Money Mariachi Infinity Reels

Money Mariachi Infinity Reels: Slot Overview

If anything, ReelPlay's Infinity Reels system has proven to be a rather versatile device, hosting a range of features from 'book of' expanding symbols, progressive multipliers, and jackpots. Streak respin/ hold & win features have also gone on the block, as evidenced by an earlier ReelPlay release titled Thor Infinity Reels. The results have been mixed, yet the mechanic powers on under its own steam, like a trendsetter oblivious to the wider slots zeitgeist. This could be about to change, though. ReelPlay has taken a relatively common theme, blasted it (in a good way) all over the Infinity Reels system, and jacked just about everything else that counts.

As the name suggests, Money Mariachi Infinity Reels is a Mexican themed slot based largely around the Day of the Dead celebration. Most players are no doubt aware of this festival of the dead that takes place at the start of November for families or friends to get together and commemorate those who now reside in the spirit realm. Instead of being a total tearjerker, the Day of the Dead allows studios to bring all sorts of colour to the reels, which ReelPlay has done with particular vibrancy - visually and audibly.

Each spin starts on a game grid made up of 3 reels, 4 rows high. Whenever a win hits that includes the rightmost reel, another reel is added to the grid. If the new reel extends the win, the process repeats, stopping when the winning combination(s) are not improved. Also, a symbol multiplier applies to all wins. It starts at x1 and increases by +1 whenever a reel is added. After a payout has occurred, the next spin returns to the default 3x4 size grid. Mathematically, volatility is high – with massive 50,000 times your stake potential to match.

At least five matching symbols are required to form a winning combination, starting from the leftmost reel. The first six symbols are low/mid values consisting of bouquets, glowing objects, hats, maracas, gravestones, and candles – all done in fluorescent colours to keep in with the theme. Four characters make up the high pays, which also appear during the respins feature as the special symbols. The last symbol here is a guitar wild, substituting all pay symbols whenever it hits.

Money Mariachi Infinity Reels: Slot Features

The Infinity Reels system is accompanied by three more features. These are the Infinity Bonus, Level Up Respins, and a feature buy.

Infinity Bonus

The Infinity Bonus is a payout of 888x the bet if 12 or more reels are added in a single game round. This can be on a base game spin or during Level Up Respins and is paid on top of any other applicable win.

Level Up Respins

Level Up Respins are triggered when 3 or more Shrine symbols appear during a spin sequence - 3 respins are awarded, and the triggering Shrine symbols are held in place throughout the round. Shrine symbols are given a starting value of 1-10x the bet and reset respins to 3 whenever a new one hits.

Each time a reel is filled in full with Shrine or special symbols, another reel is added to the game grid. Moreover, on each respin, every Shrine, Booster, or Charmer symbol gains a skull, and each time one of these symbols collect 6 skulls, it levels up, and its prize increases by 1-10x the bet. The collected skulls are removed, and the process repeats.

Whenever a Shrine symbol levels up, there is a chance it turns into one of 4 special symbols:

• Grower – levels up on every spin, no skulls required, by 1-10x the bet. Growers can obtain hearts from the Charmer symbol. Each heart adds an extra level up for the Grower on each respin.
• Freezer – freezes the number of respins for 2 respins, then transforms back to a shrine.
• Booster – plays a sweet blast of violin as it increases all adjacent Shrine/special symbols by 1-10x the bet every time it levels up.
• Charmer – reduces the number of skulls needed to level up for all surrounding Shrine/special symbols by 1. It also adds 1 heart to all surrounding Grower symbols every time it levels up.

The definition of 'surrounding symbols' is when they connect vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Also, the number of skulls required to level up any symbol cannot go below 1.

Feature Buy

If a viable option, players may buy Level Up Respins for the cost of 100x the bet. The triggering spin will have from 6 to 15 reels and may trigger the Infinity Bonus.

Money Mariachi Infinity Reels: Slot Verdict

Around the time of testing, there had been a minor spate of Day of the Dead/Mariachi theme slots coming in, so we entered Money Mariachi Infinity Reels with no small amount of trepidation. There's only so many times you can jam to Mariachi music amidst representations of the dead, skeletons, and glowing etheric lighting, right? Well, Money Mariachi Infinity Reels turned out to be a pleasant surprise, managing to be one of the better Day of the Dead themed slots and one of the best examples of the Infinity Reels mechanic. It's as if there had been recent hirings at ReelPlay and the new talent had injected new ideas, as well as giving the game a higher degree of polish. The whole thing felt tighter in just about every regard than they usually are.

What accounts for the tightness? For one, the graphics have a nice gleam to them; the animations are as slick as they get in Infinity Reels, all accompanied by a raging Mariachi group, for your eyes and ears. Speaking of ears, Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries during big count ups is a great touch, too. The flatness often associated with some Infinity Reels games is gone, replaced with more spirit than normal; perhaps the vivid subject matter is partly to thank. The bonus game can be an absolute doozy as well when Money Mariachi turns it up. The thing can go on and on like few other bonus games can. The best result during our sessions was around 2,000x, and we are talking about taking a solid 15-20 minutes to achieve it. Maybe shorter, maybe longer, it's hard to say as time had sort of lost all meaning by the end. The feature just kept going and going, like the Energiser Bunny. And x2k is nothing to Money Mariachi, which has a max win figure of 50,000x the bet. The mind bends at the glacial amount of time needed to produce that.

Money Mariachi was a surprising riot of a game, oozing effervescence. ReelPlay has successfully steered Infinity Reels away from the junkyard of mechanics it kind of felt it was rolling towards, to somewhere interesting that's easy to get excited about.