Novomatic Slots
Novomatic Group is an Austria-headquartered company that was founded in 1980. Production of video slots for online casinos is just a minor area of business operations for Novomatic. The bulk of their profits comes from lottery solutions, media technologies and land-based slot machines. In summer 2019, Carnival City Casino near Johannesburg saw the launch of a few linked progressive jackpot slots, which impressed the packed crowd greatly. As of today, they are not the leading company on the gambling market yet their best slots can still be found in some online casinos in South Africa.
Whilst some companies have no scruples about introducing themselves as the pioneer in video slots development, Novomatic was a genuine trailblazer in that field. Since it is one of the world’s oldest gambling corporations, it stood at the origins of video slot making.
Just bare facts and figures about Novomatic:
- 25 technology and research centers in 16 countries
- 250,000+ gaming terminals
- 2000+ own gaming facilities
- 30,000+ employees
- 5 billion euros in revenues in 2018.
Best Novomatic slots
Novomatic casinos in South Africa are sparse around here, not because their slots are bad, but because the developer is somewhat vintage in their methods. Nearly all the slots produced by that fabulous provider are generally thought to be classic. At the end of the 90s, early online casinos considered it an honor to offer Book of Ra, Sizzling Hot and Dolphin’s Pearl Deluxe. The three slots are over 20 years of age and they may look obsolete by today’s standards, yet many veterans are nostalgic about them. Along with these titles, a South African user can play other Novomatic slots such as Lucky Lady’s Charm, Lord of the Ocean, Katana, Ultra Fruits, Pharaoh’s Ring, and many more.
Novomatic slot features
The Group has launched into market dozens of video slots, most of which have land-based replicas. The key feature that is inherent in almost every game is simplicity – in a good sense. Around 98% of the collection is made up of five-reel slots. The exceptions are rare, for example, Ultra Hot and Lucky Clover – these have three reels. The number of paylines is almost uniform across the games and counts for 3, 5 or 9 lines or, in some cases, 10, 20 or 40.
The thematic diversity is not as large as in other vendors. When choosing among the best slots of that provider, a player will come across the slots on adventure, romance, animals, Asia, jewels, mystery, seasons, fairy tale, gold and ancient Egypt. Many slots also have fruit symbols – lemons, dollar signs, BARs, cherries – which is the legacy of the early age of mechanical slot machines.
Graphics, the way symbols look, background and other elements that fall under the notion of graphical design lack refinement. For the last ten years or so, graphics software and rendering engines have made giant leaps so Novomatic could have revamped their older titles to give them more polish or add some HD-animations, yet Novomatic still preserves the classic appearance of all of their slots, except for perhaps some of the latest releases.
As is said above, Novomatic slots are simple and this implies they normally have one bonus feature at best. As a rule, the bonus feature is represented by an ordinary pick-to-win bonus round. Besides, most of their titles have free spins and they are triggered fairly easy. Expanding wilds are one more feature that dominates the reels in Novomatic slots, and this wonderful expansion often results in huge real-money wins.
The size of a bet usually begins with one cent per line and goes up to $5; there are many exceptions but the tendency is clearly there. Medium or high variance is another aspect that comes to mind when playing Novomatic games online for some time, enough to get an intuitive perception of the frequency of winnings.
Novomatic mobile slots in online casinos
High thrills of the best slots are also available when a user is out and about because every Internet-connected smartphone turns into a virtual door that opens to Novomatic slots. There are currently around 60 mobile-ready slots such as Always Hot Deluxe, The Tales of Darkness series, Power Stars and From Dusk Till Dawn. All-time favorites like Lucky Lady’s Charm (and its deluxe edition) have also been re-formed to run on mobile platforms. Absence of mobile games is a deal breaker for many modern gamers but Novomatic has done a good job in this regard.
Novomatic slots bring sheer fun
Intrepid hardcore gamblers who love high-variance games and retro style gameplay have always played Novomatic slots because their potential wins are very impressive. As many releases have a built-in Gamble feature with card guessing mini games, these potential wins can be much higher at the end. If playing for real money, the best slot of the Austrian company are able to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single reel spin! Great, isn’t it? That is why Novomatic slots are a sought-for kind of entertainment in South African online casinos.