Peaky Blinders Gets Its Own Online Pokie
Peaky Blinders is one of the most popular television series ever produced and it now has its own pokie. Pragmatic Play’s first foray into a branded pokie hits online casinos on August 27. Obtaining the license to Peaky Blinders won’t have been easy or cheap. Let us see if Pragmatic Play has made the most of their coup.
Peaky Blinds Fundamentals
Fans of the Peaky Blinders TV show will be delighted at the visuals of this pokie. You could almost be in pre World War 2 Birmingham with the show’s characters all in play. It really feels like you’re in a gangster show!
The game takes place on a typical 5×3 layout with 20 paylines available. Pragmatic Play has played things safe in this respect, especially when recent pokies have 200 or more paylines.
This machine has medium-to-high volatility and a 96.5% Return To Player (RTP). The RTP is on the lowside, but branded pokies tend to be because of the seer cost of the licenses. Not only that but they know fans of the show will play this machine regardless.
Minimum bets weigh at only $0.20 with the most you can bet coming in at $100. You need a substantial bankroll for Peaky Blinders, however, because of that low RTP and medium-to-high volatility.
Pragmatic Play has, for some unknown reason, capped winnings at 2,022x your bet. This is far too low with everything else taken into consideration. There is no excuse for such a small maximum award. Here’s hoping they increase it in a later update.
Peaky Blinds Symbols, Visuals, and Audio
The Peaky Blinders pokie is set in the backstreets of Birmingham and looks exactly like the British show. The colours and film grain really set the atmosphere and Pragmatic Play should be commended for their accuracy.
There are 13 symbols in total. Five of these are low-paying symbols, which are represented by the Royals: 10, J, Q, K, and A. The four premium symbols are the four main characters of the Peaky Blinders show. You’ll find Michael Gray, Polly Gray, Arthur Shelby, and Thomas Shelby. The latter is the most valuable symbol in the game, paying 20x for landing five of them.
The machine also has wild symbols and a scatter, the latter represented by the Shelby betting shop. Wilds only appear on the first and third reels. Scatters are only available on the fifth reel.
What Are The Bonuses and Features
There are two features that randomly trigger during the base game. A Shelby betting shop scatter on reel 5 can result in all character symbols having a cash reward on them. You win the combined prizes plus anything from the winlines.
Landing the Peaky Blinders bonus symbols on reel 5 can start the By Order Of The Peaky Blinders. All character and wild symbols remain in place while a re-spin takes place. All characters and wilds transform into one symbol once the re-spin is over.
The two other bonus features revolve around free spins. Shelby Betting Shop Free Spins gives you eight free spins. Additional symbols are put into play to boost your wins.
By Order Of The Peaky Blinders Free Spins gives you 10 free spins. Again, additional symbols are in play. Neither of the free spin bonus features can be retriggered, which is a shame.
Conclusion
Peaky Blinders is an OK pokie but it should be so much better. This is the first branded pokie by Pragmatic Play and it shows. The visuals are fantastic, as are the sounds; the company has done a great job there.
The problem lies in that Peaky Blinders isn’t anything you’ve not seen before. It could be any pokie with a Peaky Blinders skin on it. It’s a crying shame Pragmatic Play didn’t pull out all the stops with this licence. The relatively tiny maximum payout of only 2,022x is ludicrous. A game with low RTP and quite high volatility needs a bigger max payout.
We’ll definitely play Peaky Blinders when it’s fully released, but we’re hoping for some significant updates in the future.
