Sleepy Grandpa (Backseat Gaming) Slot Demo & Review

Backseat Gaming doesn’t seem to have been around very long, as it’s only been a month or two since we reviewed their first release titled Lord Venom. Looking back, I can’t help but feel the rating of 7.4 could have been a little bit stingy now – it was a great game, if I’m honest! Moreover, Lord Venom was a mostly unique and original game, whereas the farm setting utilised for Sleepy Grandpa is a much more hotly contested theme in the online slot world. When you’re going for the same backdrop as titles such as PG Soft’s Farm Invaders, you’ll need to bring your A-Game with you as much as you possibly can! As far as the presentation is concerned, I don’t really have any complaints here – the game looks great, the symbols are well drawn, and the Hacksaw-derived user interface makes the machine a breeze to operate and control effectively.

Unfortunately, the payouts found on the paytable aren’t quite so impressive – the highest-paying Cow and Pig symbols only have returns of 10x the total bet for a complete line of five of a kind, whilst the other high-pays featuring a Chicken and a Sheep offer even less at just 6x each. That just leaves the five royal symbols, offering payouts ranging between 1.2x for the jacks up to 1.8x for the aces. When I saw these numbers, I expected that the reels would be packed with stacked symbols and wilds to make up for the low headline figures – whilst that is not the case, unfortunately, the fact that there are only nine regular symbols in total does help you to win more often than you might expect. Furthermore, let’s not forget the Dirt Symbols, which can pay up to 1,000x the total bet each – far more than any of the regular symbols can offer.

As for the betting range, in this department, the game does follow the standard Hacksaw convention with minimum/maximum permitted wagers of €0.10 and €100.00 per spin, respectively. The lower end of that range is well covered as far as other betting options are concerned, whilst those with the bankroll to be betting at the other end of the scale are unlikely to be concerned by the big jumps between bets.

Welcome to the tranquil world of sleepy grandpa, the farmer who yearns for hidden treasures… and naps! This is a five-reel, four-row online slot which utilises 26 fixed paylines alongside some extremely valuable hidden coins! As far as the regular symbols are concerned, you’ll need at least three of those starting from the leftmost reel to score yourself a win – that’s not where the big money is in this game, however, so let’s check out some of the special features!

Dig Modifier

If the farmer lands simultaneously with one or more dirt symbols, the farmer will dig up the dirt to reveal hidden coins. These coins can be worth 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x, 25x, 50x, 75x, 100x, 250x, 500x, or 1000x the total bet; if more than one farmer is visible on the reels, each of them will dig up the coins in turn and multiply your total win.

Tractor Modifier

There are many fishing-based slots which include fisherman symbols that are useless without any fish for him to collect; not so here, I’m pleased to say, as the farmer does not take no for an answer! If he lands without any dirt to dig up, he’ll grab his tractor and plough the entire playfield to reveal between 1 and 10 hidden coin symbols.

Landing three bonus symbols simultaneously during the base game will activate the bonus round with ten free spins. If four or five scatter symbols land, this will increase to either 12 or 15 free spins, respectively.

Free Spins Feature

Once activated, the free spins bonus includes a global multiplier that can be activated by collecting farmer symbols during your bonus rounds. You’ll need four farmer symbols to level up to the next multiplier level, and the game will also add three more free spins to your remaining total whenever you move up a level. The available multipliers are 2x, 3x, 5x, and 10x.

During the bonus round, the reels include a very limited number of golden farmer symbols. Only one golden farmer can land per feature, but when he does, he will become sticky and remain in the same place for the remainder of the bonus round. This guarantees you will activate the dig or tractor features on every remaining round.

Bonus Buy

The free spins are undoubtedly the most exciting (and profitable!) part of Sleepy Grandpa – if you want to bypass the base game and go straight to the free spins, you can do so at a cost of 100x the total bet.