Bucaneros Slot

Bucaneros is Spanish for Bucaneers, another word for….pirates! Yes, this a hugely popular gaming theme, with a wide variety of interpretations of the theme. Well known titles include Gonzo’s Quest from NetEnt, Loose Cannon from Microgaming and Treasure Island from Quickspin to name just a couple.

MGA’s take on the theme comes in the form of a 3-reel traditional-style slot, with high quality graphics and some nice little features to keep it interesting. It has a top prize of 500 coins, with the choice of playing in either 1, 3 or 5 coin mode, with one coin being worth 0.20, so 5 credits equating to $/£/€1.00, making the prize in 5 coin mode equate to 1,000 of the wagered currency.

So this is not a very flexible game in terms of wager amounts and nor is the jackpot a large one. However, this does mean the game is easily accessible and affordable to all budgets.

Well Shiver Me Timbers There’s Treasure Ahoy!

When you hear the phrase ‘traditional pirate themed slot’ you instantly conjure a vision of a no frills, 3 reel game with a few symbols like hats, ships and parrots thrown in. Perhaps that’s your idea of a perfect game but with the many hundreds of games being continually released, most of us have to come to expect a bit more from our slot gaming experience.

Bucaneros is a pleasant surprise, somehow managed to remain true to the traditional slot machines while incorporating some graphics and features which bring this game right into the 21st century. The reels are fairly small and set into the traditional slot game design, which includes the pay table and even authentic looking buttons. Standing alongside the reels is a rather buxom female pirate, complete with three cornered hat.

The symbols on the reels are mostly traditional ones including fruit, bells and gems but the Wild of gold bars and a compass tie in the pirate theme. Frequently you’ll be given Nudges to use, between 1 and 4 which is announced in the voice of a Spanish game show host ‘uno’, ‘dos’. He also sometimes blurts out ‘I love this’, which does get a little irritating after around the fifth time. When you land a winning combination an appropriately Caribbean traditional style theme music plays.

What’s Inside This Treasure Chest?

This 3 reel, traditional style game offers a top prize of 500 coins or ‘tokens’ and can be played in several values of 0.20 (1 token), 0.60 (3 token) or 1.0 (5 token). It’s a traditional format with some of the most traditional symbols there are including lemons, bunches of grapes, bells and gems.

There is a Wild in the form of two gold bars and a Scatter in the form of a compass (although it looks a bit like some sort of mushroom if you didn’t know better). The Scatter is the key to reaching the bonus game; each time you land two of the scatters you’re taken to a map and once you’ve hit all the locations you unlock the bonus game which takes place on a separate set of reels and offers various free spins and multipliers.

Unfortunately, it does take quite some time to unlock this bonus game so you’ll have to commit some time and funds to reaching it. The Wild of gold bars substitutes for all symbols apart from the scatter so with only 3 reels, often participates in a winning combination. The other little feature we like is the option to gamble each time you win, potentially increasing your prize, or you can simply press ‘collect’. The prizes for each symbol with their respective token values are below.

All Aboard for Some Pieces of Eight

Overall, this is a perfect combination of traditional format meeting modern graphics and functionality. With a Spanish pirate theme, Bucaneros might well be our favourite traditional pirate slot game on the market. Although the prizes are a little on the low side, this is a simple but enjoyable game to play, although we wish the bonus game were a little easier to reach.