The Umpire Strikes Back Slots
The title pretty much says everything you need to know about this game. The Umpire Strikes Back is an ode to one of the most beloved movies of all time. However, the only thing out of this world with this game is the chaos that comes along with it. It’s crazy, a little goofy, and is only a three-reel slot, but there is something so incredibly charming about how wild this game is. Stick around to decide whether The Umpire Strikes Back is a hit or if it strikes out where it counts.
Everything All At Once
The first thing you’ll notice is that this board is a little all over the place. This is only a three-reel, one-pay line slot, so there isn’t much to the reels themselves. Instead, the bottom of the board is filled with your settings and a couple of special buttons, and the background is chaotic, to say the least. Each symbol’s value is displayed under and to the right of the reels, and the special features take up the left side. Around all of this are tiny cartoon cricket players mid-action. Combined, all of these separate graphics create a scene that makes it difficult to focus.
Despite this only being a three-reel game, the developers didn’t rely solely on the traditional three-reel symbols. There are oranges, cherries, and lemons, but that is the extent of the classic fruit theme. Other symbols include rackets, scorecards, helmets, and the Umpire as the jackpot symbol. Having a single pay line does add some volatility to the game with this many symbols.
The audio portion of this game is about as basic as it can be. There is no overlaid theme music, and the sound effects are negligible. Aside from the spinning of the reels and a whistling sound when you activate a feature, there isn’t much to hear out of this game. The lack of audio may bother some, but most people will probably not even notice.
One Feature Becomes Many
Everything that comes from the bonus feature all stems from the same place. The bonus of this game is a little convoluted, especially for such a simple game. Most three-reel slots have a wild symbol as their bonus at best, so complicated is better than nonexistent.
The goal is to land three symbols with a red cricket ball in the corner of a winning line. Once you accomplish this, you are taken to the main mini-game feature, but there is some strategy involved. When you land a winning line, it unlocks an ability from the numbered abilities on the left side of the board. You can do things like nudge a reel or hold a reel for a spin in hopes of hitting that three-red-ball line.
When you manage to hit three red balls in a winning line, you go to a new screen that is busier than the first one. This leads to a different kind of gambling where you have three colored hi/lo meters that offer different rewards. Red gives you multipliers, blue gives you accessible nudges, and yellow gives you incredible bonuses like no-loss betting and instant prizes, but there are 11 unique bonuses in total. You choose which column you want to win and whether the number in your box will be higher or lower than the number in the box. When you win, you win the prize shown, and the whole process restarts.
They Pack a Lot Into a Little
Usually, three-reel, one pay line slots are about as basic as they come. They are meant to harken back to the first slot games that resided in speakeasies. The Umpire Strikes Back is a testament to how far all technology has come, especially slot games have come. Now you can get incredible bonus features like the one in this game on a game as simple as this one. It is a bit chaotic, but it just adds to the fun, and with a single pay line, your eyes have time to wander. There are other games that are less volatile and have more bonus features and a prettier aesthetic, but there is something so charming about the wackiness of this game that it might just steal your heart and your time.