Giga Jar Review
There’s always a lot going on in any Jammin’ Jars game, so it pays to take some time to explore all the features. Push Gaming has come up with some new ideas for this latest addition to their hugely popular grid slot series. We loved the first two games, so we were excited to get the chance to play Giga Jar.
Design
The original Jammin’ Jars had a fairly basic background, which was jazzed up with a tropical theme for Jammin’ Jars 2. Giga Jar aims to be the epitome of cool by giving the game a literal icy makeover. White lighting makes the DJ’s party look like it’s taking place in an ice palace, albeit one with palm trees!
The fruits have become cube-shaped, to give them a more edgy vibe. But the soundtrack is much as we remember from previous versions of the game – all disco beats and hand claps that you find yourself tapping along to, no matter how hard you try to resist.
Gameplay
The design team at Push Gaming change the game features for every outing of their disco-playing jam jars. This time around the Jar Meter is the feature to watch, as it triggers most of the bonuses.
The Meter is divided into three, each section of which is also split into three. Land three wins in a row from one paid-for spin and the bottom third of the meter fills, awarding you a Wild.
The Wild is positioned randomly, with a multiplier that increases with each winning combination it contributes towards. Keep landing wins, and there are two more Wilds to activate, before it’s the turn of the Giga Jar.
Once all three sections of the Meter are filled, three more winning combos in the sequence will launch the Giga Jar Wild onto the grid. He’ll remain active for the following three cascades, after which he becomes inactive, unless he keeps featuring in wins – three more will upgrade his multiplier, so big wins are possible.
The game also includes two random modifiers:
- Ice Breaker: 1-3 symbols are removed from the grid, increasing the likelihood that the remaining symbols will form winning combos.
- Snowball: 1 or 2 snowballs transform into giant symbols featuring any icon from the paytable, or instant win coins.
Win Potential
Clusters need to include at least 5 symbols that match vertically and/or horizontally. The more you include in a cluster, the bigger the returns, with fruits paying the following returns for matching at least 16:
- Plums – 10x
- Grapes – 10x
- Kiwi fruit – 20x
- Cherries – 200x
- Oranges – 250x
- Strawberries – 500x
Coins land with cash values worth between 1x – 1,000x the bet, but you’ll need to land a cluster of five or more to ensure a cash payout.
Big wins come from triggering the Wild Multipliers, and through keeping the reactions going for as long as possible. There’s a decent RTP that’s above the industry average, and medium volatility puts gameplay within reach of most budgets.
Bringing the volatility down from its previous high levels means the top payout reduces down to 10,000x, which might deter a few high rollers. It puts the game within reach of more gaming budgets though, so we can’t say we disapprove.
Our Verdict
It seemed that the original Jammin’ Jars slot came from nowhere, rapidly becoming a huge hit with all types of slot fans. Who knew that jam had such a huge fanbase, apart from Push Gaming, of course? And the early signs are that the developer has done it again with Giga Jar.
Quirky design and gameplay make this a Cluster Pays slot that continues to grow and develop over time. You don’t have to have played the previous versions to enjoy spinning up this game, but if you enjoy this one, you’re bound to love the others in the series too!
Marianne's interest in slots was sparked by a win on a one-arm bandit at an old-fashioned seaside arcade. These days she's turned her back on classic games, and has made it her mission to track down the most exciting slots offering innovative bonus features - and a great soundtrack!
Learn more about Marianne here
