The Chicken Run slot machine is a farm-themed online casino game developed by NextGen Gaming. Based on the popular 2000 live-action/animated comedy film of the same name, the game transports players to the charming world of Silas Marner’s farm, where chickens are on the run from the evil Mrs. Tweedy.
Theme and Design
The theme of Chicken Run is centered around a group of chickens who hatch a plan Chicken Run to escape from their fate as food for the villainous farmer, Mr. Tweedy. The game features colorful 2D graphics with hand-drawn illustrations that recreate the whimsical atmosphere of the movie. The background of the slot machine displays Silas Marner’s farm, complete with rolling hills and fluffy white clouds.
As players navigate through the different reels and symbols, they’ll encounter beloved characters from the original film, including Ginger, Rocky, and other chickens. Each symbol is intricately designed to resemble its cinematic counterpart, immersing players in the story of Chicken Run. The slot machine also includes a variety of background sounds, such as clucking birds, rustling wind, and cackles of laughter, adding an immersive experience for gamers.
Symbols
The game features 40 paylines across five reels, where each symbol is associated with different values and payouts. Players will come across standard card symbols (10-A) and farm-themed icons like eggs, chickens, farmhouses, farms, silos, chicks, roosters, and more. The highest-paying symbols are Ginger and Rocky.
In addition to these base-game symbols, there’s a special Wild symbol depicting Mrs. Tweedy in her full villainous attire, as well as two Scatters: the Ginger chick and the Chicken egg. When activated by landing 5 Scatter eggs on adjacent reels starting from left-to-right or vice versa, players gain access to various free spins bonuses.
Payouts
The paytable of Chicken Run follows a conventional table layout with winning combinations based on bet size and matching symbols. The lowest-paying symbols are standard card values (10-A), awarding 2-20 coins per combination depending on the chosen stakes. Moving up the payscale, farm-themed icons offer better payouts ranging from 40 to 1000 coins for landing three-five matching icons.
Wilds
In Chicken Run, there is a single Wild symbol depicting Mrs. Tweedy, who can replace any base-game icon or Scatter egg to create new winning combinations. However, unlike most games featuring standard Wild symbols with the ‘standard’ abilities (i.e., substitution), this particular Wild offers more dynamic behaviors in specific bonus rounds.
Scatters
Ginger and her chick, along with a single chicken egg symbol, act as Scatters within Chicken Run. While landing 5-15 scatter icons anywhere on the grid will yield free spins (explained below), they have distinct effects based on their position during gameplay or in combination with other feature sets:
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Free Spins – Upon collecting five scattered symbols, one of three types of Free Spin rounds may be triggered: ‘Flock’, ‘Roost’, and ‘Nest’. These varied bonuses offer 15-25 Free Spins along with differing multiplier factors (up to a maximum value).
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Ginger Chick Scatter is tied closely to activating certain special features during gameplay or bonus mode.
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The Chicken Egg Scatter , acting similarly as the Ginger chick in terms of triggering, unlocks more dynamic behaviors associated with various wild functions and win boosts within its own spin-based subfeature set – Chicken Escape.
Bonus Features
The game integrates several engaging features that expand upon gameplay mechanics and add variety to each round:
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Ginger Chick Feature (Wild Spins): During regular spins or specific combinations of Scatters, Ginger might "interact" with some symbols as an additional bonus behavior. These Wild spin rounds can award 3-5 ‘wild-reel’ spin phases where random reel positions are set wild for increased chances at forming larger wins.
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Chicken Escape feature enables the use of more than one Wild symbol on any single active payline during certain conditions – enabling substantial winning combinations due to accumulated symbols turning wild upon achieving particular combos or landing bonus triggers in some subfeature sets.
Free Spins
The game’s three types of free spins rounds (Flock, Roost & Nest) have their respective activation rules tied directly to the specific Wild/Scatter mechanics mentioned above; thus offering unique and distinct conditions before they start with corresponding multiplier factors applied during their course:
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Ginger Chick Scatter triggers these or unlocks enhanced subfeatures upon certain combinations of Ginger chick wilds forming winning pays.
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The Egg scatter does so for a different set including those with win multipliers applied.
The three modes contain special settings where Wild and Scatters operate differently. Flock, Roost & Nest offer differing numbers of free spins along with varying multiplier factors which can be enhanced based on their individual setups by means discussed within gameplay mechanics section below.