Slots fans are usually divided in their opinions about classic slots, which is one of the reasons why many software developers try to reconcile them by releasing titles that appear as traditional slots but have the features and multiple paylines of more advanced, video slots. One such game is Betsoft’s classic slot “Back in Time” which will not only bring the retro feel of three-reel slots, but also take you to another age - that of dinosaurs.

“Back in Time” Characteristics

Although it’s played on three reels, each symbol on the reels functions independently, as each can be held on its own while others are re-spun. Another characteristic that separates “Back in Time” from regular classic slots are the graphics, which are more complex and colorful, even though they’re on a more innocent, cartoonish side and feature cute little dinosaurs in the middle of a desert oasis with palm trees, dinosaur eggs, stone age red sevens and dinomyte, all of which could bring you some decent payouts, depending on how much you wager and how kindly the Lady Luck looks upon you.

Speaking of the wagers, they involve standard Betsoft coin denominations from 2 cents to $1 per payline. As this slot has a maximum of eight paylines and allows for up to five coins to be placed per payline, the maximum wager you can place is $40. This way, “Back in Time” is made adequate for almost all player types, except super-highrollers, who will surely find $40 too little to satisfy their appetite.

Special Features

As mentioned before, “Back in Time” offers a more dynamic gameplay than a typical classic slot thanks to its several special features. These include a standard wild symbol, and a not-so-standard bonus round and Hold feature.

The role of the wild is pretty straightforward - it helps form winners, appearing everywhere and replacing other symbols.

Then, there’s the bonus round which you really need to play a couple of times in order to fully figure out how it works. At first sight, it appears to be quite simple - whenever you get a three-stone bonus symbol, one of the stones will drop down and go to the dino lady next to the reels. Once she collects all three, you will enter the bonus round where you’re supposed to break three of the reels with the stones in an attempt to get three symbols of the same kind. If you succeed, you’ll get 200 coins; but if you select two different symbols, you’ll get just 25 coins - which is better than nothing, nevertheless. But what confuses about the bonus feature is when you collect the stones - you don’t get them every time they appear, and there’s no mentioning of this situation in the payoff chart, so we concluded that the stones fall off randomly.

Finally, a feature that you can put to a great use is the Hold feature, in which you can select symbols to keep in each non-winning spin, and then re-spin the other, unheld reels/symbols in a bid to get a winner. And the best thing about it is that it works just fine and the prizes can sometimes be significant.

Conclusion

What’s excellent about this game is how generous it is for a classic slot - with the help of the special features, there aren’t many empty spins, and the winning ones hide some nice rewards. And what’s not so good is the fact that there’s vagueness in the bonus round, which is unusual for Betsoft, a developer with a touch to details. But this aside, “Back in Time” is a game with a twist that reconciles the differences between video slot and classic slot fans, and one that will attract all of them, regardless of their prior preferences.