More Hearts Slot Game

Overview of More Hearts

The background screen for More Hearts is nothing more than a basic checkerboard pattern, but with the squares replaced by hearts. Where one might expect the screen to be colored in pink or red, traditional colors signifying love and affection, the background for More Hearts is actually colored in blue and black shades.

The title screen for More Hearts sticks more closely to the Valentine's Day theme, featuring a large red heart in the center of the screen. Cupid's arrow pierces the centerpiece heart while smaller hearts float around in the space above. The words More Hearts are written in a cursive-like script.

Once you've entered the actual base game for More Hearts, the lack of thematic continuity becomes even more apparent. Along with the basic Aristocrat card rank reel symbols, spanning 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A, you'll find a random assortment of symbols which seem to have little connection to the game's title or theme. The reel symbols for More Hearts include the glittering diamond, the necklace wearing cheetah, the blossoming flower, the pair of birds, the butterfly, the gift box, the More Hearts logo, and the pierced heart symbol.

In 2013 Aristocrat added the More Hearts title to its growing selection of online slot games. Other than superficial differences in terms of graphics, land based slot machines and online versions of More Hearts offer an identical in game experience.

Gameplay Features and Mechanics

More Hearts is a typical five reel, 25 pay line video slot machine which offers players medium level volatility.

Each of the five reels on More Hearts contains three symbols, putting 15 symbols in play.

As a true penny slot, the minimum coin denomination for More Hearts is just $0.01, while the maximum coin denomination climbs to $2.00.

Players can choose to activate any or all of the 25 pay lines in More Hearts, so in effect you can get away with spending only a single penny per spin. Regular slot players know better though, as Aristocrat games only become fully functional in terms of features and bonus games when you activate all 25 pay lines.

When playing all 25 pay lines, penny slot players will face a minimum cost to cover per spin of $0.25, while high rollers can wager $50.00 per spin.

You'll also notice an option near the line amount area which invites you to play "+5 Extra." Fans of Aristocrat slot titles will recognize this as the additional ante bet, or a wager of five credits which is tacked on to the 25 pay line bet. In essence, you'll be paying $0.30 rather than $0.25 at the minimum coin level, while playing all 25 pay lines. This extra cost is used to cover the enhanced bonus games and other features which make the More Hearts gameplay experience more entertaining and enjoyable.

On other games, this ante bet is known as the Power Pay or the Extra Choice, but for all Aristocrat slot titles the concept remains the same. For an additional five credits per spin, you're granted access to the game's full complement of free spin bonuses, multipliers, and other features.

As with any Aristocrat slot game which includes the ante bet, two reasons dictate that you should always wager the additional five credits. First, the overall experience is enhanced by adding more play to free spin bonuses (more on this below). Second, the return to player (RTP) rate for More Hearts stands at a quite low 89.167 percent without the ante bet in place but rises to a more palatable 95.691 percent when you tack five more credits on top.

The base game experience for More Hearts is built around the familiar Aristocrat layout, so you can expect to find wild symbols, scatter symbols, a free spin bonus round, and multipliers. Unfortunately, the game is not connected to any larger progressive jackpots, so progressive slot specialists may be better suited by looking elsewhere on the casino floor. A list of basic specifications for More Hearts has been included below:

During the More Hearts base game you'll be playing for your share of a fairly standard Aristocrat slot pay table. The game's highest prize occurs when you land five of the glittering diamond symbols on an activated pay line, as it returns 2,000 credits. Landing four of the glittering diamond symbols is good for 500 credits while three of a kind pays out 75 credits.

The prize for landing five of the necklace wearing cheetah symbols on the screen is 1,500 credits while five of the blossoming flower symbols will return 1,000 credits.

You'll receive a boost of 900 credits for landing five of the pair of birds symbols, and 800 credits is your reward for five of a kind in the butterfly symbols. When you see five of the gift box symbols on board, the payout stands at 700 credits.

As for the card rank symbols, five As will pay out 500 credits, and you'll get 250 credits for landing five Ks. Five of the Qs on an activated pay line pays out 200 credits while five Js will return 100 credits. Finally, landing five of a kind in 10s or 9s is good for a 50 credit payout.

The pierced heart symbol offers no payouts during the base game, but it becomes an integral aspect of the free spins bonus game in More Hearts.

The wild symbol during the More Hearts base game is the glittering diamond symbol, which can substitute for all other symbols, except for the scatter symbol and the pierced heart symbol, to create winning combinations.

The scatter symbol during the More Hearts base game is the More Hearts logo symbol. This scatter symbol pays out from anywhere on the reels, not just right to left, and when you land three or more on the screen your payout will have a 2x multiplier applied. Even better though, the More Hearts logo scatter symbols holds the key to entering the game's free spins bonus round.

The Bonus Round

Anytime you land three or more of the More Hearts logo scatter symbols on the screen, the free spins bonus round will be triggered.

For players with the additional five credit ante bet in play, you'll receive 15 free spins to start out. Players without the ante bet in play will receive 12 free spins to begin their bonus round.

Unlike most Aristocrat games, however, landing more than three of the More Hearts scatter symbols doesn't provide additional free spins. So when you land three, four, or five of the scatters, your free spins bonus allotment will always stand at either 12 or 15 free spins, depending on whether or not you've placed the ante bet.

You may also notice that the free spins bonus round can be triggered randomly at the conclusion of any base game spin, even when you haven't landed three or more of the More Heart logo scatter symbols. This is a nice touch added by Aristocrat, allowing players to enjoy the thrill of a spontaneous free spins bonus round at the end of what appears to be a losing spin.

Whichever way you happen to trigger the free spins bonus round, More Hearts has expanded on the basic concept by providing you with two smaller screens to play. Each of the screens displays the standard five reels, 25 pay line setup from the base game, so in essence you'll be playing two machines at once. This obviously doubles your chances of generating winning combinations.

Above the two reel screens you'll also see graphics informing you about the rules to a built in bonus side game. Basically, those pierced heart symbols which held no value during the base game become extremely important. As the rules state, if you can gather between nine and 13 of these heart symbols during your initial run of free spins, the game will open up a third screen featuring another set of reels.

If you can find 14 or more of the pierced heart symbols during the free spins bonus round, the game will open up a fourth reel screen, giving you even more opportunities to land big winners.

Another thing to watch for during the free spins bonus round is the presence Wild Reels, or reels which always drop as stacked glittering diamond symbols on all three reels. During the first two bonus screens you won't see any Wild Reels, but depending on how many pierced hearts you can collect, the Wild Reels will begin appearing.

For example, landing nine of the pierced heart symbols will open up the third bonus game reel screen, and the fifth reel there will always be a Wild Reel. But when you land 14 of the pierced heart symbols, opening up the fourth bonus game reel screen, both the fourth and fifth reels on that screen will be Wild Reels. Finally, if you can find 30 of the pierced hearts during your free spins, that fourth bonus game reel screen will include Wild Reels on the third, fourth, and fifth reels.

Unfortunately, the free spins bonus round can't be retriggered by landing three or more of the More Hearts logo symbols during a free spin. However, when you consider that the game opens up two sets of reels to begin with, and each screen can provide its own winnings, you essentially begin the free spins bonus round with 30 free spins to work with. And opening up the third and fourth bonus game reel screens essentially adds more free spins to your bonus round.