The award-winning crime drama is regularly lauded as one of the best shows ever to hit TV screens. Does the slot version match up? The visuals will be recognisable to anyone who has seen the programme. The reels feature images of Bobby, Paulie, Christopher, Johnny and chef Artie (wot no Silvio?), as well of course as Tony himself.
The rest of the symbols are playing cards with added cigars, poker chips, glasses of whisky, watches and bottles of beer. Tony is the wild, substituting for all symbols apart from the scatter and bonus symbols. The boss is also the biggest payer, offer 3,000 coin jackpots for a 5 symbol combination.
The first feature to look out for is the Raid Bonus feature - triggered at random, you'll be given 4 envelopes to hide in 4 locations. You can hide them all in one spot or spread them about. 2 of the 4 locations will be raided and you'll lose any cash hidden there - if you hide the cash in a place that's not raided, you'll keep the money.
Next is the Bada Bing Bonus feature - named after Tony's nightclub, it's triggered when the Bada Bing symbol appears on reels 2, 3 and 4. You'll be shown pictures of the gang who all want a face to face with Tony - you decide who gets the meeting. A clip from the show is shown and you'll be awarded a cash bonus for your troubles.
There's also the Stolen Goods Bonus feature which is triggered when the trailer symbols hits on reels 1 and 5 - it's a pick me feature. Choose 1 of the 10 containers to reveal a cash prize. If you like what you see you can collect. If not you can pick 2 more times.
The best feature is the Free Games feature which comes when 3 or more Sopranos Scatter symbols appear anywhere on the reels. There are 4 modes in the free spins which are unlocked the more times you trigger the feature:
You'll start off with the Soldier mode which awards 25 free spins with an extra wild on the middle reel. More free games can be triggered in this mode.
Advance to Capo and you'll receive 20 free spins with a random multiplier that will start at 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x. Every time Paulie appears on the reels, the multiplier increases by one up to 5x. If Paulie doesn't hit, the multiplier drops by 1 down to a minimum of 2x. The free spins can't be retriggered in Capo mode.
Get promoted to Boss and you'll receive 10 free spins with up to 5 extra wilds added to the reels. Look out for the Tony symbol in the middle position on reel 3 as this awards 5 extra spins. There's no limit to how many times this can happen.
The final level is the Crime Family Boss mode which awards 10 free spins. The reels only contain high value, mob family symbols as well as Artie and the scatter making winning combinations that much easier to find. All wins featuring Tony himself are doubled.
You unlock each mode by hitting Sopranos Scatter symbols in the base game. 3 moves you 1 step across the progress bar, four or five gets you two steps further along - progress is saved. Once unlocked, you can take your pick of modes.
The Sopranos slot certainly packs plenty in on the features front. The Raid Bonus hits on a regular basis, the others slightly less so. The overall variance is in the low to medium range so you'll get plenty of play for your bankroll here. The key to bagging a big win is via the free spins, especially via the Boss and Family Boss modes.
You probably won't get as rich as Tony Soprano playing the slot that bears his name. Saying that, I found the game a disappointment because I really love the television series. If you like branded slots, you cannot go wrong with Terminator 2 by Microgaming or Star Trek Red Alert by WMS.