Duck Dynasty Slot Machine
Duck Dynasty is a 5 reel. 50 pay line slot machine that was developed by Bally Technologies for land based casinos.
This game is based on the same titled A&E TV show, which revolves around the Robertson family and their business, Duck Commander.
Based in West Monroe, Louisiana, the company has become highly successful, making the Robertsons rich and famous.
Rather than focusing on the family running their business, Duck Dynasty episodes revolve around the jokes and follies that occur at the company. Examples include: hunting beavers with homemadeexplosives, having lawnmower races, and catching a lizard in the warehouse.
The show’s identity is focused on the Robertsons Christian views, conservatism, affinity for hunting, and redneck lifestyle. This formula has worked perfectly because Duck Dynasty is the mostwatched nonfiction cable TV show in history.
Find out as we cover this game’s cabinet design, graphics, animations, bonuses, and compare it to other TV slot machines.
Overview
Cabinet Design
Duck Dynasty features Bally’s Alpha 2 Pro Series cabinet, which offers two slot machines side by side along with a 55 inch video monitor above. The side by side machines let you play with afriend, and the huge video screen allows for crystal clear displays of TV scenes and big wins.
Our only complaint about the cabinet is that the game screen is curved, which means casino ceiling lights can shine on the screen. That said, check to make sure that the machine doesn’t have aglare before you begin playing.
Graphics and Symbols
Duck Dynasty’s game screen features a 5×4 grid on the lower half, with the show’s main characters displayed above. This shows you what to expect from the game’s graphics, which are a mixture ofrealism and 3D animations.
Real life pictures are used for symbols of the main characters, including Willie Robertson Duck Commander CEO, Korie Robertson Willie’s wife, Phil Robertson Willie’s dad and Duck Commanderfounder, Miss Kay Robertson Willie’s mom, Jase Robertson Willie’s brother, and Uncle Si Robertson Willie’s uncle.
3D animated symbols include a Duck Dynasty icon, deer, duck, duck call, and fishing lures. The duck call is the wild symbol and substitutes for everything except the icon and Bonus Wheel symbol.
The Duck Dynasty icon is the highest paying regular symbol, offering 10,000 credits for 5 symbols. If you land 5 icons on a max bet, you win the progressive jackpot.
Also note that Duck Dynasty features stacked mystery symbols that are randomly replaced once the reels begin spinning.
Here’s an example: reel 1 and 2 feature Phil and Willie as stacked symbols; you spin the reels and Phil and Willie are replaced by stacked Si and duck symbols in reels 1 and 2.
Animations
One of the best aspects of Duck Dynasty is that it’s loaded with animations and TV scenes. The TV scenes, which we’ll discuss in the bonus section, happen whenever you trigger a bonus round.
Animations that occur during winning payouts include: Jase pointing at the screen, a duck call rolling off the Duck Dynasty icon, ducks flying across the screen, ducks flying towards the screen(leaving behind feathers), Willie playing the air guitar, Phil pointing at the screen, and Uncle Si taking a drink.
Music and Sound Effects
This slot machine doesn’t offer much in terms of music and sound effects. Most of the sound effects consist of ducks quacking and duck calls being used.
This makes sense, given the show’s subject matter. But the music and sound effects aren’t a reason to play this game.
Duck Dynasty Slot Bonus Features
The best part of Duck Dynasty is all of the bonus features that it offers. You can look forward to 7 bonuses, some of which use Bally’s U Spin technology, where you interact with the game via atouchscreen.
Bonuses are triggered by landing Bonus Wheel symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4. This brings up the Bonus Wheel, which you spin with your fingers to trigger one of the following features: Duck PrizeWheel, Fishing for Credits, Froggin’ Free Games, Lucky Duck Bonus, Miss Kay’s Turtle Quest, The Si Show, and Willie’s Bullseye Bonus.
Below you can see what each bonus feature entails:
Duck Prize Wheel
When the Bonus Wheel lands on a Duck Prize Wheel section, you’ll receive a 1x, 2x, or 5x multiplier. You spin the Duck Prize Wheel to win a payout worth between 100 and 1,500 credits, andyou can also win 2 5 additional spins.
Fishing for Credits
You start by choosing your lure, which awards a multiplier worth between 2x and 10x. You then cast your line into the lake in hopes of catching a fish, rather than a boot. Either way you’llearn credits, but a boot pays less than a fish. You cast your fishing line into the water three times before the round ends and your credits are added up.
Froggin’ Free Games
8 to 12 free spins are awarded, and each spin sees 2 4 reels turn into frog stacked wilds.
Lucky Duck Bonus
The Lucky Duck feature begins with Willie discussing how they’re going to test out some duck calls. You choose a duck call, which awards a multiplier, and then start using it to draw asmany ducks as possible to the water.
Miss Kay’s Turtle Quest
This bonus begins with Miss Kay discussing turtles. Following the TV scene, you choose three turtles, with each delivering payouts worth between 150 and 500 credits.
The Si Show
You spin a wheel to win credit prizes worth between 125 and 1,000 coins, and multipliers worth 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 7x. While you’re spinning the wheel, Uncle Si dances in the screenabove.
Willie’s Bullseye Bonus
You’re first shown a TV scene where a target board is found behind warehouse boxes. Using U Spin, you fire the crossbow at the board to win between 100 and 1,000 credits. Despite giving offthe appearance of a skill based game, Willie’s Bullseye Bonus is merely luck.
Comparison to Other TV Slot Machines
Duck Dynasty is one of many slot machines based on successful TV shows. In fact, Duck Dynast has two slots itself, with the other being produced by social gaming giant Zynga.
Below you can see how Bally’s Duck Dynasty compares to Zynga’s version, along with comparisons to other TV slot machines too.
Zynga’s Duck Dynasty
Available on PCs and mobile devices, Zynga’s Duck Dynasty is a 5 reel slot with a 3 4 5 4 3 setup. This format is strange compared to most slots, but it’s meant to create 720 different winningcombinations on any spin.
Symbols include Willie, Phil, Uncle Si, Jase, Miss Kay, a football, drink, Cadillac, duck, and silver duck head.
Just like Bally’s game, main characters are depicted with real life pictures, while other symbols are animated. The graphics aren’t as good in Zynga’s Duck Dynasty, but they compare well to theaverage online / mobile slot.
The background in Zynga’s game features more character since you’re in a duck blind overlooking a field of ducks. Another good thing about this slot is how the main characters say phrases whenthey show up in winning combinations.
Here are some examples: Uncle Si says,
“Hey look here,”
“Do we look like beauty contestants to you?”
This slot has a couple of different bonuses in the Pick a Beard and Pick a Duck features. In Pick a Beard, you select one of the beards to see which characters’ is longest in hopes of gettingmore credits.
The other bonus sees you select ducks to earn credit prizes. If you find Uncle Si, he’ll call more ducks to the pond; if you find three beavers or run out of ducks, the bonus ends.
Overall, Zynga’s Duck Dynasty is a quality slot with two bonus rounds, signature phrases, TV scenes, and a good background. But Bally’s Duck Dynasty is better due to its superior graphics,exciting bonuses, and numerous features.
Sons of Anarchy
Based on FX’s Sons of Anarchy TV show, this 6 reel, 60 pay line slot machine was developed by Aristocrat for land based casinos.
Just like Duck Dynasty, Sons of Anarchy features an interesting cabinet that offers two 21.5 inch video screens. The upper screen is for video displays, while the lower one houses the reels.
Symbols include the show’s main characters, including Jax Teller Charlie Hunnam, Clay Morrow Ron Pearlman, Gemma Teller Morrow Katey Sagal, and Tara Knowles Maggie Siff. Other symbols includean American flag, motorcycles, rings, anarchy symbol, gavel, and police badge.
All of the symbols are animated, and the characters look realistic. But it’d be better if Sons of Anarchy included real life depictions of the characters like Ducky Dynasty does.
Moving back to the positives, Sons of Anarchy offers lots of animations, including bikers riding across the top screen, Jax putting his jacket on, and Clay riding his bike. These animations arethe one time that you see real life characters on the reels.
The most exciting thing about Sons of Anarchy slot is that it offers payouts in the Cluster Power format. Instead of winning combinations forming in traditional pay lines, Cluster Power paysyou as long as matching symbols are found on connecting reels.
This game also features several bonuses, including Men of Mayhem, Outlaw Multiplier, and the Jackpot Wheel.
Men of Mayhem is triggered randomly and sees a row of bikers riding across the screen. This expands the reels from a 6×5 grid into an 8×10 grid, and anarchy wild symbols help you form stackedwilds.
The Outlaw Multiplier begins with bikers riding across the top of the screen. A license plate will fall off one of the bikes and reveal your multiplier for one spin.
The Jackpot Wheel is triggered when you land 3 or more reaper symbols anywhere on the reels. This brings up a large wheel with different prize slots on it, including free spins and fourjackpots Grand, Major, Minor, Mini. You swipe the screen to send the wheel spinning in hopes of collecting a huge payout or free spins.
The Sons of Anarchy slot machine is almost as in depth and impressive as Duck Dynasty. But the latter holds an edge due to its 7 bonus rounds and frequent TV scenes.
The Walking Dead
Another Aristocrat game, The Walking Dead is a 6 reel slot machine based on AMC’s most successful TV show ever.
The Walking Dead derives its popularity by creating thrills and drama in a post apocalyptic, zombie filled world. And Aristocrat’s slot is able to capture this same drama through its VerveHDcabinet.
This cabinet has a 31.5 inch screen that offers video displays in the top part, and reels in the lower portion. The top screen is what brings this slot to life because you’ll see terrifyingzombies, TV scenes, and bonus rounds.
Another perk to the VerveHD cabinet is its iChair, which rumbles at various points. This really creates excitement when zombies are coming towards the top screen and your chair is rumbling.
As for the actual game, The Walking Dead gives you 4,096 ways to win on every spin. This is done through Reel Power, which, like Sons of Anarchy, sees you win when matching symbols appear inconsecutive reels (rather than pay lines).
The only downside to having 4,096 ways to win is that you must make a $0.75 minimum bet. Contrast this to Duck Dynasty and Sons of Anarchy, which have $0.50 and $0.60 minimum bets respectively.Low rollers will be even more disheartened to know that you must bet a $0.04 coin denomination $3 total to qualify for the Grand Jackpot.
If you can handle this, then you’ll be more than pleased with everything that The Walking Dead has to offer.
Fans of the show will appreciate main characters being on the reels, including Rick Grimes Andrew Lincoln, Andrea Lauren Holden, Glenn Rhee Steven Yeun, Daryl Dixon Norman Reedus, Maggie GreeneLauren Cohan, and Shane Walsh Jon Bernthal. You’ll also see objects from the show like Dale Horvath’s RV, a teddy bear, syringe, and crow.
Another good point to this slot is the animations, which include Rick riding a horse, Maggie searching the forest, Shane holding his gun, and a GUTS expanding wild symbol. The latter is gross,though, and could turn you off from the game if you don’t like zombie movies to begin with.
Bonus features include Reel Growth, the Wheel Bonus, Escape Atlanta free spins, and the CDC Wheel.
Reel Growth sees the middle reels randomly expand from four spaces to seven spaces. This feature is combined with Wild Attack, where zombies attack the screen and generate random wild symbols.
The Wheel Bonus is triggered when you get 3 or more wheels on the reels. This takes you into Atlanta, where you’ll find a large wheel that features free spins, jackpots, credits, and CDC Wheelspins.
If you trigger the CDC Wheel through the Wheel Bonus, you’ll spin for more credit prizes, multipliers, extra spins, and smaller bonus features.
Escape Atlanta free spins not only give you more chances at bonus payouts, but also see you maneuver past zombies to escape the city.
In summary, The Walking Dead slot goes above and beyond to live up to the famed show. Thanks to its flawless use of the top screen, multiple bonuses, and thrills, The Walking Dead is a cutabove Duck Dynasty.
Conclusion
Bally has done a good job of creating a slot machine that matches the hit TV show that it’s based on.
Duck Dynasty is loaded with characters, objects, and scenes from the show, which are big positives for anybody who’s already a fan,
Even if you’re not a fan, you’ll still appreciate the many different bonus features offered in this slot.
Our favorites include Fishing for Credits, Willy’s Bullseye Bonus, and the Lucky Duck Bonus. But all seven bonuses are fun, especially since they’re introduced by scenes from the show.
Another likeable aspect is that these bonuses come up frequently enough that you won’t be waiting forever to trigger features.
This slot machine doesn’t have any real weaknesses – other than if you can’t stand the show. Even if you can merely tolerate Duck Dynasty, then you should enjoy this slot.