The visuals in Snow Leopard are typical of a Barcrest-powered slot game - with a snow-filled horizon in the background, the plain blue reels include the usual royal symbols alongside a squirrel and snow leopard. The scantily woman, who really should be wrap up a bit given the temperature, is the most rewarding, paying 6 times your stake if you land 6 on a payline.
The 6-reel set up is a little unusual - helping to create extra winning opportunities is the stacked wild which is guaranteed to hit on at least 1 reel on every spin.
That includes the Free Spins Bonus feature which is triggered by landing 3 or more of the paw print scatter on the same spin. You’ll receive 8, 20, 50 free spins if you land 3, 4 or 5 scatters on the same spin. The wild reel (or reels) from the triggering spin will remain wild throughout your free spins. Other reels can turn wild too. The wild reels also offer multipliers of 2x, 3x, 5x, 7x or 10x.
The number of free spins potentially on offer rises to 100 if playing in Big Bet Double Play mode. This is a series of 5 linked spins that will cost you £20, £30, £40 or £50 but offers some potentially impressive rewards. A second set of reels is added here - you’ll then have to decide whether to have wild stacks on matching reels on both machines, synced reels or independently spinning reels.
You can then look forward to an assortment of extras with your Double Play spins including up to 100 free spins, 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x wild stack multipliers and the removal of lower value symbols. As usual with Big Bet spins, the RTP improves, rising from 94.2% at minimum stakes up to 98.2% at the higher levels.
Like many slot games in the Barcrest catalogue, Snow Leopard started life as a brick and mortar casino slot game. That’s evident in the design in this online version. The visuals and gameplay largely keep faith with the original. The highlights of course are the stacked wilds and multipliers which can really come into their own during the feature.
Land multiple wild reels during that free spins and the Snow Leopard can deliver some memorable action. If you like the theme, Icy Wilds by IGT and Wild North by Play ‘N Go are recommended.