Jurassic Park Trilogy: Jackpot Bonus Advantage Play on Jurassic Park

Game: Jurassic Park Trilogy: Jurassic Park
Manufacturer: IGT
Advantage play potential: Medium-High
What Makes it Special: One captured bonus symbol in reels 2 or 4 gives you 5 spins to capture the other bonus symbol and get a Jackpot bonus, which includes the chance for winning progressives.

One of IGT’s newer licensed game lines is IP they’ve had access to for some time, Jurassic Park. Their latest version incorporates a persistent state feature that can be quite good for Advantage Play, and that’s a bonus symbol capture. Best of all, this mechanic is present for all three versions of the game.

Each game acts a bit differently, so we’ll cover each in turn on the site. My recent trip to Atlantic City only exposed me to two of the three, so today I’ll be reviewing the Jurassic Park theme and later this week The Lost World. In the future I’ll add Jurassic Park III to the mix.

Understanding the Game

This is another of IGT’s 5×4 reel sets. Surprisingly for a licensed game, the minimum bet is low for the ones I reviewed (at multiple Atlantic City locations), at 40 cents, a nice change up given many licensed games tend to push the bets higher. However, there’s only 25 paylines in this configuration.

However, videos on YouTube show players playing at a 75 cent minimum bet and 40 lines. So your mileage on this one may vary significantly. The basic game play, regardless of version, is the same.

Higher bets increase the chances of winning a progressive in the Jackpot Bonus, and each bet level has its own persistent state.

In this case, unlike many IGT slots, the persistent state isn’t connected to the state of the reels, but the bonus symbol capture, which is above reels 2 and 4. Get a symbol on each of them and you’ll trigger the Jackpot Bonus, which is explained below.

But, get either reel 2 or 4, and you’ll capture the Bonus symbol above the reel, and a countdown timer will appear with up to 5 spins to be able to land the other bonus symbol. Catch a Bonus symbol on the same reel that already had it, and your counter will reset to 5.

If you manage to land the Bonus symbol in the other reel before the countdown reaches 0, you will also trigger the Jackpot bonus.

There are also Free Games symbols in reels 1, 3 and 5. Land all three on a single spin and you’ll trigger the T-Rex Free Games (explained below).

Another feature exists when you capture at least one wild reel; after a suspense respin that could see more wild reels land, you will receive a multiplier selected between 2x, 3x and 5x as seen below the reels. Each Jurassic Park Trilogy game handles the wild reels differently, which is one way they differentiate themselves from each other.

As you can see above, three wild reels on that line-up got me about 15x; better premium symbols and getting five of a kind would push the pays up significantly, so this can be pretty nice if it lands well. The wild reels and multipliers feature are also amplified during the T-Rex Free Games.

Jackpot Bonus Feature

All of the Jurassic Park Trilogy games share the Jackpot Bonus feature. In it, your goal is to complete 10 picks (each of which reveal a directional arrow) without falling off the game board. Spaces with numbers earn you credits; spaces with the dinosaur bones match with the jackpot at the top of the board. Survive through 10 picks and you win the top jackpot. The higher your bet, the more progressive spaces appear on the board, which theoretically increase your chances of being given one.

Before you get too excited about your picking skills, however, this is predetermined, so you’re just playing out what it already knows will happen. so don’t think too hard.

T-Rex Free Spins Feature

Five free spins are awarded in the T-Rex Free Spins, and a second set of reels appears atop the first. Getting the T-Rex Game symbol on the regular reel set unlocks the reels above it, and multipliers are awarded when wild reels are present on the top reel set, just like in the base game. Wilds earned on the top reel could come down to the base set of reels as well, depending on the scenario.

With the number of upgrades possible, it can get exciting pretty quickly, and like many IGT games of late the free spins can be tough to trigger, but quite rewarding when they do.

Understanding the Advantage

In this case the advantage is those captured Jackpot Bonus symbols on reels 2 and 4 and an above average chance of triggering the bonus when they’re present. Since you know you’re getting a shot at progressives, and at the very least some pays from the credit collecting during the bonus, there’s a reason to go after it.

The contained nature of the advantage (no more than 5 spins unless the symbol drops, in which the advantage is then extended) also helps to make this a bit more interesting of a play in terms of containing risk – either it’ll happen in a few spins or it won’t.

Watch and Learn

Here’s IGT‘s promotional video for this iteration of the Jurassic Park Trilogy games:

RandomSlots, as usual, did a nice job of offering an overview of the game: