Heidi at the Oktoberfest slot review

Heidi at the Oktoberfest lets us follow young blonde Heidi as she works at the Oktoberfest, serving copious amounts of alcohol to an extravagant collection of people celebrating this German holiday!

This slot was developed and released by RedRake Gaming in 2015, taking place at one of the most famous drinking festivals in the world. The setting is not incredibly unique, with slots like Wunderfest by Booming Gaming also taking place there. Still, it offers a lot of creativity in how to visualise the festivities so let’s see what RedRake did with it!

The game has a 5-reel, 4-row playing field with a rather impressive 50 paylines. It’s not enough to have wins whenever there are matching symbols on consecutive reels, but I did see a lot of betlines that paid out rather odd groupings.

The symbols in the game looked great, with a large amount of detail put into each one. Each of them was animated when part of a win, with beer sloshing out of mugs and different characters, cheering or smiling broadly. I’d say one of the biggest downsides to the symbols was that the Free Spins symbols weren’t very clear.

When it came to music, the developers chose to keep it very muted. Most of the time there was no music unless there were free spins symbols on the screen. Once the Free Spins mode itself triggered there would be continuous, traditional German folk music playing. Other sound-effects included cheering and chanting people in the bar as well as the toasting of mugs together.

Symbols

The symbols in Heidi at the Oktoberfest could be divided into the usual high- and low-paying symbols. Although the low-paying symbols were standard card suits, the designers did make them look like they were glass bottles filled with different coloured ales. I thought that was a fun detail that helped integrate the symbols into the setting.

The symbols are from highest to lowest:

• Free Spins: Get 5 or more Free Spins symbols on adjacent reels from left to right at the same time to trigger the Free Spins mode. This provides 5 free spins. Every additional Free Spins symbol grants an extra 5 free spins.
• Wild: Wilds substitute all other symbols in the game except the Free Spins symbol. Max. 10x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• Bearded Man: Max. 10x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• Pub: Max. 3x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• Barrel: Max. 2.5x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• Accordion: Max. 2x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• Hazelnuts: Max. 2x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• German Food: Max. 2x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• Diamond: Max. 1.5x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• Club: Max. 1.5x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• Heart: Max. 1.5x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.
• Spade: Max. 1.5x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning betline.

The game has a High Volatility which is because of the large number of different symbols. While I was playing I did find that I hit wins regularly but because of the low payouts, they wouldn’t be extremely beneficial. Still, I found that my funds stayed rather stable most of the time. Players can pick a bet between $0.10 and $200 per spin to balance the risk with the reward.

Features

Heidi at the Oktoberfest is light on features but I thought they complimented the base gameplay rather well. If you enjoy slots that offer a classic slot experience with some extras thrown in, I believe this game found the right balance.

• Wilds: Wilds substitute all other symbols in the game except the Free Spins symbols.
• Free Spins: There are 2 different types of Free Spins symbols: Heidi with and without Beer mugs. They both count as Free Spins symbols and the player requires at least 5 on consecutive reels to trigger the Free Spins mode. Extra Free Spins symbols beyond those 5 each add another 5 free spins to a maximum of 80 free spins. It’s not possible to re-trigger more spins during Free Spins mode.
• Sticky Wilds: When the Free Spins mode is activated, all Heidi with Beer mugs symbols are turned into Sticky Wilds for the entirety of the Free Spins mode. Additional Sticky Wilds can’t appear on the screen during this mode.

The Wilds are a prominent part of the base game as they showed up almost every spin. They didn’t always trigger a win of course, but because of the high number of paylines, it was more likely. I liked how they were animated and the word Wild appeared over them when they were part of a payline. It didn’t interfere with the design but still made it clear to the player what their function was.

The Free Spins mode did not trigger very often for me, since it requires a little more than most other slots. The Free Spins symbols did appear multiple times on 1 row though, so it’s entirely possible to get the entire playing field filled with Free Spins symbols. It’s just not very likely.

Once you get at least 5 Free Spins symbols, the Free Spins mode is triggered. The more symbols are on the screen, the more Free Spins you get. The symbols where Heidi is holding multiple mugs of beer are turned into Sticky Wilds for the whole game mode, which often helped me in getting multiple wins.

Depending on the placement of the Sticky Wilds and the number of free spins I got a bigger or smaller return on my bets, but it was always a sizeable win. Unless you’re using very large bets however I wouldn’t count on making the coins back that you spent getting into the Free Spins mode.

Overall I found the features to be fun and sufficiently integrated into the slot. The Wilds appeared enough to make a real impact while the Free Spins were rather rare and had varying results. I wasn’t always terribly excited to see them appear, simply because the wins would often be a little disappointing.

In Conclusion

Heidi at the Oktoberfest is a beautiful slot with a tonne of detail and a lot of personality. The combination of music, sound effects and graphics created a sense of actually being present in a German pub during the festival.

The gameplay is solid albeit not very impressive or original. Players that enjoy a steady classic slot experience will find it here, with only a few features to give it some colour. The high volatility didn’t really pan out for me, and I would have guessed the volatility to be lower due to the frequent smaller wins that the Wilds helped facilitate.

There is an enticing max. win of 3,597x your bet which can be a very sizeable amount if you use the largest bet per spin but I wouldn’t recommend it. Trying it out I found my funds to plummet in only a few spins, with the low coin value for even five-of-a-kind wins not enough to cushion that.