The design here is simply done - the reels are set within a Subbuteo stadium, complete with crowd. Joining the lower value royal values are boots, balls, whistles, trophies and Subbuteo players. The best of them is the gold Subbuteo Sub who pays 5, 25 or 250 times your stake if you land 3, 4 or 5 on a payline. There’s also a wild that performs the usual substitution functions as well as offering awards of up to 100 times your stake per payline in its own right.
Underneath the reels you’ll see a team of 11, silhouetted Subbuteo footballers. Every time a symbol lands that features a club badge (which you can customise before playing), then 1 of the players turns active. Once all 11 players are active, you’ll trigger the Subbuteo Free Spins feature.
After you’ve collected 7 players you can pay a fee and immediately trigger the feature. Once the full team is activated, you’ll be awarded 18 free spins which are equal to 90 minutes. Boosting your chances here are a selection of extras:
- Free Kick - a respin is awarded.
- Penalty - take a shot against the keeper. If you score you win a cash bonus.
- Goal - you’ll see a clip of a Subbuteo game. If your team scores, you’ll win a prize worth 5 times your stake.
- Action Replay - after a winning free spin, you could see the reels rewind. You’ll win the same amount again.
- Red Card – 1 of the lower value symbols is removed from play.
- Substitution - a lower value symbol is replaced by the higher paying Super Sub symbol.
A special bonus prize is awarded if your team wins. If the scores are level when the full-time whistle blows, you’ll trigger extra time and with it 6 extras free spin. If it’s still a draw after extra time you’ll go to penalties where each successful kick awards a 5 times stake bonus payout.
Subbuteo also comes with base game extras that can hit on any spin:
- Extra Player feature - a cash bonus is awarded and 1 extra player is activated in your line up.
- Manager of the Month feature - here you could be awarded an extra player, fill all the empty players and trigger the bonus, win a cash prize or get a guaranteed win respin.
- New Contract feature - an instant cash prize if given.
It might all sound a little complicated but Subbuteo is actually pretty simple. It can take a while to trigger the Subbuteo Free Spins feature but the extras there can deliver. The base game modifiers can help move things along too. We managed to land a payout of 100 times our stake after landing a New Contract. It does offer up to 1,250 times your stake on every free spin which is decent.
You’ll certainly see flashier looking slot games than this and the commentary had us reaching for the mute button. It feels a bit messy but there are some decent extras on offer here. If you’re a fan of the beautiful game, I recommend you try Top Trumps Football Stars: Sporting Legends from Playtech or Bicicleta from Yggdrasil Gaming.