Casino Bonuses
| Provider | Elk Studios |
| Reels | 6 |
| Rows | 6 |
| Paylines | Scatter Pays |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.20 - 100 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 25,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 94.00% |
| Our Rating | 4 |
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Game Overview
Researching the meanings of the names given to new slot machines has become a bit of a hobby of mine recently whilst writing these reviews. The most obvious examples that spring to mind from the past week or two include Oishii Bonanza – a word I’d never come across before reviewing the game – and Abrakadabra, a word that I certainly recognised but had never bothered to research in any meaningful way. As for today’s game, Hula Balua by ELK Studios, even Google couldn’t provide me much satisfaction regarding this one! I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that it’s meant to be an alternative spelling of Hulaballoo, but there really isn’t any way to be certain! What I can tell you for sure is that this a scatter-pay machine with a less-than-impressive 94% RTP; fortunately,
Huge jackpots such as this often require convoluted sequences of extraordinary luck before they can be acquired, and ELK Studios is something of a master in that regard! Let’s start by talking about the two re-drop features – there are ‘sticky’ re-drops, which award free re-spins for the chance to increase the number of winning symbols in your combination, and ‘Elmo’ re-drops, which also come with walking wilds. The reels also contain giant symbols that generate multipliers whenever they appear and can also be created from regular matching symbols when they land in adjacent positions. The main bonus round is a typical free spin-based feature, but as with most of ELK’s slots, it comes in both regular and ‘super’ flavours – this time, the super mode guarantees giant symbols on every spin. The developer’s trademark ‘X-iter’ bonus buy menu has five options, including a regular bonus bet, guaranteed giant symbols, sticky re-drops, and both types of free spin bonus round.
Wow, that felt like quite a lengthy introduction – ELK Studios certainly don’t seem interested in producing simple slots, do they? With so many features to discover, I’d recommend giving our free demo slot of Hula Balua a try if you want to understand the game fully. It’s available to play below:
Hula Balua Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
I’m a little surprised that there are no matches for the word ‘Hula’ in our review library here at Demoslot. Then again, the only thing I know about Hula really is the Hula Hoop! Wikipedia is a little more knowledgeable on the subject and reveals that Hula is a Hawaiian dance form often accompanied by chants or songs. I was kind of hoping that the word ‘Balua’ would appear in there somewhere, but sadly that was not the case! This isn’t the first time ELK has used an unusual combination of words in their titles though – how about Coba Reborn, for example? I’m probably going to stop searching for meaning where none exists with these slots, aren’t I – it doesn’t really matter what it means at the end of the day, as long as it’s a fun game that pays well. Speaking of which…
All of the symbols that feature on the paytable of Hula Balua are supposed to be fruits of some description, but I’m going to have to guess as to what some of them are! The highest-paying star-shaped fruit is probably a Carambola and can award up to 200x the total bet when 20 or more of them appear anywhere on the reels. The next one could be a blood orange, but there’s a huge drop in value between the top symbol and this one – a maximum hit of 20+ of these will only get you 25x your bet back in winnings. There’s a rather square-looking grapefruit at 15x, and a slice of avocado at 10x, and that’s your lot as far as the high pays are concerned. As for the bottom half of the paytable, those are relatively easy! There are red, yellow, and green apples, all of which share identical returns of 5x your stake for a 20+ symbol combination.
With regards to the betting range, I don’t want to sound like a broken record here, but this is something that I really feel strongly about with ELK’s releases! The minimum/maximum bets are €0.20 and €100.00, respectively – no problem there, but why are there only a handful of choices between those limits? What was wrong with the old system of allowing players to just choose how much they wanted to bet? In this game, there are only three possible bets between €10 and €100, which is frankly ridiculous, in my opinion.
Base Game & Modifiers
Hula Balua is a scatter-pay slot that features six reels of six rows each. It’s also a ‘dropping symbols’ machine, ELK’s way of describing rolling reels, cascading reels, avalanches, or whichever other term you prefer. In short, winning combinations are immediately removed from the playfield, and new symbols fill the resulting gaps. Wins are paid for any group of eight or more identical symbols anywhere on the screen, and with 36 possible symbol positions, you could theoretically win up to four times just from the initial symbol drop.
Giant Symbols
When identical symbols form either a square or rectangle shape, they will merge to form a single giant symbol with a multiplier corresponding to the number of positions it covers. These symbols can also appear fully formed as part of the initial symbol drop and grow larger if new matching symbols drop next to them.
Sticky Redrops Symbol
This is a special symbol that can land as either a regular 1×1 symbol or a giant 2×2 or 3×3 block. When this occurs, all other matching symbols will lock in place, and free re-spins will be initiated until no further matching symbols land during the next symbol drop.
Elmo Redrops Symbol
This is an enhanced version of the regular sticky re-drop symbol that includes a walking wild character in addition to the normal re-spins. Elmo will walk to the left one column after each re-spin and place several wilds on each reel he passes. Any wilds that Elmo drops will remain on the screen until they feature in a winning combination or Elmo walks off of the left side of the playfield.
Hula Balua Slot Bonus Features
Bonus symbols are present on all six reels in Hula Balua, but you’ll only need to land three to trigger a set of free spins. Three bonus symbols will award you six free drops, increasing to 8, 10, or 12 for four, five, or six symbols, respectively. If two bonus symbols land in adjacent vertical positions, they will join to form a super bonus symbol that will upgrade your feature.
Free Spins
In this mode, any multipliers resulting from giant symbols landing on the reels will be added to a global multiplier that does not reset between rounds. Aside from this, the free spins play identically to the base game unless you were lucky enough to trigger the ‘super’ mode, in which case you’ll also be treated to guaranteed giant symbols on every spin.
The bonus symbols are still present on the reels during free spins, and hitting just two will add four more free drops to your remaining counter. Any additional bonus symbols will add two extra drops, up to a maximum of 12.
X-iter Bonus Buy
ELK Studios offer one of the most comprehensive bonus buy facilities of any slot developer, providing quick access to all of the features of their games. Unfortunately, the developer doesn’t specify how using these options affects their game’s RTP – I’d imagine that if the difference were significant, they would be legally required to declare it, but I would still feel much more comfortable if they provided exact figures.
- Bonus Hunt: Costs 3x the current bet and increases the odds of triggering a bonus round.
- Big Symbols: For 10x the normal price per spin, you can guarantee yourself at least one giant symbol during the next game round.
- Sticky Re-Drops: A 25x investment will ensure that your next spin features a sticky re-drop symbol, guaranteeing a win of some amount.
- Bonus: Costs 100x the current bet and promises a bonus round with a random number of free drops.
- Super Bonus: The big one – the super bonus costs 500x but guarantees that giant symbols will land on every free drop. Giant symbols always come with a multiplier attached, making this an extremely high-risk-to-reward option for those with the bankroll to take advantage of it.
Pros
- If you like your slots packed with features, this one certainly isn’t going to disappoint!
- The generous maximum jackpot of 25,000x the total bet.
- Super bonus is a genuine treat – when you can hit it!
Cons
- The RTP of 94% is significantly lower than the industry standard.
- The regular bonus feels a bit dull after you’ve experienced the ‘super’ mode!
- The unimpressive and uninspired theme fails to do the game justice.
Final Thoughts
The games produced by ELK Studios are amongst the most popular with our readers, and it’s easy to see why – these games offer a wealth of features, along with the ability to access any of them instantly via the X-iter bonus buy menu. It’s fair to say that the scatter-pay payout mechanic used in Hula Balua is the current flavour of the month with slots players; throw in a 25,000x jackpot on top of all this, and you’ve got a very solid package that will no doubt do well for ELK.
Top-Notch
- Game Types:
- Fruit Themed Slots
- Cascading Reels
Author Bio
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