The Love Boat comes from Playtech and it is a slot machine which pays homage to a famous TV series of the 70s and 80s, which ended its run after 250 episodes. Airing on ABC, in the United States, The Love Boat was about a ship’s crew and about its passengers, which had various adventures, often romantic in nature. As a slot machine, it uses images of the actors of the series, so fans that enjoyed it when it first aired will get a trip down memory lane thanks to it.
Part of the Love Boat slot you will find a total of 5 reels, which have 25 lines. The slot gives you free spins, bonus games, scatter symbols and wilds. The big prize offered will give you back up to $75,000.
Features of The Love Boat
There are some pretty good features to look out for here, starting with the wild symbol, continuing with about three different scatters, with bonus games, free spins and even a feature where you can win a jackpot.
The Love Boat is represented more in the form of a logo in this game, a red ship which you will know to have the powers of a wild feature. The prizes it offers start at 2x the line bet and can go up to 3,000x, depending on the exact number of such symbols which have appeared on the same line and in the right order to form a combo. As a substitute, the role that the wild is best known for, it will replace all regular combo symbols, and will not do anything about the three scatters which trigger the free spins, bonus features or the progressive jackpot round.
The Love Doctor Free Games
One of the three scatter symbols present inside shows off the game logo, the symbol being capable of offering its rewards just by being present in enough locations at the same time. The rewards start at 3x the bet value, and can go up to 100x.
You receive 10 free spins as well, for the same 3+ scattered Logos, and they will have a Love Meter area on the left side of the screen. Each Doc symbol which appears during these free spins will advance you by +1 on the Love Meter. Depending on the stage reached, you will trigger one feature or another.
Jackpot and Bonus symbols do not appear during the free spins, so you get only wilds and Logo scatters. You also can’t retrigger these free spins.
Matchup Bonus
The bonus game which you start off with the help of the Bonus icon requires it to appear in scattered positions on the three reels where it can do it. Those would be the 1st, 3rd and 5th reels.
In this bonus game, you have to match chicks with dudes, receiving multipliers and cash prizes in return. Each choice gives you a cash prize.
Next, the Meter tests how good the match is, and if it’s particularly good it will add a multiplier to the prize you won already. It can be 1x for “Let’s just be friends”, 3x for “You’re Smoking Hot” and 5x multipliers for “It’s my one true love”.
The Dream Cruise Jackpot
Have the Dream Cruise Ticket scatter appear on the 5th reel, in any position, and you will be rewarded with tickets to the Dream Cruise Jackpot Draw. Each ticket has a number, and when the jackpot draw will be triggered, you will get to use the ones you have accumulated along the way. The jackpot is worth $10,000.
Betting options and jackpots
Given the maximum line bet of $25, and the number of paylines which goes up to 25, the maximum bet can reach a value of $625. It can be as little as $0.01 per line though, which would translate to a $0.25 total bet, making it accessible to pretty much anyone.
The Love Boat wild gives you up to 3,000 coins in the top payout, which will mean $75,000 cash. The Dream Cruise Jackpot is also winnable in this game, through its own feature.
Design and symbols
The design feels just right in this case for a slot machine with a Love Boat theme. It has the images of the actors from the series on the reels, mixed with clipart logos which represent various things from the show or the boat (life savers, hearts, etc). It has an interesting and even cute design, which is not that often the case when dealing with slots themed around 70s era shows.
Symbols: Dream Boat (wild, 3,000 coins), Bonus (scatter), Logo (100 times bet, scatter), Captain Merrill Stubing (1,000 coins), Dr. Adam Bricker (400 coins), Julie McCoy (300 coins), Isaac Washington (200 coins), Burl Gopher Smith (150 coins), Glasses (100 coins), Life Saver (100 coins), Heart (75 coins), Life Saver #2 (50 coins) and Heart Tray (50 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
The game does a wonderful job at bringing you the 70s look and the main stars of the show, while keeping the design attractive. It doesn’t hurt that it also has some very interesting bonus games for you to go through.
The Love Boat, TV Series
The action in The Love Boat took place onboard a cruise ship. This TV series was created by ABC and they aired it between 1977 and 1990. A total of 9 regular seasons were part of it, after which they also created 4 specials. The 250 episodes of the series told the story of a captain and of some of the crew of his ship. You got to learn about their adventures and their romantic situations. The series producer was called Aaron Spelling, while among its main actors you found names like Gavin MacLeod, Lauren Tewes, Ted Lange, Bernie Kopell and Fred Grandy.
The Love Boat slot machine is offered through the Playtech platform, so if you want to play it for real or just to practice, look out for casinos that use it.
