Introduction to Deck of Scurra
Deck of Scurra is a casino slot from Print Studios, inviting you to an exclusive medieval parlor for an intricate game of cards. While you may know popular playstyles like poker, blackjack, or bridge, this one is more than just trying to beat your opponent with a better set or strategy. Deck of Scurra feels like an entity of itself that can become your closest ally, your fiercest adversary, and anything in between, depending on its mood. Since "scurra" is Latin for "jester", you may expect that attitude to swing like an uncontrollable pendulum, playing tricks on you every step of the way, testing your patience one moment, to then suddenly give you hope for the 20,000x max win.
It's also because, despite the card-themed exterior, this game plays like a 5x3 slot machine with cascading mechanics and a rich range of additional features to boost the standard way wins. So, there’s no exchanging cards in order to improve your hand or entertaining a bluff to outplay your rival. However, you'll be able to collect various Alteration Cards throughout every round to transform, upgrade, and multiply cards on the table, trying to compose the most powerful sets. The seat is open, so if you're ready to be dealt a hand, first try the demo to familiarize yourself with the rules of this thrilling game.
Mattias Hallqvist, Product Owner at Print Studios, had this to say:
With Deck of Scurra, we wanted to create a slot that feels genuinely tactile - where every card movement, and every upgrade carries weight. The entire game revolves around the idea of a living deck, one that evolves as you play, and we’ve worked hard to ensure that the mechanics, theme, and atmosphere all reinforce that feeling.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Deck of Scurra is a video slot from Print Studios with 5 reels, 3 rows, and 243 ways to win. You can choose your stake from a range of options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.1 up to a Max.bet of 50. The game offers a default RTP of 96.09%, which falls within the current industry standards, typically ranging from 96.0% to 96.5%. The math model combines high volatility, which prioritizes the size of the wins above their frequency, with a max win capped at 20,000x the bet.
Once you enter the exquisite medieval parlor, there will be a seat waiting for you at one of the tables. This is not a typical gambling establishment where cheers and shouts roll constantly through the air, either celebrating wins or despairing over the losses. The atmosphere here is peaceful due to the overall lack of other people around and mysterious thanks to the enigmatic piano soundtrack that continuously mixes playful and somber notes. At the table, you'll see a pouch spilling gold hexagonal coins, a tome adorned with a moon motif, and a candle, all contributing to the medieval outlook. Once you're ready, cards will be dealt on the neat green felt, and you can start playing regardless of which device you're using, as the game is available on desktops, smartphones, and tablets alike.
The paytable carries two sets of distinct symbols responsible for delivering standard wins whenever at least 3 matching instances land on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost one. Low-paying ones take the form of four cards with emblems imitating classic suits, diamonds, clubs, spades, and hearts, awarding 1x the bet for creating a 5-of-a-kind hit. High-paying symbols are also represented by cards, but carrying images of four queens: Queen of Minds, Queen of Nature, Queen of War, and Queen of Desire, offering payouts of 5x the bet when 5 matching instances form a complete way. Alongside regular symbols, reels are also populated with special ones, like various Alteration Cards awarding certain features and Jester Cards, opening the way to the bonus round.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Deck of Scurra?
You can win up to 20,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Deck of Scurra?
The features are Alteration Cards, Evolving Deck Bonus, and Feature Buy.
Alteration Cards
At the beginning of every new round, Alteration Cards can be placed face down underneath the regular card symbols. Whenever you achieve a winning combination and uncover an Alteration Card once the win is removed as a result of the cascading mechanism, it's added to the collection next to the grid. When there are no more possibilities of creating more wins, special cards will be used one by one to apply their features onto the grid, after which wins will be evaluated again.
Coronation Card = upgrades low-paying cards of the displayed suit to their high-paying counterparts.
Blue Lunar Card = transforms random low or high-paying cards from one suit to another.
Purple Lunar Card = transforms all random low or high-paying cards to the same suit.
Regular Crow Card = distributes the number it carries (between 1 and 8) to random cards that match the shown symbol, thus increasing the number of ways in affected positions when they become a part of a win.
Golden Crow Card = doubles all existing values added by the Regular Crow Card.
Evolving Deck Bonus
Jester Cards appearing on the grid are also collected on the side. Whenever 3, 4, or 5 are accumulated within the same round, the bonus round will begin once all wins have been evaluated. Before the actual round starts, a combination of regular symbol cards and Alteration Cards will be drawn to award random upgrades active throughout free spins.
3 Scatters = 5 free spins, 6 regular cards, and 3 Alteration Cards.
4 Scatters = 7 free spins, 9 regular cards, and 6 Alteration Cards.
5 Scatters = 9 free spins, 12 regular cards, and 9 Alteration Cards.
Additional enhancements can be achieved in the same way as in the base game, by uncovering Alteration Cards through wins. Additionally, all upgrades are persistent throughout the bonus, as the cards are shuffled back to the deck and reused between spins.
Feature Buy
Deck of Scurra allows you to use several options for triggering the bonus round in different variants instantly and boost your base game spins to increase chances of activating free spins.
1.5x - 80x = Scatter Boost with an adjustable slider, allowing for setting the percentage influencing the higher probability of triggering the bonus, between 0.66% and 97.05%.
81x = Evolving Deck Bonus triggered with at least 3 Scatters.
162x = Evolving Deck Bonus triggered with at least 4 Scatters.
678x = Evolving Deck Bonus triggered with 5 Scatters.
150x = Evolving Deck Bonus triggered with a random number of Scatters between 3 and 5.
Final Thoughts on Deck of Scurra
Deck of Scurra is Print Studios' first step into the card realm, and what a confident one it is! According to the producers themselves, this game was meant to put the tactile feeling on a pedestal, making you absorb every subtle shuffle on the table, and we can say with unwavering confidence that they have aced that aspect. The entire card-dealing sequence, including all the shuffling, flipping, and moving, accompanied by perfectly balanced sound effects is utterly satisfying. Furthermore, the mystical atmosphere of a medieval gambling parlor adds a lot of character to the game, resulting in a much more immersive aura, as opposed to using a modern casino setting. It's almost as if it were some arcane mix of a card game and fortune-telling, which also fits perfectly into the notion of luck and prosperity. We were also positively overwhelmed by how seamlessly the creators managed to combine the physicality of the cards with the slot machine mechanisms, making the border between the two practically unnoticeable. It's a genuinely exquisite, one-of-a-kind combination. Also, if you end up captured by the game for longer, you may unlock some tasty visual extras, like additional card back designs, similar to what we've seen in Holy Hand Grenade 2 around big win banners and spin button variants.
Once you dive into the gameplay and receive your first hand of 15 cards spread on the green felt, it may not be clear from the get-go what to expect. Creating wins is straightforward if you know slots based on way wins and cascading, that's the easy part. Then, the Alteration Cards slowly creep in underneath the removed symbols and form a queue next to the grid. That's where the anticipation levels shoot up and make you split your attention between the grid and the special line-up. Once all standard wins have been awarded, Alteration Cards release their boosters one by one and trigger one final win evaluation, which can shift the situation by 180 degrees, turning a seemingly hopeless setup into a fantastic win. Of course, 'can' is the keyword here, as all those enhancements may just as well end up bringing nothing but hope. Still, considering that almost every spin comes with one or more Alteration Cards, they build the suspense very effectively. Free Spins is where the most intense action lies, thanks to the upgrades awarded before the round, the ones achieved throughout, and the fact that all of them remain persistent, making the feature title 'Evolving Deck Bonus' live up to its name.
Deck of Scurra is an elegant, intricate, and massively engaging fusion of a medieval card game and a slot machine, where borders between the two seemingly distant formats disappear.
