Chimney Stacks Slot Machine
This strikes me as a strange choice for a theme of a slot. People sweeping chimneys is not the first thing I’d associate with casino style slots, and even after having chosen this odd theme – you might have thought they could do something interesting with it. Who know – an old London theme? Maybe a bonus game sweeping actual chimneys? On the plus side, this slot does have the characteristic Bally game-play and a free spins bonus game which can result in some bigger wins.
The main reels are about as plain as I have seen Bally slots get. There is a night time cityscape across the top of the reels, and a beige background with a silhouette of someone holding a chimney sweep brush. The symbols themselves are on topic, with items like bellows, a top hat and old style weather vane. Wilds are the cityscape again, with the world ‘Wild’ written on it. This does come stacked (taking up all 4 rows on a reel), which helps to increase the number of wins.
Playing Chimney Stacks
You’ll find 40 win lines, which like all Bally slots are not changeable. Bet sizes are from 40c, right up to $400 per spin. Prizes follow the normal Bally pattern too; individual wins are on the smaller side – which is made up for when you hit a few wilds, triggering multiple wins at the same time. The top wins are for the wilds and the top hat, 5 of either on a line get you 10x your total stake amount. Bellows and the weather vane are next, followed by the playing card symbols. You’ll get the standard Bally winning tunes when you do make a win, though the animations are limited to flashing lines.
There are two special symbols on the reels. The wilds are already noted, these substitute for any of the regular symbols to make winning lines, and often come stacked. Sometimes you will get more than one reel covered in these wilds which can be very profitable. The remaining symbol is a simple free games logo, which appears only on reels 1, 3 and 5. When you get all 3 of these you trigger 10 free spins.
Bonus Games for Chimney Stacks
You will see an animated sequence with a large sized city scape before the bonus game starts. The graphics are different during this bonus. The reels have a dark background, the chimneys look like chimneys and there is some lively music playing in the background. I have to ask the obvious question at this point – why not use some of these elements in the main game?
There are no special behaviours or extra wilds in this bonus game, you simply cycle through your free spins with the total won displaying on the right above the reels and spins remaining on the left. If you are lucky enough to see a few ‘stacked’ chimneys on the reels, the wins during this round can add up nicely. After the game ends you will go back to the main reels via the city scape (full screen) and then a big puff of soot.
Summary for Chimney Stacks
I have played a lot of Bally slots, and most of them have been excellent – there is always something in place which is positive about even the plainest slot. This is the least engaging of their games, it really does not have anything interesting going on in the main reels. The theme is left hanging a little bit, and even the free spins bonus round that is in place is pretty uneventful. I have a feeling that the development team found the in-joke about ‘stacked’ symbols and Chimney ‘Stacks’ so incredibly funny that they forgot to work on making this slot interesting for the players. I will end on a positive, the solid Bally game-play is in place, and – well – it is bound to appeal to players that enjoy, erm, chimneys.