Archer Slot Machine

Pros

• 243 ways to win, rather than traditional paylines, means that Archer offers more regular wins than most other slot games.
• Wilds, scatter wins, free spins and an innovative ‘Expand & Split’ feature introduce even more ways for players to boost their winnings.

Cons

• A top jackpot of R32 500, whilst a nice amount of money, is considerably less generous than the highest payouts found with other slot games.
• The Archer format and additional features are really complicated and take a good amount of time and effort to understand.
• Staking options per spin are somewhat limited, and have a top level of just R550 which will not be high enough for many players.

Top Jackpots

Providing players with 243 ways to win rather than traditional paylines, the biggest jackpots available through Archer still result when five symbols align in certain combinations. The most valuable such combination of all, is one involving five of the slot’s archer symbol.

Five of those archer symbols in correct configuration on the reels pays out at a level of 1500 times the player’s pre-set bet multiplier. That bet multiplier is what determines how many coins a player bets per line and can be set at anywhere between one and ten.

At the highest, therefore, the top jackpot will be worth 15,000 coins which at the highest coin value of 10p equates to R32 500.

Game Features

Alongside being a 243 ways to win style slot, Archer also includes a number of other interesting and innovative features. Those are that it includes wild symbols and scatters which trigger instant wins, free spins and a unique ‘Expand & Split’ feature.

Wild Symbols

Able to appear on reels two, three and four, the wild symbol on the Archer reels depicts a pile of gold coins. When the symbol does appear, it can substitute for all regular symbols in order to produce the most valuable possible winning combinations.

Scatter Wins

The Archer scatter symbol features an image of a pair of crossed arrows and its first purpose is to provide instant scatter wins. Whenever three or more of the symbols appear is when those wins are triggered, and their size depends on how many scatters trigger them.

Free Spins

If three or more scatter symbols do appear, too, seven free spins are also triggered. Those free spins work in almost exactly the same way as normal spins. The scatter symbol is still present on the reels, for instance, meaning that more free spins can be triggered.

The only difference, in fact, is that the game’s ‘Expand & Split’ feature does not need the presence of a scatter to trigger it.

‘Expand & Split’

Archer’s ‘Expand & Split’ feature means that any symbol on the reels with an arrow border will expand to cover its entire reel if a scatter symbol is displayed anywhere. The expansion, however, does not replace the other symbols already displayed but essentially splits the reel in two.

During the slot’s free spins, symbols with the arrow border expand and split automatically, without a scatter needing to be present on the reels.

Regular Symbols

All of Archer’s symbols depict images of people or items you might expect to find in a British medieval town or village. The most valuable of the symbols are those which show images of different people and, as you might expect, it is the archer symbol that is the most valuable as we explained earlier.

Behind that symbol, however, the two next most valuable in terms of winning combinations are those depicting a beautiful damsel and a monk. The damsel symbol pays at a rate of 1000 times the player’s bet multiplier if five appear in combination, whilst the monk symbol pays at a rate of 750 times the multiplier.

Betting Limits

Due to its 243 ways to win format, players of the Archer slot cannot alter the number of active paylines in order to change their stake amount per spin. Instead they must select a chosen coin value and set their desired bet multiplier.

Four coin values between 1p and 10p are available to choose from and the bet multiplier can be set at anywhere between one times and ten times. The game’s default is for 25 coins to be bet on each spin, too, meaning that the entire range of staking options falls between 25p and R550.

What We Think

Slots which adopt the 243 ways to win format rather than using traditional paylines tend to divide opinion. Their format, after all, is tilted towards providing more regular payouts but as a result means that their top jackpots are comparatively very low.

That is certainly the case with the Archer slot, which features a top jackpot worth just R32 500. That is considerably smaller than the jackpots you would find when playing more traditional slots but, in all fairness, is largely in line with the norm when it comes to 243 ways to win games.

It is perhaps unfair to criticise Archer in terms of its payouts, therefore, especially as scatter wins and free spins are also available. One thing which you can certainly criticise the game for, however, is just how complicated it is. Even for someone very familiar with slot games, Archer’s format is really confusing, as are many elements of its gameplay.