Telly Reels by Wazdan

Nostalgia beckons, whispering, wouldn’t you like to go back to a simpler time – a time when choices weren’t so overwhelming? Where we had four channels on the telly and your weird neighbours still owned a Betamax? If you’re feeling whimsical and nostalgic, boy, have we got a fun game for you!

Telly Reels really turns up the nostalgia by several points in this classic-slot-inspired game from Wazdan. With uncomplicated, clear, 2D symbols that any gambler will recognise in an instant, it’s an easy game to navigate.

Set against the background of an old-school CRT television set, and with simple 70s-style music, Telly Reels has a wonderfully vintage feel, while being a sophisticated, well-thought-out game.

Symbols

This game harks back to a simpler time of fruit machines at your local drinking hole… with a few more bells and whistles. The symbols are typical of original fruit machines with (in ascending order of value) plums, oranges, lemons, grapes, cherries, bells, lucky sevens, and bars.

The wild symbol literally just says wild in orange writing, and the scatter is equally subtle but has a nice lottery wheel in the background. The wild symbol, as usual, acts as a substitute for all symbols except the scatter. However, unusually, it is the highest value symbol of the game! A payline of 5 matching wilds pays out 25x your bet. Scatter symbols can appear in any position on the reels, and landing three on the same spin will activate the free spins feature.

There are three additional symbols worth mentioning as they come into play during bonus games: the gold star and an arrow help activate the Mini Telly Bonus game; the final symbol just reads +3FS, and only appears in the free spins feature. If it lands on the reels you’re awarded another three free spins.

Features

Telly Reels has two bonus games, free spins and a Mini Telly Bonus, a gamble feature, and a purchase feature which allows you to buy access to either of the two bonus games.

The free spins feature opens up on to a multiplier wheel that determines which advantages you get in the bonus game. The bonus wheel has thirteen segments, most with a fun offer to improve your chances of winning, the segments are arranged as below:

The free spins game concludes when you run out of freebies and you’re given the total amount won during the game; you then have the option to either collect or gamble your winnings.

The Telly Bonus Spins game is a little trickier to activate; it involves a mini-grid in the top right-hand corner of the TV, called the bonus matrix, as well as five old fashioned sliders on the right-hand side of the reels. On any spin during normal gameplay, you can land a bonus star or a bonus arrow, which can both appear in any position. When a star symbol lands on the reels, a smaller version is added to the corresponding position on the matrix.

The bonus game is launched once the matrix grid is filled with gold stars. The five sliders have four possible positions along its vertical axis which again corresponds to the gameplay grid; landing arrow symbols will move the corresponding sliders up or down, depending on the arrow symbol direction and the reel it landed on. If all five sliders align, the Mini Telly Bonus game is launched and you get the chance to win a bonus of up to 10x your original stake. The position of sliders determines the position of five wild symbols which are added to the reels for every spin of the ten you are awarded in this bonus game.

As mentioned previously, the Gamble feature allows you the opportunity to double your winnings after you score a win. Activating it brings you one of two games – either the typical bet on red or black on a hidden card, or a TV gamble. The latter is where players have to select the right channel frequency by clicking on either left or right switch.

If you’re wrong the TV starts smoking, but if you’re right you are rewarded with a cute animation in the style of a classic cartoon. If you’re feeling very lucky or very brave you have the option to replay this game up to seven times.

Wazdan games, including Telly Reels, are to be found on several online casinos available in South Africa.

Telly Reels is available to play on mobile, desktop or laptop. It is supported on iOS, Windows, Linux and Android. Recommended browsers include Safari, Chrome, Edge and Firefox.

Like other games from Wazdan, you can set the volatility on this game. Toggle between low, standard and high to select a gameplay style that you prefer. Slow and steady, upbeat but cautious, or all in – it’s up to you. Just remember, if you want to ensure you don’t clean out your account, try setting a budget or time limit.

It’s nostalgia gone wild with this slot, and anyone who enjoys a bit of plain old simplicity with a funky backbeat will enjoy this. Thanks to its variable volatility and simple game play, this is a fantastic game for newbies to slots to play and develop a style that suits them.