Havana Cubana Pokie Review
Havana Cubana is a 5×4 video pokie featuring a strong Cuban spirit and some outstanding features that are both fun and profitable. In this game, Bally came up with a unique pokie solution known as Directional Wilds. If you are lucky enough to see one of these special wilds on the reels, you would experience a true wild extravaganza as regular symbols are morphing into wilds right in front of your eyes. Havana Cubana is a pokie for every budget since the minimum bet is as low as 40 cents and the maximum bet reaches into $400.
If you would like to visit Cuba but cannot do this for some reason, give a spin to this wonderful video pokie that is filled with the distinctive Cuban style and flavor. When people come to Cuba, they drink rum and smoke cigars. There are so many variations of these products that one life is not enough to experience them all. Symbols that depict these delicacies are so realistic and juicy that they invoke the feeling of walking along the avenues of Little Havana or being in Key West near Ernest Hemingway’s house where he allegedly wrote his famous novel A Farewell to Arms. Lots of things will come to you mind when you begin spinning the reels of this magnificent pokie.
Havana Cubana has 4 rows instead of traditional 3, and as high as 40 fixed paylines. Behind and above the reels is an impressive golden and brown tile decorated in a Cuban way. All symbols, apart from playing card pics, are privy to the Caribbean theme and include the following: dominoes tiles ($1500 at max), three cigars ($1500), maracas ($1500), a small cigars pack ($2000), rum bottle ($2500) and mojito ($3000). All combos are completed in a traditional manner: you need to land three of the same pics on a payline in order to get paid a paytable prize.
The pokie is deemed to be a medium-volatile game. You will have regular wins, which are both small and moderate. As for big wins, they will occur rarely and you will have to wait for a few dozens spins until you hit some decent prize. Note that the bulk of money winnings in the pokie comes from two features to be described below.
Bet options
As most pokies from Bally Technologies, this one has a single configurable bet option, this is a line bet. By clicking a “+” or “-” button on the related UI element under the reels, you can change your line bet from one cent to $10. This makes the total bet equaling between $0.40 and $400 per spin – a very good range for a 5-reel pokie.
Directional Wilds
This feature was developed by Bally and is now widely used in their 5-reel pokies as a great addition to normal wilds. The concept behind the feature is as follows: The Compass symbol may land on reels 2 and 4 at any time during main game and free spins. Before you are awarded any wins (if available), the needle on the compass begins rotating and then points at any of the eight directions (up, down, left, right or diagonally).
All symbols located in the direction indicated by the compass needle will transform into wilds, at which point all winnings (if available) are evaluated and you are get paid as per the paytable. If the compass lands in any of the four corners and its needle points towards the same corner, making it thus impossible to turn any symbol into wild, the compass itself becomes wild.
Not only do wilds substitute for symbols, but they are the most profitable symbols on their own. If three, four or five of them align on a payline, you get an award of up to $3000.
Free spins
A Free Games icon unlocks you way into the same-name bonus feature if you get them on the second, third and fourth reels at a time. You obtain only 5 free spins. This amount may seem to be unreasonably low were it not for an extra feature. During free spins, every wild symbol that landed immediately after the reels stopped or was formed as a result of the Directional Wild feature activation, is locked in its original place until bonus spins come to an end. If you are really lucky to land a wild on the first and second reels, your coin balance will be looking pretty tasty.
Bottom line on Havana Cubana
Havana Cubana is a 5-reel pokie with free spins and Directional Wilds that turn one or more normal symbols into wild. This is a medium-volatile pokie so you can expect to see frequent winnings within a short time span.