Fountain of Youth’s Unusual Retro Slots Action
Fountain of Youth is a slot title from Playtech with several features that set it apart from most other slot games. For a start, Fountain of Youth plays on only three reels, with only 3 pay lines, using just five icons. In addition, there are no defined windows as such on the reels, just the game’s icons.
As a result, reels can stop with any of the 3 pay lines running over empty space on the reel, and no icon showing on the pay line. This makes putting a prize-winning combination together in Fountain of Youth a bit trickier than one would expect when using only five symbols, and players would be well advised to play all 3 pay lines at all times if they want to win prizes more often. Bets can be varied in several increments from 1 to 500 credits per line.
Searching for the Elusive Fountain of Youth
Fountain of Youth is based on the quest by Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon to find this mythical source of eternal life. Ponce de Leon searched for this treasure in Puerto Rico and Florida, and the Fountain of Youth slot has an appropriately jungle-inspired look to its design.
In another departure from standard slots layouts, the three reels are contained in a single window on the lower half of the screen, with the rest of the screen devoted to a complete pay table in permanent view, backed by an exquisite scene of forest greenery and exotic animals around the sparkling Fountain of Youth.
Only Five Symbols in Play
Fountain of Youth has no Wilds or Scatter symbols to trigger extra prizes or bonus rounds, so the player must rely on the standard wins from the pay table to make the game profitable. Luckily, there are only five icons in play, which does increase the chances of creating matches. With fewer game-play details to worry about, the designers have concentrated on rendering the icons as brightly coloured, realistic 3D paintings.
The symbols, in increasing order of value, are a water lily bloom, a tree frog, a kingfisher, a butterfly, and the Fountain of Youth itself. Because the reel action makes it possible for any of the 3 pay lines to have no icons at all touching them on a reel, the game rewards players whenever a pay line crosses a symbol, any symbol, on all three reels.
The Fountain of Youth Pay Table
For three of any symbol intersected by a pay line, the prize is 4 credits. Three water lily blooms win 30 credits, and three frogs win 60. Three kingfishers score a prize of 125 credits, and that doubles to 250 credits for three butterflies.
The Fountain of Youth icon is the game’s top-scoring symbol, and the amount it wins depends on the pay line on which three Fountain of Youth symbols come up; another reason why it is always advisable to play all three pay lines on this title. On line 1, three Fountain of Youth icons pay 400 credits, rising to 600 on line 2, and 800 on line 3.