Game: Happy 8’s
Manufacturer: Incredible Technologies (IT)
Advantage Play Potential: High
What Makes it Special: 8 spin cycles to accumulate wilds, progressives and bonuses. Items accumulated in the base games carry into the bonus, and back out, extending the spin cycle if a bonus is triggered.
Happy 8’s is the sister game to Jolly 8’s by IT, and they’re usually paired together in the casino. Like many games released nowadays, it completes a pair of themes with identical features and bonuses, but if you aren’t familiar with the games or missed our previous review, we’ve got you covered.
Understanding the Game
Happy 8’s features a 4-5-6-5-4 reel set with 40 lines and 60 credit bet increments. Progressives are available at the max bet; flat jackpots are offered for lower bets. So max betting does unlock better payouts proportionally when winning a progressive.
Persistent state counters exist on the game for the number of wilds collected, bonus symbols collected and the four jackpots, with a set for each bet level. The counters reset at the end of an eight spin cycle, when the wilds are placed on the reels at random among the 24 reel spaces. If you somehow collect more than 24 wilds in a cycle, the remainder are saved for the next one.
The bet panel shows you the number of wilds collected; you have to click on each credit amount to see the others. Eight spins are not a lot of spins to collect items, but if you manage a bonus during the cycle, those bonus spins continue to count things up, effectively extending the number of spins you have to collect things.
Progressives Jackpots
You can win a jackpot within a cycle if you collect the following:
- Mini or Minor: 4 of a symbol, found in the 4th or 2nd reel, prospectively, each reel of which contains five spaces
- Major or Grand: 5 of a symbol, found in the 5th or 1st reel, prospectively, each reel of which contains four spaces
The reel layout makes winning the Mini or Minor much more likely, of course. And since all counters reset at the end of a cycle, you only have eight spins to do it, unless you get the bonus, which extends the cycle.
Bonus Feature
The four jackpots take up the outer four reels, so it’s the bonus feature that is on the third reel. You only need to collect three of them on the six-space reel across those eight spins. In my experience playing the game and its sister, it wasn’t too difficult to achieve.
When you go into the free spins bonus the numbers on your counters continue forward; your progress collecting wilds and jackpot symbols continue through the bonus.
The number of wilds collected are randomly placed during each bonus spin, and if you collect more during the bonus, your counter continues to increase. If you finish off a jackpot, you win the jackpot. And if you get three bonus symbols during the bonus, you retrigger and add 8 spins to your bonus, up to 96 total spins in the bonus.
When you complete the bonus, the counters retain their value and continue back into the eight base game spin cycle. This includes bonus symbols collected, meaning a second bonus could theoretically be triggered in the cycle.
Understanding the Advantage
The six persistent state counters are what indicates the potential advantage. The more wilds, the better the chances of a good payout on the 8th spin; 2 bonus game counters can also be valuable for the increased chance of a bonus round, which can drive up the various other counters. Like other games with a spin cycle you also know exactly how much you need to invest to complete the cycle and hopefully collect something for your investment.
You also get five different bet levels to evaluate on each machine; if you are lucky spins have been left behind on multiple bet levels, which so far I have found on multiple occasions.
Watch and Learn
Here is RandomSlots with a video featuring the pay tables and a bonus:
Slotaholic did 100 spins on the game to show how the game performs, and you can see how the cycle impacts game pays:
