With ninja penguins among its symbols and in the background picture, Path of the Penguin manages to be an original slot machine, with a theme that you’re not going to find in any other game. The penguins and the ice that is everywhere are pretty normal and have been used before, but the martial arts connection is new. It’s fun, it has bonus games and not just scatters and wilds, and it even pays relatively well. On paper it sounds great, so let’s see how it fares.
You can win up to $30,000 if you hit the jackpot, but you will have to wager on up to 25 lines before spinning the game’s 5 reels. As features, Microgaming used bonus games, free spins, multipliers, a scatter and a wild.
Features of Path of the Penguin
The wild and the scatter are both very common feature symbols, and they are present here, but alongside you will also find a bonus game which will make you work a bit for the free spins which will be triggered eventually by it.
The Penguin symbol is the one that acts as the wild in Path of the Penguin. Since it’s the wild symbol, it can substitute for any other, the Ice Cube scatter being the exception like in every other slot. I like the wild in this slot for the same reason why it’s a favorite of mine in the majority of the games that use it. It is also the one to offer the biggest prize available, which in this case is at 6,000x the line bet and obtained with a five Penguin combo.
With the other feature symbol, the scatter, you’re getting another popular and very common chance to make some extra money. One way the Ice Cube does this is by simply appearing two or more times in the same round, anywhere on the reels. Depending on the number of Ice Cubes, you win anywhere between 2x and 100x the total wager.
Bonus Game
The same scattered Ice Cubes will trigger the Path of the Penguin bonus game, but the minimum requirement for it is three symbols. These can be scattered anywhere on the reels, they will do their job as long as there are enough of them.
You start off with an initial 5 free spins, and then you get a chance to win more. You have five Ice Cubes in front of you, and you pick three of them for the Penguin to smash.
For each smashed Ice Cube, you are going to get additional free spins or cash prizes. Once this part is done, you will get to play through the free spins, with all the wins taking advantage of a 3x multiplier.
Betting options and jackpots
The betting range in this case is big enough that everyone can afford playing it, high rollers and penny slot players alike. It goes from $0.01 to $125. The line bet uses as many as 20 coins, and they are worth between $0.01 and $0.25. You end up with bets of up to $5 per line, but you don’t have to go that high.
No matter what line bet you’re going to use, the top jackpot will multiply it by 6,000x, so the more you risk, the more you can win. The maximum value of that top prize is $30,000.
Design and symbols
The action takes place on a frozen landscape, but with a certain Asian theme mixed in as well. You see a couple of penguins meditating on the two sides of the reels, with Asian style lamps nearby. Though you would expect ice to be a big part of a game whose action takes place at the South Pole, there is perhaps a bit too much of it in the symbols. Both the playing cards and some of the other regular symbols use the same ice like material in their construction, and the game is much whiter than it has to be as a result.
Symbols: Penguin (wild, 6,000x), Ice Cube (100x bet, scatter), Walrus (2,000x), Fish (1,000x), Nunchuks (500x), Shuriken (250x), Ace (200x), King (200x), Queen (125x), Jack (125x), 10 (100x) and 9 (100x).
Is It Worth Playing?
Its icy theme feels perfect for the hot summer months, plus it has an interesting theme with ninja penguins, a decent list of features and a $30,000 top jackpot. I’d say give it a try.
This Path of the Penguin slot is offered by all online casinos with Microgaming software, playable either in practice or in real money mode.
