Desert Shark slot by Fantasma Games

Desert Shark slot summary

Desert Shark slot by Fantasma Games via Relax is one of those odd hybrid themes we sometimes see, like Leprechaun Goes Egypt by Play'n Go. Here we have sand dunes where somehow a pirate galleon has landed up and shark fins sticking out of the sand and some reedy Middle Eastern music to spin to. The game has a very similar set-up at first glance to Push Gaming's Razor Shark too, so it could well be a copy - let's see. So will the sands of time be running low for our bankroll here or can we bite a big chunk of what's on offer?

On The Reels...

We get 40 fixed pay lines with stacked symbols on a 5x4 grid on Desert Shark slot. The 5-of-a-kinds may see low but there is huge potential here as we shall soon see. The Wild pays 7.5x, Aladdin 5x, Camel 4x, Compass 3x, Bottle 2.5x, Lamp 2x with 4 symbol discs either paying 1.25 or 1x for a full line. There are scatters in the form of Gold Dust Devils on the centre 3 reels but there are some significant Wild features to get through first.

Wild Enhancements

You may see some different Wilds here than the standard Gold 'W' ones.
Swim Wilds - Gold Sharks can appear stacked on the last 3 reels in the base game and free games. You need 2 in the base game or 1 in the free games and when they appear, a random number of symbols on its row to the left of it can turn Wild. If a standard Wild is already on that row, it gets made into a 2x Wild. If already a 2x Wild, it becomes 3x and so-on up to 9x maximum. The multiplying Wilds multiply each other if more than one is present on a row or line.
Dynamite Wilds - only in the free spins, 1 to 6 of these are added each spin to the reels and may only land on reels 1, 2 and 3.
Multiplier Wilds - created by Swim Wilds converting them to multipliers, if the dynamite allows more and more to cascade down on the last 3 reels then these can get as high as 9x.

Free Spins

You get 8 for those 3 Dust Devil scatters on the centre reels and the enhancements are the fact you get those Dynamite Wilds added plus only need one Swim Wild to activate the Wild feature leftwards along the row. The leftwards transformations to Wilds or Multiplier Wilds occurs from top to bottom if they have landed stacked. Finally, every time a Dynamite Wild is activated by the Swim Wilds on the same row, it will itself transform up to 6 other random symbols. So your potential comes from the fact you can get lots of Wilds, repeating on the same spin as long as any Swim Wilds are remaining in view before they drop off the bottom. We are told up to 16,000x bet is feasible in this bonus!

Our View...

Desert Shark slot is colourful with plenty going on and has potential in the base game too. It is basically a copy of Razor Shark by Push Gaming and the RTP is 96.33% so no complaints there. The bonus might be hard to trigger but a couple of spins with 2 full-stacked Swim Wilds should ensure at least a few hundred times bet as the outcome and much more if you land them on a couple of reels. It's theoretically possible to have 2 or 3 9x multipliers in play and presumably that's how we can unleash that huge potential here. The desert may be an odd place to encounter shark, but that won't keep me away in future...

Brian W.