Introduction to Zoo Busters
Zoo Busters is a casino slot from Fantasma Games in which a group of animals stages a great escape. In this Central Park Zoo lookalike, animals have become near-humanoid, dressing in human clothes and walking on their hind legs, which has led them to grow tired of life behind bars. That leads us to the start of Zoo Busters, as the animals have come up with a great plan to bust out with the help of each other. Gameplay-wise, this translates into an Avalanche-centric game where various Special Symbols keep the spins going, such as Skunk Bombs or Molotovs, or boost wins, such as Multipliers and Piranhas. Fantasma Games does a wonderful job of converting its theme into features, and the entire lineup comes together into a pretty solid package with a fun gameplay loop. However, the gameplay isn’t the most innovative, as we’ve seen similar avalanche-centric games with similar features, but even so, Zoo Busters is an enjoyable experience through and through.
Fantasma Games delivers on a silly zoo-themed slot with gameplay revolving around utilizing Special Symbols to keep the spins rolling through Avalanches and boost the wins with Multipliers.
Theme, Gameplay, & Payouts
Zoo Busters is a video slot from Fantasma Games with 6 Reels, 5 Rows, and uses Scatter Pay mechanics, needing a minimum of 8+ of the same symbols on the playing grid to form a win. You can choose between making a Min.bet of 0.1 and a Max.bet of 3,000. Zoo Busters comes with an average RTP of 96.05% and high volatility, however, at the time of writing, information on the max win has not been published.
As mentioned before, the game is set inside a zoo where dressed-up animals are planning a breakout. However, these rule-breaking beasts are not without opposition, as the Zoo Keeper follows them in tow, leading to the total destruction of the zoo in the process. You can play the game on most desktops, mobiles, and notepads.
The lower-paying symbols are various card suit emblems, such as blue clovers, green diamonds, pink spades, and red hearts. Creating a win with 12+ of the same symbols will pay out 3X to 6X the bet. The higher-paying symbols are various animals, including a blue frog, a green zebra, a pink flamingo, and a red ape. Landing a win with 12+ of the same symbols pays out 7.5X to 20X the bet. There’s also a handful of Special Symbols, including Wilds, Scatters, Multiplier, Skunk, Piranha, Molotov, and Zookeeper Wild Symbols, but more on these in the Feature section.
Special Features & Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Zoo Busters?
The information for the max win is currently not published.
What features are available from the slot Zoo Busters?
The features are Wild Symbols, Avalanche, Multiplier Symbols, Special Bonus Symbols, Free Spins, Ante Bet, and Feature Buy.
Wild Symbols
Wild Symbols help form winning combinations by being able to substitute for all symbols except Multiplier, Skunk, and Scatter Symbols. There are two types of Wild Symbols, the standard one, which can only be created by the Spreading Wild Molotov Symbol, and the special Zoo Keeper Wild Symbols that only appear during the Free Spins feature.
Avalanche
After landing a winning combination, the winning symbols will be removed from the playing grid, allowing new symbols to fall from above to fill in the empty positions. This will continue until no more wins can be made, thus ending the spin.
Multiplier Symbols
Multiplier Symbols can land on any reels, and once landed, their Multiplier Values, ranging from 2X to 100X, will be added together and multiply the total win of the avalanche sequence.
Special Bonus Symbols
There are three types of Special Bonus Symbols, which will trigger their corresponding effect after they land, and they are as follows:
Molotov Symbol = Triggers the Spreading Wild bonus, adding up to 4 Wilds onto random positions on the grid.
Skunk Symbol = Triggers the Skunk Bomb, transforming adjacent paying symbols into a random paying symbol.
Piranha Symbol = Triggers the Piranha Shelling, clearing 2 to 12 random symbols, triggering an avalanche effect. Then the Piranha Symbol gets a Multiplier equal to the number of cleared symbols, which is applied to the spins total win.
Free Spins
By landing 4 Scatter Symbols, you will be awarded the Free Spins feature with 8 spins. During the bonus game, Zoo Keeper Wild Symbols can appear on the playing grid, awarding +1 spin and being collected to the Zoo Keeper Progression Meter. After landing 10 Zoo Keeper Symbols, you will trigger the Super Free Spins after the normal Free Spins feature is finished. During the Super Free Spins feature, each spin comes with a guaranteed Win Multiplier of either 1X, 5X, 10X, 25X, 50X, or 100X.
Ante Bet
By turning on the Ante Bet Scatter Boost, you increase your chances of triggering the Free Spins by 2X, but at the cost of increasing your current bet by 2X.
Feature Buy
Through the Feature Buy, you can instantly trigger the bonus game for a price based on the current bet.
80X = Awards the Free Spins feature.
200X = Awards the Super Free Spins.
Final Thoughts on Zoo Busters
Fantasma Games delivers on a fun and interesting Zoo-theme, which is a bit of a surprise, as Zoo themes and settings aren’t as widespread as one would think. Even so, Fantasma Games shows us that over the years of building a portfolio full of slightly different themes and settings, they can make just about anything somewhat interesting, as shown in Zoo Busters, the studio’s own version of the 1963 movie The Great Escape. But while the animals don’t have a motorcycle to jump the fence, Zoo Busters delivers on quite a few things that make it an enjoyable slot experience, such as vibrant colors, nice graphics, and, above all, a silly theme.
Gameplay-wise, Zoo Busters isn’t all too different from similar Avalanche-centric releases, where spins ultimately depend on the quality of its Special Symbol bonuses, and luckily for us, we have a couple of solid ones. However, while we do enjoy these Special Bonuses, there aren’t that many, with some being more exciting and potentially more volatile, such as the Piranha Shelling, than others. Even so, the paytable isn’t all that bad, meaning that even a small chain of wins, sprinkled in with a few Multipliers, can be enough for a sizeable payout. But that’s not what we are here for, as those looking to hunt something big, you’ll need access to the Super Free Spins feature. While we can agree that the regular Free Spins bonus game can feel a bit lackluster, only really introducing a new Wild Symbol, the Super Free Spins bonus game and its guaranteed Multiplier of up to 100X is hard to ignore. All in all, Zoo Busters is a volatile Avalanche-centric game where most of its pieces are in play right in the base game, but high-risk, high-reward players might want to set their eyes on the Super Free Spins bonus game for more exciting spins. However, while we enjoyed its spins, we don’t think it leaves a lasting impression beyond its fun theme, and that comes down to its core bonuses not being particularly unique or special enough to really stand out.
Zoo Busters is a slot all about animals trying to escape from a zoo, burning it down in the process if they have to, with spins focused on Avalanche mechanics, Special Symbol Bonuses, and Multipliers.
