Introduction to Joker Never Retires
Joker Never Retires is a casino slot from Bullshark Games, where you'll meet an old trickster who has a hard time severing the ties with his professional past. Even though the glory years are over, and now it's time for some peaceful retirement, the mischievous soul yearns for one more prank and one last joke to brighten someone's mood. The only way he can deal with reality is through the stream of pills delivered from the dispensary to create an illusion of the good old days. Every time the Joker gobbles up a cup of pills, you'll see his past projected onto the grid in the form of Wilds popping up in random spots or the win multiplier increasing by up to x100. As long as the cascades keep flowing, the pills will do their work, adding more and more upgrades. When the Joker crosses the line and ends up in solitary lock-up during Free Spins, more opportunities for Wilds and multipliers arise by reducing the blank spaces between cups on the conveyor belt. Let's find out how much of the Joker's chenanigans the retirement home can take.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Joker Never Retires is a video slot from Bullshark Games with 5 reels, 4 rows, and 20 paylines. The game offers a wide range of bet options, allowing you to choose your stake from as little as a Min.bet of 0.10 up to a Max.bet of 75. A default RTP of 96.27% runs the game's engine, which falls within the average industry range, although two alternative variants of 94.31% and 92.28% have also been released. Therefore, be sure to verify your version before playing. You'll also experience medium-high volatility, which may result in rarer big wins, but makes them slightly more valuable on average. The maximum prize achievable within a single spin is 12,000x the bet, while the base hit frequency sits at a rate of 29.41%.
You meet the old prankster inside his private room in an establishment located in a picturesque spot, given the impressive view of green glades and snowy mountains through the window. Quite a sweet spot for retirement. The Joker sits in a wheelchair, glaring from time to time at a malfunctioning TV, and waiting for the pills to roll off the dispenser. Cartoony graphics and bright colours add to the already humorous setting, while the transition to the white room with padded walls during the bonus game proves that the Joker is prone to spiralling out of control. The overall design is of average quality, with not too many gripping effects to boost the audiovisual experience, but it's fully responsive at the same time, allowing you to try the game on any desktop, smartphone, or tablet.
The paytable consists of two sets of regular symbols that award payouts when you match at least 3 identical instances on any of the paylines, while using neighbouring reels, starting from the leftmost one. Among the low-paying symbols, you'll recognise playing card ranks from 10 to A, awarding 2x the bet for a payline of 5. Premium icons comprise images of fake teeth, a plastic cup, a pair of flip flops, an IV bag, and a Jack in the box, bringing payouts ranging from 5x to 15x the bet for 5-of-a-kind combinations. Additionally, there are Wilds in the form of the Joker, which substitute for regular symbols, and Scatters appearing as a disco ball.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Joker Never Retires?
You can win up to 12,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Joker Never Retires?
The features are Daily Dose, Extra Dose Symbol, Bonus Games, and Feature Buy.
Daily Dose
A conveyor belt located above the reels brings in three types of symbols on every spin. There are empty cups, ones filled with pills, and red boxes marked with the letter W. On every cascade, the belt moves by one space, and when an icon enters the spotlight on the far left position, it's activated. Empty cups are inactive blanks. Red boxes add 2-10 Wilds in random positions. A cup with pills increases the global win multiplier by x1-x100.
Extra Dose Symbol
A special Extra Dose Symbol can land naturally on the reels. Once it drops, it instantly activates 2-5 booster symbols from the conveyor belt.
Bonus Games
Gathering 3 or 4 Scatters anywhere on the grid at the end of a base game round triggers the Healthy Habits bonus with 8 Free Spins or the Miracle Meds Bonus with 10 Free Spins. In both versions, the global multiplier is persistent and does not reset between spins. Also, a new symbol can appear on the Daily Dose conveyor belt, which awards 1-3 extra spins when activated. The first bonus reduces the blank spaces between features on the conveyor belt to 1, while the second mode has no blank spaces.
Feature Buy
The game offers a couple of options to speed up the action with enhanced spins and instant bonus triggers.
3x = Bonushunt Featurespins with a 5-times higher chance to trigger the bonus.
50x = Instant Kick Featurespins, guaranteeing the Extra Dose symbol to land and activate at least 2 boosters.
100x = Healthy Habits Bonus with 8 Free Spins.
250x = Miracle Meds Bonus with 10 Free Spins.
Final Thoughts on Joker Never Retires
One thing we can't deny Bullshark Games in this case is the inventive approach toward the theme. With Jokers being absolutely ubiquitous in gambling, appearing in many shapes over the years, we've never seen one who was forced to hang up the colourful wig and a honking nose by the passage of time. It's the kind of story we'd expect from Nolimit, Shady Lady, or Wicked, so good job on thinking outside the box. The execution could probably benefit from a slightly deeper dive into the subject, but producers decided to keep things light and uninvasive, so to speak, arguably to keep the game suitable for a wider audience. The main scene and that in the bonus round paint a clear picture of a retired clown spiralling out of control with boredom, while the added pill-popping twist for him to remain (in)sane ties the theme to the game's features.
As for the mechanics, they're definitely not of the original kind, given you'll be playing with random Wilds and a global win multiplier, but they can produce strong results if the right synergy hits. Unfortunately, it rarely does in the base game, because there are two blank spaces between each feature trigger, so you need three successive cascades to hit at least one of them. And, considering it's a 20-line setup, it's often not that easy. The situation gradually improves in both bonus modes, where blanks are reduced to one space in the first one and do not exist in the second. Plus, the multiplier can grow to substantial figures because of being persistent between spins. Altogether, the setup didn't make a huge impression on us, limiting the most exciting moments to the 4-Scatter bonus game and leaving the base game relatively uneventful and tedious.
Joker Never Retires takes a unique, humorous approach toward the familiar theme, while serving a straightforward combination of Wilds and multipliers.
