.

In this game you are presented with a hidden playing card and seven choices: you can pick either Red or Black and double your win if you are correct, or you can pick from one of four suits toquadruple your bet, or you can simply click on the green button which now reads “Take Win”. If you guess wrong you lose your total wager (the prize you won on the previous spin). You can gambleup to 5 times per prize.

The Free Spins game

This is triggered by three or more Torii. The number of gate symbols that trigger the game has no effect on the number of spins or value of prizes. You are awarded 25 spins and the featurecan be triggered again during the free spins. All prizes are tripled during the Free Spins game.

Conclusion

Geisha is a classic land-based casino slot game and it was very popular among players for many years. The game is old enough to seem dated by contemporary gaming standards but still offers enoughvariation in prize opportunities to be interesting. The sound effects are based on old arcade game sounds and leave much to be desired; however the music changes and becomes more strident andorchestrated when you roll up several Geisha symbols. You’ll know when you win a big a prize for sure.

The graphics are remarkably crisp but the animations are simplistic by modern standards. The only tile that is really animated is the Geisha herself. She fans herself and looks around when shecontributes to a winning combination. The Torri (gate) cycles through red and blue tints and the water around the feet of the gate looks like it is moving. All the other tiles merely flash toshow you that they are contributing to a winning combination.

The results of each spin are displayed in an information bar below the playing reels. You are offered some tips above the playing reels. For example, after you win a prize the game suggests thatyou “play on, gamble, or take win”. How often does a slot game suggest you take the money and run?

Although it borders on the absurd to talk about strategy when playing slot machine games, Geisha has an interesting set of pay line patterns. If you are running low on money and decide to playfewer pay lines you get a very good spread on lines 1 through 5. This costs you less money per spin even if you play Max Bet but it also eliminates 80% of potential win patterns. Only the Scatterprizes are still guaranteed to pay every time they come up, and that fact adds a little bit of value to your game. A game that pays no prize for Scatter wins lacks this extra value.

You can have long dry runs with Geisha but sooner or later a good combination rolls up. Instead of making Max Bets with 25 pay lines (which eats up your balance quickly) you’ll want to play aneven-handed strategy. You can opt for a Max Bet at reduced pay lines or a small to mid-range bet at maximum pay lines. Either way, the Scatter combinations will help to keep you alive.

There was an old trick for the Free Games where, when a win paid 500 credits or more you could click on the Take Win button to collect the prize and continue playing the free games.

The game also showers you with coins and plays happy celebratory music if you win more than 25 times your total bet. The Take Win button became active after the credits finished counting up.