Introduction to Jack and the Beanstalk 2
Jack and the Beanstalk 2 is a casino slot from NetEnt, presenting an alternative continuation of the famous fable, proving that everyone needs to make a living, regardless of whether they possess the magic beans. Jack is all grown up, and now he must abandon the fairytale dreams of golden eggs and singing harps on account of becoming a successful stock trader. Working for the unhinged, greedy goat, he's staying up nights in a cluttered office to make ends meet and become a new star of the business world. With this satirical take on the well-known story, NetEnt delivers a long-awaited sequel to Jack and the Beanstalk, a hit release from 2011. The game stays faithful to the original mechanics, which relied on Walking Wilds, while boosting their attractiveness by compiling them into stacks already in the main game. During Free Spins, the creators set up an intriguing mix of the base mechanics and the popular Hold&Win format to bring Jack up to speed with modern trends.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Jack and the Beanstalk 2 is a video slot from NetEnt with 5 reels, 5 rows, and 25 paylines. You can choose your stake from a range of options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.2, which makes the game affordable for most budgets, up to a Max.bet of 20, suitable for the most daring high-rollers. The math profile runs on a default RTP of 96.32%, which is in line with the industry standards, promising stable long-term returns. Two alternative variants of 94.23% and 92.23% have also been released, so pay attention to the version you're playing. You can expect high wins to carry more value on average at the cost of a decreased frequency due to high volatility, while the max win available on any single round is 20,000x the bet. On average, it takes 236 spins to trigger the bonus round.
After being greeted by a cover of a business magazine, you continue to the headquarters of Goat Enterprise, a stock trading company set up by... a goat. Yep, he seems to be the boss, although his oblivious expression and shaggy looks don't point to being any kind of business marvel. For whatever reason, Jack ended up working for him, but is nowhere to be seen in the base game, perhaps looking into new leads in some other part of the office. For now, the odd boss's company must suffice, as you explore the reels set up in the middle of a cluttered room. The creators skilfully mixed that unusual backstory with humorous graphics to deliver a consistent comedy theme with clean visuals filled with references to the popular fable. You can join the business rat race on any modern device, as the game is available on PCs, smartphones, and tablets alike.
Winning combinations must contain at least 3 matching symbols covering any of the active paylines, while landing on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost one. The paytable hierarchy consists of three groups of paying icons, with the low-paying ones represented by four beans in different shapes, awarding from 1x to 2x the bet for a complete payline of 5. They are followed by a coffee mug, a rocket statue, a laptop, and a satellite, which pay between 3x and 7.5x the bet when matching 5 on a payline. Jack and the goat act as high-paying symbols, offering payouts of 25x and 20x the bet, respectively, for landing 5 of a kind.
Wilds are depicted by coloured stacks of banknotes, and they substitute for all regular symbols mentioned above. The reels also hold Scatters represented by a stamp with the word 'BONUS' or 'SUPER BONUS'.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Jack and the Beanstalk 2?
You can win up to 20,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Jack and the Beanstalk 2?
The features are Walking Wild Re-Spins, Bonus & Super Bonus Spins, and Feature Buy (Elevate).
Walking Wild Re-Spins
Wilds are available on all reels except the first one, plus they can appear as single-sized symbols or in stacks of up to 5. All Wilds also carry an x3 multiplier applied to any wins they participate in. Multipliers from several Wilds in the same combination are additive. When a Wild lands, it starts a re-spin sequence, moving one reel to the left per re-spin. If more Wilds land during the same sequence, they will always appear as a larger stack than the ones already on the grid. Re-spins continue until the last Wild drops off the screen on the left. Randomly, a Mystery Wild feature may activate and choose a random stack size to land.
Bonus & Super Bonus Spins
Collecting 3 Bonus symbols throughout a single main game round activates Bonus Spins. If one of the symbols is a Super Bonus symbol, then an enhanced variant is awarded. The round begins with 5 spins played on a grid with blanks, cash coins, and special symbols. You receive 3 random cash coins when the round starts. In the regular mode, their values range from 1x to 10x, while in the Super mode, they are always x10. During the round, all coins stick to their position upon landing, while special symbols award their respective features and spin off. Once the spins run out, you win the collective value of all coins on the screen. The following features can be activated through special symbols.
Walking Rockets = may appear randomly as stacks with x3 multipliers that multiply coin values whenever they overlay them. They move one reel to the left while awarding re-spins, which freeze the original spin counter for the duration. In Super Bonus Spins, Wild Rockets are always in full stack size of 5.
Upgrade (battery) = fills the meter above the reels to activate the next stack size for Walking Rockets. Each level also awards 1 extra spin. The symbols don't land in Super Bonus Spins.
Collector (safe) = collects values from all coins on the grid.
Sharer (green arrow) = adds a value of between 1x and 10x to all coins on the grid.
Spreader (credit card) = generates between 1 and 8 coins in directly adjacent positions around it.
Feature Buy (Elevate)
In the Elevate menu, you can choose from a selection of enhanced spins and instant feature triggers.
1.5x = Bonus Hunt with a double chance of triggering Bonus Spins.
10x = Super Bonus Hunt, with a 20-times higher chance of triggering Bonus Spins.
75x = Regular Bonus Spins.
250x = Super Bonus Spins.
Final Thoughts on Jack and the Beanstalk 2
What needs to be said right from the get-go is that Jack and the Beanstalk 2 is definitely not a sequel that carries the same whimsical fairytale charm as the original. In fact, it has very little to do with the fable aside from the main character's name and some beans thrown into the mix for good measure. The narrative, the visuals, and the overall mildly disruptive humour are on the opposite end of the scale between the two, which may be a refreshing thing for players used to current trends, but may also be a turnoff for those who were hoping for a genuine sequel. NetEnt has been slightly bolder with its themes in the last year or so, branching off the mainstream with games like In And Out, Spice, or Aftermath, and a similar approach can be spotted in Jack and the Beanstalk 2. Still, if you disregard the fact that it's a sequel to a cult slot, it's a high-quality production with a rich environment and plenty of funny references to the business world, executed in a clever, consistent way.
After such a radical shift in the theme, we were expecting the mechanics to maintain very little from the original. What they do is maintain nearly everything from the initial setup and add an entirely new bonus round on top of it. Stacked Walking Wilds unlocked through a progressive element during Free Spins are now available as a standard feature in the base game, which works well, especially when you're guaranteed to get only the larger size if the new ones hit within the same sequence. The bonus game is a whole new animal, which utilises the classic Hold&Win format with a bunch of modifiers, most of which, like collectors, payers, or multipliers, are pretty common. What's new and tries to maintain a link to the classic walking motion are the rockets, which can overlay cash symbols and multiply them by x3. Altogether, the game comes across as a relatively odd mix, perhaps even slightly forced to relate to the original mechanics in the hope of reaching the hearts of players who remember the good old Jack.
Jack and the Beanstalk 2 fuses the cult walking wild mechanics with modern, trending features to deliver an original, yet slightly mismatched continuation of the famous fairytale slot.
