Squealin Riches Slot Review & Playtest (Microgaming)

If breaking open Piggy Banks is your thing, you are in luck as the new Squealin Riches slot from Microgaming designed by Pear Fiction Studios is pretty much focused on these rewarding kinds of pigs!

Pear Fiction already has an impressive lineup of cartoon styled slots. Pretty much all of their back catalogue utilises this very polished cartoon styling. Here on Squealin Riches, we have been graced with a very pleasing visual design, including some great exploding piggy bank animations for the biggest wins.

This slot release is another Lock and Win style slot from Microgaming. This feature has been utilised in quite a few of their most recent releases and works in a very similar fashion to the Link and Win feature found on Thunderstruck Wild Lightning.

With a mixture of stake based Jackpots, Free Spins, Re-Triggers, Gambles, Bonus Wheels and some clever interactions between these features, there is certainly quite a bit to break down in terms of unique features.

If the visual design of this slot appeals, be sure to check out the Piggy Riches Megaways slot, which offers different gameplay but a very similar look.

Squealin Riches Base Gameplay

The base gameplay in Squealin Riches takes place on a standard 5x4 reel set and comes with 1024 winning ways. The reel strips are the usual mix of high and low paying symbols, wild symbols, bonus scatter symbols and some special Golden Coin symbols, which are central to this slots bonus features.

To the left of the reels, there are several different jackpots with values based on the current stake size, raise the stake size, and the values of these will increase, with the Epic Jackpot providing a max win of 5000x Stake.

Above the reels, you will notice a gold bar collection meter. This meter collects the golden coins from the reels. Once filled this will trigger the Jackpot Wheel for your chance at hitting any of these jackpots or even winning a free spins round trigger.

The special golden coins provide the main focus on this slot, so much so that the base game regular wins almost seem like a distraction from what is essential in this slot. Any of these symbols that land in view are collected in the collection meter. You trigger the Lock N Win bonus feature if you manage to land six or more of them in one single spin.

The regular free spins round require three bonus scatter to trigger, but there is also the ability to activate the Lock N Win from inside the free spins. It's probably way easier to do this as the golden coins seem way more prevalent in the bonus round.

The main free spins feature is triggered by landing three Free Spins scatter symbols on the reels. Before the bonus round begins, you are presented with a free spins wheel that contains a mix of values such as 10,15,20,25 and the maximum starting 30 free spins.

A nice touch here is that the pig that spins the wheel can sometimes adjust the wheel to upgrade the starting amount.

Before starting the bonus round, you also have the option to take a further "free spins gamble" on the bonus round with a second spin of the bonus wheel that will upgrade the starting amount if won.

However, failing to land on this free spins upgrade section results in yet another mini-spin where a stake-based reward is awarded. Whilst it is better than nothing compared to more brutal gamble features on other slots, it is generally in the 20x territory in value, so it's still quite a risk to take.

The Jackpot Wheel feature is triggered once you fill-up the bonus wheel progress bar with gold coins. This is done from both the base game and during the free spins round.

While filling up the meter can take quite a while to fill up completely, the bonus rounds do an excellent job of speeding up this process as golden coins are much more common in this feature.

From the wheel, there are a variety of stake-based jackpots and the ability to trigger the free spins round from this feature.

Squealin Riches Jackpots

• Epic Jackpot 5000 x stake
• Grand Jackpot 1000 x stake
• Major Jackpot 250 x stake
• Minor Jackpot  100 x stake
• Mini Jackpot 50 x stake

While these jackpots are fixed, the values can be increased during the Lock N Win feature, the second feature from which the jackpots can be won.

The Lock N Win feature can be triggered from the base game or the free spins bonus round, triggering it requires six or more golden coins landing in view in any spin, and this can even include the various Jackpots symbols.

The Lock N  Win feature is a simple re-spin mechanic with three spins, land any new golden coin symbols, and the counter resets back to 3. The golden coins contain a variety of stake based instant cash prizes that are accumulated then awarded when this bonus feature completes.

This process continues until three spins play out with no new symbols landing in view. If you manage to fill up this screen of coins entirely, you will win the Epic Jackpot.

Jackpot Upgrade Symbols

There are a couple of excellent interactions in this mode. The first is a Jackpot Upgrade symbol which boosts all the value of the jackpots when it lands.

Landing a Jackpot Upgrade increases the value of all jackpots by 1 tier, to a maximum of double their value.

The second is a rare Multiplier symbol that boosts the value of all of the golden coins.

Landing a Multiplier Upgrade instantly multiplies all on-screen cash values by up to 10x their original value.

The Bonus Buys where allowed are activated from the Shopping Trolley icon. Players with access to this feature can bypass the base game and skip straight to the bonus rounds. With some of the most unusual costs based on bet size we've ever seen for a bonus buy option.

• The Free Spins Wheel cost is 55.02x total bet.
• The Bonus Wheel cost is 33.24x total bet.

There is very little difference with the RTP when using these options with values of 96.01% and 96.00%, respectively, if playing strictly using these bonus buy features.