18+ Only. Play Responsibly.
Half a Wild was showing on reel four.
Just the lower edge.
Gold trim.
A suggestion of light.
Enough symbol to make the martinis on reel five begin behaving as though the champagne had already arrived.
The reel nudged.
More of the Wild appeared.
Another movement.
The symbol extended from top to bottom and locked across the full reel.
Three martinis connected from the left through it.
The Free Games multiplier took €4.80 and turned it into €9.60.
The bald man in the green jacket occupied the centre reel, hands folded, staring directly out of the grid as though I had personally approved the transformation.
This was Free Spin five.
Earlier that evening, the red sports car had paid €2.40 and offered me a perfectly respectable opportunity to leave.
I should have respected the car.
At the start, The Big Deal Deluxe looked less like a slot and more like the lobby of a casino that had recently discovered gold paint could be ordered by the barrel.
Five reels.
Three rows.
Twenty-five paylines.
Roulette tables sat in the corners. Marble columns rose behind the frame. Watches, bundled cash, poker chips, martinis and the red car filled the reels with objects normally used to confirm that somebody else had made a better financial decision.
The casino building appeared on the fifth reel during the opening spin.
One symbol.
No trigger.
It stood there lit from every window while a watch and several card symbols failed to produce anything around it.
Above the grid, the Jackpot Race amount continued moving.
Somewhere, other players were apparently engaged in a glamorous shared competition.
I was arranging three watches for €1.20.
The first partial Wild arrived on reel two.
It showed only part of itself, tucked near the bottom like a stage performer waiting beneath the floor.
The reel nudged upward.
The Wild extended.
Then stopped one position short of covering the reel.
Poker chips landed around it.
No complete line.
The partial Wild withdrew with all the dignity of a magician whose trapdoor had jammed.
Back in the Free Games, the full Wild on reel four remained long enough for the martinis to disappear.
New symbols entered.
Poker chips.
A gold watch.
Two piles of cash.
The bald man.
Nothing connected from the left.
The completed Wild reel had opened the stage, placed the spotlight and discovered that the cast had gone to a different casino.
The multiplier vanished with the result.
The sixth Free Spin began.
Before the feature, the base game had spent a long time practising this exact disappointment.
Partial Wilds appeared often enough to become part of the furniture.
One showed near the top of reel three and nudged downward. It became a complete Wild reel just as several watches landed across reels one, two and four.
Reel five produced a martini.
The watches paid €5.20 through the Wild.
Gold crossed the frame.
The soundtrack lifted.
The bald man appeared underneath the win, looking less like a casino host and more like somebody sent to check whether I had mistaken €5.20 for an invitation upstairs.
The following spins returned to chips and letters.
A red car occupied reel one without another car beyond reel two.
Cash bundles filled the centre but missed the left edge.
Martinis arrived in pairs with no bartender prepared to introduce a third.
The room was full of expensive objects refusing to acknowledge one another.
Two casino buildings appeared together.
One on reel one.
One on reel five.
The centre reel supplied poker chips.
The buildings remained lit across the grid, separated by a stack of gambling equipment and the entire absence of a third property.
No Free Games.
The Jackpot Race continued climbing above them.
The buildings disappeared.
Somebody else’s number kept moving.
Free Spin six produced another partial Wild.
Reel two.
Bottom position.
It nudged once.
Then again.
A full Wild reel formed.
The symbols to its right were excellent.
Cash.
Watch.
Casino building.
The leftmost reel held a K.
The Wild stood there in complete formalwear with nobody useful entering through the front door.
No win.
The bald man was absent from that spin.
He had likely seen the guest list.
The base game continued for sixty-four spins at €1.00.
The total returns remained small.
A line of watches paid.
Poker chips connected.
The red car finally reached reel three with help from a Wild and returned €3.60.
One martini combination added €2.00.
Together with the earlier payments, the base game gave back €15.20.
It took €64.00 to arrange them.
The lobby looked immaculate.
My balance had been removed from the premises.
The three casino buildings arrived on the sixty-fourth spin.
One on reel one.
One in the centre.
One on reel five.
They lit together beneath the Jackpot Race display.
The red carpet brightened.
The regular reels faded.
Ten Free Games appeared.
I entered the feature €48.80 below the starting point.
The first few spins provided activity rather than recovery.
Poker chips won.
A partial Wild nudged into place but connected only a low card line.
A stack of watches crossed four reels and received the feature multiplier, adding €4.00.
Then came the fifth spin with the full Wild reel and the €9.60 martini win.
For a few seconds, the feature looked capable of changing the evening.
The glassware glowed.
The Wild covered reel four.
The bald man remained in the centre, supervising the payout with his hands still folded.
Then the symbols cleared and the room returned to waiting.
Free Spin seven brought two casino buildings.
The first stood on reel two.
The second appeared on reel five.
A red car parked on reel one.
The missing third building did not arrive.
The car looked prepared to leave.
I stayed.
A watch combination added €2.40.
The next spin produced poker chips and a Wild that extended only far enough to help one line.
The feature total moved beyond €18.
There were two Free Spins left.
The casino had not repaired the loss.
It had rearranged the lighting around it.
On the ninth Free Spin, three buildings landed.
The centre one arrived last.
The reels paused.
The buildings flashed.
Ten more Free Games entered the counter.
The casino doors opened for a second performance.
The bald man returned on reel three with the exact expression of someone who had been informed the first show would now continue despite the audience’s financial condition.
Twenty Free Games in total.
The Jackpot Race kept moving in the corner.
The second block began with a full Wild reel on reel three.
Poker chips connected through it for €5.60.
The red car landed on reel one during the next spin, accompanied by watches and martinis that refused to reach the fifth reel.
A partial Wild appeared beside the car.
Nudged.
Extended.
Stopped before becoming complete.
The car remained parked beneath it, bright red, door closed, engine apparently running for somebody with better timing.
The second act never found the same rhythm as the first.
The Wilds continued entering in pieces.
A reel filled once, but the symbols around it were card values.
Another partial Wild nudged into the middle of a cash line and helped produce €2.00.
Martinis covered most of the right side while reel one displayed poker chips.
The bald man appeared repeatedly, often one reel beyond a useful connection, hands folded as though the distance had been intentional.
The final five spins became quieter.
One watch win.
A small chip line.
Two casino buildings.
No third.
The last Free Spin placed a partial Wild at the bottom of reel four.
It moved upward.
Half appeared.
Then more.
The symbol stopped one step short of completing the reel.
A martini stood on reel one.
Cash bundles occupied the centre.
The red sports car waited on reel five, facing outward.
Nothing paid.
The feature ended at €31.60.
The session remained €17.20 down.
The ordinary lobby returned.
Poker chips on the first reel.
The bald man in the middle.
A martini on reel four.
The red car on reel five.
Above them, the Jackpot Race continued as though the evening had not ended for anyone else.
I did not spin again.
The Wild never finished entering.
The car never opened its door.
The casino building remained lit behind the reels.
The Big Deal Deluxe had given me twenty Free Games, two complete Wild reels, several nudges and enough gold to make the loss look formally dressed.
The valet lights were still on.
The big deal had already left.
Every wild in Fins of Fortune laughs in binary.