IGT’s Sale of the Century is the kind of slot machine which you play because you’re actually a fan of another kind of media product. It’s inspired by a TV game show with the same name, so you will find it a lot more fun to play if you actually know it and maybe you’re a fan as well. This game show started in the US in 1969, after which it also aired in United Kingdom, and finally reached Australia in the 80s, and there it was most popular.
The reels of Sale of the Century host 1 to 25 active lines per round. You get all sorts of cool features inside, among them being scatters, wilds, bonus features, super picks and instant wins. There is also the chance that you will win a prize of up to $18,750.
Features of Sale of the Century
As features, Sale of the Century uses things like instant wins, super picks, bonus games, wilds and scatter symbols.
The Player icon is going to make an appearance only on the three reels from the middle, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th ones. This is the wild feature, so it’s unfortunate that it doesn’t have all the reels at its disposal. It will be used to form more combinations than would normally not be possible, the substitution ability allowing it to be part of them together with regular symbols.
The Game Logo would be the first of the scatter symbols that the game offers. The fact that it has a prize to offer helps with its appeal, and you can get back up to 100 times what you wagered that round, if you get up to five such icons spread around the reels.
Instant Win Feature
One of the major features of the game is this one, called Instant Win and being randomly triggered. You are offered a prize when this happens, and you can take it or you can request another one in its place. Up to three times this can happen, but eventually you will be forced to accept one of the prizes.
Super Pick Bonus
The other scatter, represented by the Question Mark icon, will appear on the same reels as the wild, the ones from the 2nd to the 4th. Having the three scatter symbols appear at the same time will bring you a bonus game called Super Pick.
It starts with the symbols from the middle three reels changing into Question Mark icons, 9 of them total for just as many positions. You have to pick one of the symbols, and you will be offered either free spins, cash prizes, a bonus feature or a mix of free spins and cash prizes.
If you trigger the free spins, these will come with 3x multipliers for the wins obtained along the way.
Gift Shop Bonus
The Game Logo scatter is responsible for getting this feature started, though it can also be triggered through the Super Pick bonus game. 3+ scattered Game Logos will be sufficient to get you inside.
You get 8 spins here, on a different type of slot machine, one which has 3 reels. Any wins you might obtain inside will come from the middle row of the slot. You can also collect gift tokens along the way, when they appear, and then use them in the Gift Shop, a feature which starts once you’re done with the fast money rounds.
The Gift Shop gives you cash prizes and jackpot prizes to pick from. You use as many picks as you have tokens collected.
Betting options and jackpots
The payline’s betting range is between $0.01 and $3.75. You can get to a maximum value of $93.75, which would cover all the paylines with the highest stake possible.
The big prize, a 5,000x line bet multiple, offers you the same number of coins. In dollars, that would be $18,750 at best.
Design and symbols
Being a game show themed slot machine, the design is focused on the studio where it is being filmed, and on the various objects which the contestants can win if they do everything right. The studio has a purple floor and red walls, while the reels get things like golf clubs, scooters, washing machines, TV sets or watches. It’s a cartoon style design, so don’t expect to see real photos of the presenters or the contestants.
Symbols: Player (wild), Question Mark (scatter), Game Logo (scatter, 100x bet), Car (5,000 coins), Cruise Ship (1,000 coins), Diamond Necklace (500 coins), Watch (500 coins), Coat (150 coins), Scooter (150 coins), Golf clubs (125 coins), TV (125 coins), Furniture (100 coins) and Washing Machine (100 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
I think you’re going to find a worthy choice, even if you’re not necessarily a fan of the game show that inspired it.
Sale of the Century, Game Show
The first time this game show aired was in 1969, on September 29th. NBC was the television behind it and it continued to air it until 1973. It became a huge success only later, when it was acquired for Australia and modified. NBC bought the new format back from the Australian owner, and then started to air it in 1983, continuing with it until 1989. The initial show got 5 seasons, while the modified version got another 7.
The Sale of the Century slot machine is offered through the IGT platform, so if you want to play it for real or just to practice, look out for casinos that use it.
