Ghostbusters Slot Game Review

Last Updated
November 17, 2022 6:15 pm PST

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“Ghostbusters” is a 1984 comedy starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, and Ernie Hudson. The film was the idea of Dan Aykroyd, who originally wanted tostar with John Belushi and John Candy. Eddie Murphy was added to the team to play Winston in an expanded role. Belushi’s unexpected death in 1982 led to Candy and Murphy dropping the project.Murphy went on to star in “Beverly Hills Cop” and Candy joined Tom Hanks in “Splash”.

After the starring cast of Aykroyd, Murray, and Ramis was put together the script went through numerous rewrites. However, during actual filming most of the dialog was improvised, as were some ofthe shots and scenes in montages. Although the story was originally set in the future, director Ivan Reitman decided to re-stage it in a contemporary setting to save money on production costs.Nonetheless, the movie was heavily dependent upon special effects.

The film was one of the most successful movies of 1984, trailing “Beverly Hills Cop” but beating out “Splash”. “Ghostbusters” spawned a sequel, “Ghostbusters II”, and a popular music video inwhich cast members and various Hollywood personalities (including John Candy and Eddie Murphy) appeared in cameos singing “Ghostbusters!” (after Ray Parker Jr. asks, “Who you gonna call?”). Therewas also a cartoon show, “The Real Ghostbusters”, based on the characters.

International Game Technology (IGT) released its first “Ghostbusters” slot machine in 2011. A second game called “Ghostbusters: Who Ya Gonna Call?” followed in 2012. Also in 2012 IGT released anonline version of the first game. In 2016 IGT released “Ghostbusters: Slimers Gone Wild”. The rest of this article reviews that online game.

Rules of the Ghostbusters Slot Game

Ghostbusters is a 5 reel, 3 row video slot game with 40 pay lines. All prizes are paid from left to right and only one prize per active pay line is awarded on any spin. There are two Wild symbolsand 10 standard symbols in the basic game. There are also three special Bonus game symbols that trigger special rounds.

The Slimer Wild symbol substitutes for all other symbols in the game except the Bonus symbols and the other Wild symbol
The Librarian (ghost) Wild symbol only appears randomly as a result of a Mystery Feature but it substitutes for all standard symbols in the game.
The three Bonus symbols are the game logo (a white ghost sticking through a red circle and bar), a Slimer version of the game logo, and a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man version of the game logo.See details below for how the bonus rounds are triggered.

Other Symbols in the Ghostbusters Slot Game

The standard symbols in the game consist of portrait images of five of the stars, the Ecto Mobile, and three of the devices used by the Ghostbusters.

Dan Aykroyd (Dr. Raymund Stantz) and Harold Ramis (Dr. Egon Spengler): are the two highest value symbols. They pay 250 times Per Pay Line for five of a kind, 75 times Per Pay Line for four of a kind, and 25 times Per Pay Line for three of a kind.

Bill Murray (Dr. Peter Venkman) and Ernie Hudson (Winston Zeddmore): are the next highest value symbols. They pay 200 times Per Pay Line for five of a kind, 50 times Per Pay Line for four of a kind, and 20 times Per Pay Line for three of a kind.

Rick Moranis (Louis Tully): pays 150 times Per Pay Line for five of a kind, 30 times Per Pay Line for four of a kind, and 10 times Per Pay Line for three of a kind.

The Ghost Trap, the Ecto Mobile, and the Proton Pack: pay 125 times Per Pay Line for five of a kind, 25 times Per Pay Line for four of a kind, and 5 times Per Pay Line for three of a kind.

The PKE Meter and the Ecto Goggles: both pay 100 times Per Pay Line for five of a kind, 20 times Per Pay Line for four of a kind, and 5 times Per Pay Line for three of a kind.

The Stay Puft Free Spins bonus round uses its own set of symbols. Whereas the basic game’s symbols have a mix of colors they tend to be darker than the Free Spins game symbols. The characters arewearing blue coats.

Like the basic game there are two Wild symbols, a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and a toasted Marshmallow that only appears as a result of a Mystery Feature. The two Wild symbols substitute for allother Free Spins game symbols.

The remaining symbols in the game pay about half of what their basic game counterparts pay. The top four symbols are Ray, Egon, Peter, and Winston. The lower value symbols are the Stay Puft logo,a Stay Puft marshmallow container, the Stay Puft man’s hat, a Proton Pack, a PKE Meter, and Ecto Goggles.

How to Play the Ghostbusters Slot Game

The game control system for Ghostbusters is very simple to understand. The “Pays” button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen takes you into the 10-screen pay table help system. Use theleft and right arrow buttons at the bottom of the screen to navigate forward or back through the screens. Click on “Close” to exit the help screen system and return to the game.

A large information widget set above the playing reels area displays tips and status messages about the game. It also randomly cycles through the game logo and examples of bonus triggercombinations.
The game is coded to play 50 coins and all 30 active pay lines. You cannot change these values so you are only making a flat “number of coins” wager on each spin.
Although there are only 30 active pay lines in the basic game, you get 40 active pay lines in the Free Spins bonus. The “Coins” widget at the bottom of the screen indicates how many pay linesare active during the game.
The “Coin Value” widget allows you to adjust the total bet value by cycling through 1.00, 2.00, 3.00, 5.00, and 10.00. At maximum coin value your total bet will be 500.00 per spin. Check thisbefore clicking on the “Spin” button.
The “Total Bet” window sits between the “Coin Value” widget and the “Spin” button.
A large “Win” window sits to the right of the “Spin” button and it displays the total of all the prizes paid on your last spin (including bonus game).
The “Balance” window in the lower right hand corner of the screen shows how much money you have to play with.
The “Auto Spin” button sits just above the “Balance” window. Use this button to choose from 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 spins. The amount of each wager will be deducted from your balance at thebeginning of the spin. The spins continue until you exit the game, interrupt the spins by clicking on the button again, win a bonus round, or your balance drops below the wager amount.
The small wrench icon to the right of the “Auto Spin” button activates a small dialog that allows you to choose from four graphics settings. You may save on some bandwidth with the lowestsetting.

How the Ghostbusters Bonus Game Features are Played

Slimer the green food-eating ghost occasionally pops up and floats near the right hand corner of the playing reels. Every now and then he makes a comment or a rude noise. The four MysteryFeatures come from him. Each Mystery Feature when it is activated is awarded after the reels have spun.

You may be awarded a random multiplier that increases how much you just won. Multipliers range from 2 times to 5 times basic prize amounts. You may be awarded multipliers on spins that pay noprizes.

You may be awarded Wild Reels. Slimer may turn 1 to 3 reels into stacked Wilds for you, sometimes increasing the amount of prizes you win. Sometimes you just don’t get any winning combinationsdespite the additional wilds.

You may win a random cash award. Slimer swoops down to the bottom of the screen to deposit it for you.

You may also win extra Wilds at random. These are the Librarian Wilds in the basic game and the Roasting Marshmallow Wilds in the Free Spins bonus game. In the basic game books go flying acrossthe playing reels, changing 1 to 4 tiles into Wild tiles for you in the basic game. See below for details about the bonus game.

When two standard Bonus logos appear you may win either of the two Bonus games if a third symbol appears beside them. You need three symbols altogether. Two will be standard and the third willeither be Slimer or the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Slimer’s combination

triggers the Ballroom Busters Bonus game. You are taken to the ballroom where six ghosts await. The ghosts panic and flee into hiding behind objects in the ballroom. You get five shots fromthe Proton Pack blaster. Click on one of the highlighted objects to find out if a ghost is hiding behind it. Any ghosts you find reveal a cash prize. Some of the ghosts may add multipliersranging from 2 times to 5 times the cash prize. The bonus game ends after you have fired your fifth shot.

The Stay Puft combination

triggers 8 free spins with the bonus reel set and 40 active pay lines. The game begins with the Marshmallow Man (Zuul) roaring at you. Flames rise up behind the monster. The Stay Puft manholds up the new playing reels screen and you hear the fires of the apocalypse roaring all around you. You can still see them in the background around the edges of the playing reels screen.

After each spin there is a chance that marshmallows may land on some of the tiles and turn them into Roasting Marshmallow Wild symbols. These Wild symbols remain locked in place for theremaining free spins.

You may also be awarded a random cash prize after any of the free spins. The Win Meter opens up and takes in a Marshmallow, awarding from 50 to 1000 times the active coin value.

Conclusion

This is a high roller game, to be sure. Don’t go into this game expecting to play for bonus games and jackpots. Unless you have a huge bankroll you’ll find that the “wins” eat away at yourbalance very quickly. The $50 minimum bets are enough to award you hundreds or thousands of dollars if you get one of the 4 or 5 of a kind winning combinations, but to be honest the game seemspretty stingy.

Still, if you get a big win (such as on a bonus game) Slimer goes wild and celebrates with you as the prize is counted up.

The soundtrack plays Ray Parker Jr’s “Ghostbusters” song continuously unless you drop into inactivity. That’s a nice difference from many slot games, which start their theme music over with eachspin unless you click on spin fast enough. Incidental sounds are designed to coordinate well with the music. You’ll notice these most often when the bonus game logos roll up.

The tile animations are mostly simplified pulsating enlargements but the devices ripple with a brief electrical charge as they pulsate into their larger size. They also play a quick incidentalsound for you if Slimer contributes to a winning combination.

Rick Moranis’ eyes glow red when he awards a prize. And if you win a really nice prize the game plays a brief scene from the movie in a “Slimervision” television screen. You might see Egon, Ray,and Peter in the library where Egon says, “This looks hot, Ray” about a stack of books, and Ray compares it to a paranormal event.

You’ll hear one of the actors speak when you win a bonus game or look at the pay tables. The soundtrack also changes when you leave the basic game. During the Free Spins game one of thecharacters says a line (off screen) from the epic battle with Zuul in the first movie. You’ll also hear some commentary in the Ballroom Bonus as well. During the basic game you may occasionallyhear an actor speak a line from the movie after you win a prize. More often Slimer will applaud for you if one of his Wild symbols contributed to the winning combination.

Our Thoughts

All in all this is an interesting game but it can go through long periods where the prizes don’t pay enough to restore your balance. That is usually a sign that a game pays well when it paysoff and the various random multipliers are nice to have. But the pay screen warns you that the theoretical return to player varies from 92.50% to 94.50%. Honestly, there are better slot gamesout there that have more stable theoretical RTPs and higher RTPs as well.