Bubble Bubble Slot Machine
Bubble Bubble, a 5 reel, 50 pay line slot machine from Realtime Gaming, gets its name from a song sang by witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
If you thought that Shakespeare was boring in school, don’t worry because Bubble Bubble is nowhere near as dry. In fact, it has a number of features that spice up the action.
What are these features?
Find out below as we cover them along with Bubble Bubble’s background, pay table, graphics, betting options, and offer comparisons to other spooky slots.
Overview
Bubble Bubble is set at the gates of a creepy graveyard.
You see two stone pillars on both sides of the reels along with a rod iron fence. You’ll also see a gravestone, witch’s hat, and spider web below the reels.
While these seem like frivolous decorations meant to fit the theme, these objects serve as markers for betting options and the help screen.
Other things that you’ll see in the background include an owl, broom, trees, and bats occasionally flying through the sky.
You’ll also hear music during the game, which doesn’t sound like the spooky tune you’d expect, but rather a playful beat. Every time you spin the reels, another tune that sounds like it came froma Tim Burton movie plays.
Animations are limited to Winnie the Witch, who appears in a puff of smoke to create expanding wilds. Speaking of Winne, she’s dressed in a skimpy witch costume that’s complete with thigh highpantyhose and a low cut top.
Most players won’t be offended by this because it’s a cartoon slots game. But if you want a wholesome game, then Bubble Bubble isn’t for you.
Bubble Bubble Pay table and Graphics
You can access Bubble Bubble’s pay table by clicking the Help & Rules stone pillar. Here’s a look at the symbols and payouts that you’ll find:
- Winnie the Witch x3 Wild
Winnie appears on reel 3 during the normal game and substitutes for all symbols except scatters. She expands to cover reel 3 and triples any payout that she appears in.
- Cauldron Scatter
Featuring green liquid, eyeballs, and octopus arms, the cauldron multiplies your total bet by 2x for 2 symbols, 3x for 3 symbols, 6x for 4 symbols, and 33x for 5 symbols.
- Black Cat and Raven
The black cat and raven both pay 1,000 credits for 5 symbols, 333 for 4, 33 for 3, and 6 for 2.
- Toad
Covered in warts, the toad pays 333 credits for 5 symbols, 150 for 4, 12 for 3, and 3 for 2.
- Pumpkin and Spell Book
The pumpkin and spell book both pay the same as the toad. But the difference is that these two symbols can work together to complete winning payouts.
- Crystal Ball, Potion, and Assorted Items
All three of these symbols combine to complete wins, and they pay 150 credits for 5 symbols, 33 for 4, and 5 for 3.
- Candlesticks, Skeleton Candle, Spider
These three symbols can complete wins together, and they pay 99 credits for 5 symbols, 20 for 4, and 5 for 3.
Symbol Graphics
The symbol graphics in Bubble Bubble look excellent and compete with any top quality slot. This is even more impressive when you consider that most Realtime games are basic 5 reelers.
Every symbol features good detail, and there are no generic letters or numbers present like you see in most slots.
The only downside is that some of the symbols look gross. As mentioned before, the cauldron has eyeballs in it, the toad is covered in warts, and the assorted objects include eyeballs, a frog’sleg, and octopus arms.
Maybe you’re a Halloween buff and you enjoy these kinds of things. But the average slots player might grow tired of looking at eyeballs, animal appendages, and deformed pumpkins after so long.
Bubble Bubble Slots Bonus Features
When you land 3 or more cauldron symbols anywhere on the reels, the cauldrons remain onscreen. You pick a cauldron to reveal one of the following bonus features that are discussed below.
Wild Witches Feature!
The Wild Witches bonus gives you 9 free spins.
If Winnie the Witch appears during these spins, she’ll cast a spell on two other reels, creating two additional expanding wilds.
You can retrigger Wild Witches by getting 3 cauldrons before Winnie casts her spell on the other reels.
Also note that this bonus offers a Win Win feature, where you get a bonus if the overall win from the Wild Witches feature is 10x the triggering bet or less.
Great Ghosts Feature!
The Great Ghosts bonus awards you 20 free spins.
If you get a win involving a scatter during these free spins, up to 9 wild ghosts will fly onto the reels. These green ghouls can take the place of any symbol except the scatter.
You can also retrigger the Great Ghosts feature by getting 3 or more cauldrons on the reels.
Bewitched Feature!
The Bewitched bonus gives you 7 free spins.
During these spins, Winnie the Witch covers the entire middle reel. You can retrigger this feature at any time by getting 3 cauldrons.
Betting Options
You must play all 50 pay lines in Bubble Bubble, but you can adjust your total bet from $0.50 to $12.50.
Some players might be disappointed that they have to bet at least $0.50 to spin the reels. This is especially the case if you’ve played other Realtime games, most of which only require a $0.01minimum wager.
But Bubble Bubble has good hit frequency since the 50 pay lines are always in play. You can also expect the Winnie expanding wild often, and she normally helps you form a winning combination whenappearing.
Return to player for Bubble Bubble is 95%, which is average for an online slot. But at least you feel like you’re winning due to the frequent smaller payouts.
Other Options
Most of the options in Bubble Bubble revolve around auto spin, which automatically spins the reels with your selected betting options in place.
Auto spin settings include: stopping after X number of spins, when a jackpot is won, if your win exceeds X, if your balance increases by X, if your balance decreases by X, or if the bonus featureis triggered.
You can also change the speed of the reels to one of four settings. The speed settings are indicated by the skeleton hand, which holds up 1, 2, 3, or 4 fingers.
One more option is the ability to turn sound up or down. To do this, choose Player Options and adjust the sound with the sliding bar.
Comparison to Other Spooky Slots
Bubble Bubble is one of many online slots with a spooky, yet lighthearted theme. Below you can see a comparison between Bubble Bubble and few other online games that fit into this genre.
Betsoft’s House of Fun
After two teens have car trouble on a deserted road, they find themselves standing outside the House of Fun. Only, this house isn’t so much fun as it is scary, with a host of strange inhabitants.
This game’s background setup is similar to Bubble Bubble because it has two stone pillars on the sides of the reels, and betting options are etched into stone at the bottom.
Although House of Fun is a 3D slot, it doesn’t look nearly as good as Bubble Bubble. The graphics aren’t as crisp or modern as what Bubble Bubble offers.
We do like how many different animations House of Fun offers. Animations include: a man eating a raw fish, a cheshire cat smiling, a painting coming to life, and a giddy man in a top hat spinningaround.
Out of these, the Escape Bonus is the best because it takes you to a second screen where you try to help the teens escape the house.
Overall, we like the bonuses and mysterious aspect to House of Fun. But we give the edge to Bubble Bubble because it has superior graphics and just as many bonus features.
Realtime’s Count Spectacular
Although released in 2010, Count Spectacular is still popular in online casinos today.
One thing you’ll notice right away is that Count Spectacular’s graphics aren’t as good as Bubble Bubble because it’s an older slot.
On the plus side, Count Spectacular doesn’t include creepy eyeballs or appendages on the reels. We also like the design of the wolf and bat, which look like funny cartoon characters.
The Count is an expanding wild, filling an entire reel and letting out a stereotypical vampire laugh when he appears.
If you get Count Spectacular on reels 1 and 5, you trigger the bonus feature. This gives you the option to choose between 12 free spins with a 3x multiplier, and 4 re spins with locked Countwilds on reels 1 and 5.
When comparing Bubble Bubble and Count Spectacular, the latter doesn’t have as much replay value.
Rival Gaming’s Scary Rich
Scary Rich has become one of the most successful slots franchises of all time, spawning three sequels.
The first game combines classic monsters with the type of music that you’d hear when walking through a carnival haunted house. The monsters include a mummy, vampire, werewolf, witch,Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Bride of Frankenstein.
The only bonus in Scary Rich is free spins, but the vampire does expand to fill entire reels during these spins.
Scary Rich 2 and 3 take the thrills to a new level with more gore and blood. We mentioned Bubble Bubble as being gross in spots, but the Scary Rich sequels take this to a new level.
The third game is over the top since blood splatters on the reels every time you perform a spin. We recommend being a big fan of horror movies if you try Scary Rich 2 and 3.
Conclusion
Realtime paid great attention to detail when designing Bubble Bubble because everything from the symbols to background look superb.
One nice thing about the background is that it incorporates betting options into the scenery, including the stone pillars (help screen), spider web (spin button), skeleton hand (game speed), andwitch’s hat (auto spin).
You’ll also see some fun animations, like bats flying above the reels and Winnie the Witch appearing out of thin air.
We like how the bonus gives you three possibilities, including Wild Witches, Great Ghosts, and the Bewitched Feature. Out of these, we like Great Ghosts because you see so many ghosts flyingaround the reels when scatters appear.
The downsides to Bubble Bubble all depend upon your preferences. We mentioned earlier that there are a few too many eyeballs and animal legs on the reels. Some may be offended by how Winnie isdressed too.
But overall, Bubble Bubble is a good game that has excellent graphics and several interesting features. We’d put this slot above any of the previously discussed games, especially if you just wantmild thrills without the gore.