Microgaming Launches Innovative Anderthals™ Online Slot
JustForTheWin’s Anderthals, released with Microgaming in April 2020, is a video slot set on a prehistoric cave-era adventure. It has 40 pay-lines across 5x4 reels and introduces a new way to trigger its features.
Anderthals imagines a prehistoric world where cavemen and cavewomen may have shared the landscape with dinosaurs. The reels feature cave-dwelling hosts Andy and Annie Anderthal, bringing their ancient home to desktop and mobile screens.
Colourful artwork and frequent animation make for a lively presentation, supported by energetic spins and a jaunty theme tune. Features include stacked standard symbols and wilds, expanding wild reels, free spins, spin-bet multipliers and wild-symbol multipliers. They are activated through a mechanic the game calls ‘feature symbols’.
Instead of using scatter and bonus symbols to trigger fixed features, Anderthals uses ‘feature symbols’ to decide which feature appears when the trigger lands. The mechanic is easy to follow, but the feature selected can vary with each spin.
Five spaces above the reels act as ‘feature spots’. Their symbols rotate during a spin, then stop on possible awards from the game’s feature set. Since the result is unknown in advance, players cannot tell which feature will be selected.
The ‘feature spots’ can reveal any of the following:
- Multipliers of 1x or 2x the total spin bet
- Free spins
- Expanding wilds
- Additional wilds added to the reels
- Wild-symbol multipliers of x2 and x3
- Respins
The symbols in the ‘feature spots’ can change after every spin, but an award is triggered only when 2 ‘feature symbols’ land on the reels together. When that happens, the features shown above the reels activate. For example, a 2x bet multiplier above reel 2 alongside an expanding wild above reel 5 doubles the spin bet and turns every position on reel 5 into wild symbols, followed by a re-spin.
Among the stacked symbols, Mr and Mrs Andethal—the hosts of this stone-age world—are the third- and fourth-highest-paying symbols. A completed combination pays 5x the spin bet; with one of the slot’s x3 multiplying wild symbols, that could rise to 15x.
The dinosaur wild and Anderthals logo are the game’s highest-value symbols. Either can pair with the other along any a pay line for a 8x spin-bet multiplier, potentially rising to 24x with a wild multiplier.
Microgaming experiments with new slot mechanics in Anderthals, combining ‘feature symbols’ and ‘feature spots’ in a design intended to add variety to its catalogue. Its prehistoric theme, varied wild effects and unpredictable feature selection give the game a distinctive feel.
Evan Carrington brings more than 12 years of experience in the iGaming industry, with a focus on reviewing online casinos, assessing slot games and examining player safety. Their work covers casino licensing, RTP, volatility, bonus terms and withdrawal policies. Drawing on practical testing and independent research, Evan provides clear, evidence-based reviews to help players understand gambling platforms, their features and possible risks.
