Gaming Recommendation: Spin to Drive Off the Emus in 1930s Australia
The history of humans can be stranger than fiction. Who would have thought that not even the combined power of the military and angry farmers, many of whom were veterans, could fend off a flock of flightless birds native to Australia, the emus?
In 1932, the Emu War took place in Australia. The war against emus started when the flightless birds caused endless trouble for farmers in Western Australia. These birds not only trampled over crops but also frequently made holes in the fences, enabling other pests to cause damage to the farmlands. This caused endless grief for the farmers, who already found ensuring the agriculture business succeeded hard enough even before the emus.
While emus were a genuine concern for farmers at the time, the Emu War has since become a subject of humor and creative inspiration. Gamification and visualization can make even the most mundane historical events interesting, and the Emu War is no exception.
Last year, an action comedy movie titled ‘The Emu War‘ was released. In addition, now we have a slot game based on the emu war. In this particular slot, players are meant to go to Australia in the 1930s, fighting against the emus.
Immersive visual
Blue Guru Games released Aussies vs Emus in November 2023. Using a cluster pays system, the online slot game features a 7×7 grid. Players achieve a winning combination when they get five or more of the same symbols consecutively, either vertically or horizontally.
Depending on the combination of the tiles, players can win from 0.1 up to 1 times the bet. Landing a 40+ cluster can win the players 100x up to 1,000x the original bet. At maximum, players can win up to 16,239x. Even so, this game is still considered as a high-volatility game, with the return-to-player (RTP) of 96.1%.
Aligned with the theme of the Emu War in Australia in the 1930s, players will encounter symbols representing farm produce such as tomatoes, onions, pumpkins, and cabbage. Similar to the real world, each item has its own value. Tomato symbol has the highest value, followed by onion, pumpkin and cabbage.
Landing on five or more of the same symbols will automatically activate the cascading feature. With this feature, the symbols on the winning combination will be automatically removed and replaced with new ones.
An emu becomes the symbol of a crucial element of the game. Its function is akin to that of a jack of all trades, for it can be the replacement for any other piece. The only piece that is of equal value with the emu is the wild symbol of the Golden Aussie.
Meanwhile, when players find three or more of the symbols of dynamite, they will have the chance to play the Free Games feature. In Free Games, players get eight free spins for the three boxes that exploded early on. Every time the players manage to explode another box, they will get an extra spin.
A Spark of Curiosity
Games can take inspiration from many things in life, be it arts, daily life, or memorable events in history. In the case of games that use historical events as inspirations, they usually try to immerse players in the place and period of history that is used as inspiration.
In making the Aussies vs Emus, Blue Guru Games tried to bring the players to 1930s Australia, where they get to gather farm produce to get a win.
The more symbols players can collect, the bigger the payout they get. Of course, the payout also depends on how valuable the symbols on the winning combination are.
This game also has two wild symbols. Plus, the Free Games feature can be accessed when players land on three more or more of the Mystery Dynamite symbols.