Though it might sound like a cute and cuddly sort of slot machine, Cats is definitely not that. Instead of dealing with the usual cute felines that we have in our homes, it’s themed around the dangerous predators that live in Africa, so you will find on its reels lions, tigers, leopards and panthers, all superb animals, but definitely not the kind you would want to face. It’s not just a well designed game, it’s also the kind that brings something new, which in this case means a feature where you have both simple and double symbols on the reels, allowing for combinations with up to 10 symbols in them, even though only five icons are used.
This IGT slot, with 5 reels and 30 lines, gets you prizes of up to $1,000,000 if you’re extremely lucky, and even if you’re not, you still get to enjoy various symbols with special roles (wilds and scatters mostly), plus the multipliers and the free games that they offer.
Features of Cats
Besides the possibility of getting two symbols from a single icon, the game will also get you access to free games, wild symbols, multipliers and scatters. It’s not the kind of game where I can complain about the entertainment factor, as that one has definitely been taken care of.
As I’ve said in the introduction, one of the features of Cats is the fact that you can get symbols that count as two. You get two symbols of each type basically, one with a single lion, one with two lions on it. You can get combinations by using both single and double variants of the same symbol, and this applies to all the feline icons. The minimum number of symbols required is 5, while the maximum is 10.
The Cats logo is the one you should look to when it comes to the biggest payouts available, and it’s also the kind that doesn’t have a double version. You get paid directly when 3 to 5 wild symbols get their own payline, or they can substitute for other symbols, as long as they’re felines. Whenever a wild substitutes for a feline symbol, it counts as a double feline (two symbols). The Cats wild will not substitute for the symbols with paw prints on them.
The only other feature symbol is the scatter, the image of a paw print being on it. Once again, you have both single and double variants of this symbol. The minimum requirement is for four paw prints to be present, in which case you receive a prize worth 2 times the total bet.
Free Spins
The paw prints scatters get you the free games, but you need a minimum of five of them to start a round with 5 free spins. A better prize would be a round of 10 free games, for which you need 6 paw prints scattered around on the reels. This feature can’t be retriggered.
Betting options and jackpots
You’re going to find that Cats can get extremely expensive, with wagers of up to $100 per line, and with total bets of up to $3,000 possible. The lowest wager per line is only $1, so it’s possible to cover all lines and use a bet as low as $30.
You will get a payout that is based on just how much you’ve used in your bets, the highest one being worth 10,000 coins, and going up to $1,000,000. The next best thing is a combination with 10 panthers, where you have 4 double panther symbols, plus a wild that counts as another 2 panthers. The result is a payout of 2,500 coins, plus a 2x multiplier from the wild, which means 5,000 coins ($500,000 maximum value).
Design and symbols
With the focus on the felines that are predators in Africa, Cats gives you the African savannah in the background image, with tall grass visible that is perfect for a predator to hide in. There is a powerful sun in the sky as well, giving the entire scene an orange hue that looks great. There are two types of symbols here, half of them playing cards that look basic and lacking any kind of attraction, the other half being well designed and gorgeous images of these felines.
Symbols: Cats Logo (wild, 10,000 coins), Paw Prints (scatters, 2x the bet), Black Panther (2,500 coins), Lion (1,000 coins), Tiger (1,000 coins), Leopard (1,000 coins), Wild Cat (1,000 coins), Ace (200 coins), King (100 coins), Queen (100 coins) and Jack (100 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
It’s not only one of the better looking slot machines from IGT, but also one of the more profitable, with prizes reaching the million dollar mark, if you can afford the bets. It’s also terribly expensive, but even with lower wagers the multiples used in the payouts still make it worth it.
Cats can be found at any IGT casino, where you get a chance to play it for real money or in free mode.
