Wolf Moon is a 5 reel, 40 pay line slot machine that Amatic developed for land based casinos, and then later formatted for online play.
This game takes you into the North American wilderness where wolf packs roam the lands. Along the way, you’ll see howling wolves, mountains, and explorers.
Wolf Moon also has a Native American angle, with various Indian artifacts showing up on the reels. But as we’ll discuss later, some of these artifacts could easily be mistaken for belonging toother cultures.
This is far from the first slot machine that’s based on wolves and / or Native Americans. Does Wolf Moon stand out in this crowded genre?
Find out as we cover this game’s atmosphere, sound effects, animations, pay table, graphics, and bonus features. We’ll also discuss how Wolf Moon stacks up to other wolf themed slot machines.
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Wolf Moon Slot Machines Overview
Atmosphere / Background
Wolf Moon features a mountainous scene above the reels, complete with pine trees and a setting sun. This part of the background looks good, but it’s such a small strip of the screen that youwon’t immediately notice the detail.
It’d be nice to see the setting portrayed at the bottom of the reels too. Instead, all you see is a dark orange color around the betting options.
Considering how the wilderness doesn’t cover enough of the background, the atmosphere in this game won’t impress you much.
Music and Sound Effects
As soon as Wolf Moon loads, you’ll hear a vicious growl in the background. This sets you up for what should be a game filled with more growling and howling; but you won’t hear many unique soundsduring the main game.
Instead, what you hear is several generic sound effects that could come from any slot machine. The only time that you hear anything related to the theme is when the bonus round is triggered.
At this point, you’ll hear up tempo music coupled with wolves howling. This is an excellent touch, but we wish there were more original sound effects in the main game.
It’s also worth mentioning that you hear a strange jingle after winning payouts that sounds like change clanging together.
This is meant to prod you into choosing to collect or gamble your winnings. But while the jingle has a purpose, it gets annoying listening to this after every win.
Animations
One thing that Wolf Moon does a good job of is offering plenty of quality animations, including a close up of a wolf’s face, a wolf howling at the moon, day turning to night behind the explorer,and an Indian artifact flashing.
Out of these, the wolf howling is interesting because you’ll see a swirl of blue light behind it. The explorer animation is also good since the camera pans out while the daytime sky changes tonight.
Wolf Moon Pay Table and Graphics
Symbols and payouts in Wolf Moon are as follows:
Howling Wolf Wild
The howling wolf substitutes for every symbol except the dream catcher wild to form winning payouts. This symbol also pays the most at 1,000 credits for 5 symbols, 200 for 4, and 50 for 3.
Howling Wolf Wild
Dream Catcher BonusIf the dream catcher appears 3 or more times anywhere on the reels, it triggers the bonus round. You’ll also receive 800 credits for 5 symbols, 200 for 4, and 80 for 3.
Wolf’s Face, Explorer
The wolf’s face and explorer both offer the same payouts, delivering 400 credits for 5 symbols, 100 for 4, and 25 for 3.
Eagle Statue, Indian Artifact
These two symbols pay 250 credits for 5 symbols, 75 for 4, and 20 for 3.
A, K
The A and K are ubiquitous, paying 150 credits for 5 symbols, 50 for 4, and 5 for 3.
Q, J, 10, 9
These four letters pay 100 credits for 5 symbols, 20 for 4, and 5 for 3.
Symbol Graphics
The graphics in Wolf Moon are good for an older slot machine. The dream catcher, wolf’s face, wolf howling, and explorer all offer strong detail and seem like they could be from a newer game.
The eagle statue looks like it’s Egyptian, but we can’t make out the other artifact. This isn’t to say that these symbols look bad – they just don’t strike us as being Native American.
Wolf Moon Slot Bonus Features
Free Spins
You trigger 5 free spins by getting 3 or more dream catchers anywhere on the reels. When you trigger free games, the wilderness background has a red glow, and you’ll hear wolves howling while youplay.
You can also retrigger free spins by landing 3 or more dream catchers anywhere on the reels. If this happens, you’ll be notified that more free games have been added.
The one downside to these free spins is that you don’t get any extra multipliers or special wild symbols.
Stacked Wilds
Any symbol in Wolf Moon can be a stacked wild, where the same symbol fills an entire reel. Stacked wilds can consist of any symbol and are determined randomly on each spin.
Sometimes you’ll go several spins without seeing any stacked wilds, while other times you’ll see 2 or more reels filled with the same symbol.
It’s especially nice when you get the howling wolf symbols stacked because they can either offer big wins themselves or help other symbols form payouts.
Gamble Feature
If you click Gamble at the bottom of the screen, you’ll be taken to a special round at the end of every win to either double or quadruple your winnings.
You can double your winnings by choosing whether a playing card’s color will be black or red, and you quadruple your payout by deciding if the card’s suit will be clubs, diamonds, hearts, orspades.
You can win the Gamble round up to eight straight times before you’re forced to enter the main game again, or you can choose Collect to take your winnings and resume normal play. Remember that ifyou lose at any time, all of your winnings are lost too.
One thing worth adding is that you’ll hear an annoying sound during the Gamble feature, which represents a card back rapidly changing colors. This adds nothing to the feature, and it’s irritatingwhile you’re deciding what choice to make.
Betting Options
You can adjust pay lines from 10 to 40, and they increase in 10 line increments. You can also adjust your bet per line from $0.01 to $1.25.
This makes for a minimum bet of $0.10 per spin and a max wager of $50.00.
Once you’ve selected your betting options, you can click Auto Start to keep the reels spinning automatically. If you wish to control the reels yourself, just choose Auto Start again.
Other Options
You can turn sound on and off by clicking the thin black strip above the landscape setting. This brings down a small menu that allows you to click the sound button.
This menu also gives you the ability to change the game’s language. English is the default language, but you can change it to German, Greek, Hungarian, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.
Win Frequency
The win frequency in Wolf Moon is high, and we won over half our spins while playing 40 pay lines. Most games don’t see you win nearly this often, even with 40 pay lines active.
Considering that this game only offers one bonus round and a small top payout, it’s easy to see why you win so frequently.
Return to Player RTP
Wolf Moon’s RTP ranges from 95% to 97%, meaning you’ll either get average or outstanding payback. Either way, you’re going to win a lot of spins thanks to the high win frequency.
But it’s obviously better if you’re playing a Wolf Moon variation that offers closer to 97% payback.
Comparison to Other Wolf Slot Machines
As mentioned before, Wolf Moon isn’t the only slot machine that deals with wolves. In fact, there’s another game from Aristocrat with the same exact name.
Let’s discuss how Amatic’s Wolf Moon compares to this slot along with another game called Mystic Wolf.
Aristocrats Wolf Moon
Like Amatic’s game, this 6 reel slot machine was originally for land based casinos, then later formatted for online play.
While Amatic’s slot doesn’t include enough of the wilderness to make a memorable atmosphere, it’s still better than Aristocrat’s Wolf Moon.
The main problem is the background noise, which sounds like a county fair. This is no way matches up with the graphics and background, which are meant to portray a wooded wolf habitat. Werecommend turning the sound off because this got on our nerves.
If you can get past the odd background noises, though, the graphics and symbols are good. Symbols include a bear, birds, deer, the moon, a wolf’s face, wolves howling, and generic letters andnumbers.
Graphics for the main characters are life like illustrations that add some enjoyment to playing this game.
This slot machine is part of Aristocrat’s Xtra Reel Power series, which gives you 1,024 ways to win on any spin. But since the minimum bet is fixed at $0.50, this plays more like a 50 payline slot machine.
Aristocrat’s Wolf Moon is similar to Amatic’s game is several ways. But the one area where it’s completely lacking is how poorly the background sounds match up to the main game.
Mystic Wolf
Produced by Rival Gaming, Mystic Wolf is a 5 reel, 50 pay line game that’s found at many US friendly online casinos.
You’re immediately greeted by an introduction video that shows a wolf running through the wilderness and howling. The background to this game is also impressive since it offers a perfectblend of wilderness and mysticism.
This slot has a Native American theme too, with headdress feathers lining both sides of the reels. But Mystic wolf’s focus is mainly on the wolf because it’s featured in several symbols.
If you get 3 or more feathers anywhere on the reels, you’ll unlock the Mystic Wolf Super Round. This gives you 7 free spins for 3 symbols, 15 free spins for 4 symbols, or 50 spins for 5symbols, and the wolf wild offers a 10x multiplier during this Super Round spins.
Overall, Mystic Wolf rates as the best wolf themed game on this list, offering high quality graphics, good atmosphere, and a nice introduction video.
Conclusion
Older slot machines that have been adapted for online play have a tough time matching modern online slots.
In some ways, Wolf Moon faces this same dilemma because it doesn’t have the graphics or atmosphere to keep up with a game like Mystic Wolf. It also features some of the generic and annoying soundeffects that Amatic used across the board in its older slot machines.
But there are some likeable qualities to this game too, beginning with the animations. We especially like the wolf howling at the moon, close up of the wolf’s face, and day turning to night.
The symbol graphics are also good, such as the dream catcher, explorer, howling wolf, and wolf’s face.
You won’t be blown away by the bonuses and special features in Wolf Moon, but they’re adequate in comparison to the industry. You can trigger free spins, land stacked wilds, and gamble yourwinnings after every payout.
The best aspect of this game is its high win frequency combined with an average to high RTP. You win so often in Wolf Moon that it keeps you engaged and feeling like you have a chance to makemoney in any session.
Our Thoughts:
If you enjoy games with a high hit frequency, then Wolf Moon is worth a few spins. But due to the mediocre atmosphere and lack of standout features, you probably won’t spend long with thisslot.