Dead Canary

Review

The grizzled dwarf is back for yet another mining expedition, digging his way towards the Federal Beer Reserve. This is the 3rd installment in the mining slot trilogy, and the dynamic grid comes with sliding cascades on tilted reels. You get plenty of action also in the base game.

It looks like this may be the last installment, or at least it’s indicated by the happy ending win story. Spoiler alert: the dwarf is saved from drowning in the federal beer pool by his future mermaid wife. Perhaps this cured him from his alcoholism as well, who knows, and you can look forward to an explosive canary prize collection hold & win bonus round. It comes with a solid 65,000x potential, and this is a must try for any mining slot enthusiast out there.

Slot Features

You can switch on the xBet feature between base game spins, and it costs 40 % more per spin. The benefit is that the first blocked row is unlocked, and you are also guaranteed a scatter per spin (doubles your bonus round chances). The premium symbols pay between 2 and 7.5 x your stake for 6 of a kind wins, and you win by landing 3+ matching symbols from the uttermost left to the right.

The 3-3-2-2-1-1 default grid can be expanded to 3-4-3-4-3-4, and a blocked row opens up per win. Winning symbols are removed via the Cascading mechanic, and new symbols slide down the diagonal reels to possibly create new winning combinations. The process repeats as long as you keep winning, and blocked rows are also blasted open by an adjacent xBomb or via the Wild Mining feature. The random multipliers at the bottom are activated if all barriers are removed, and the symbols destroyed, or if the final barrier reveals a scatter.

The xBomb Wild steps in for pay symbols to help complete wins, and xBombs explode all adjacent symbols in a cross pattern. Scatter symbols and other xBombs are not exploded, however, and the win multiplier increases by +1 per exploding xBomb for the next cascade.

On a non-winning spin, where 3, 4, or 5 matching symbols line up diagonally, you trigger the Wild Mining feature. The triggering symbols are replaced by wilds, and you get 1, 2, or 4 Wild bombs from 3, 4, or 5 triggering symbols, respectively. Each wild bomb explosion adds +1 to the win multiplier for the next cascade, and all symbols except xBomb symbols explode. If a scatter explodes, it will reappear in a random position on the next cascade.

The Canary Bonus Round (1 in 197 hit rate (or 1 in 98 with xBet turned on)) triggers when you land and/or reveal any mix of 3 silver and gold caged canary scatters. The bonus round plays out on a 4-3-4-3-4-3-4 grid, and there is a locked vault in each corner. These are unlocked by xBomb explosions, and the triggering canary cages become sticky on the grid. They come with 3 lives each (hearts).

You start with 3 respins in the tally, and the canary cage scatters have a starting value of x1. Silver cage scatters can collect in an x-shape from adjacent positions, while gold cage scatters can collect in an x-shape from the full reel and row. Also the vaults in the corner collect anything that lands in an adjacent position.

The canary inside the scatter cages die when all 3 lives are lost (via adjacent explosions and similar), and this is how the scatter bet multiplier value is added to the total win. A new bird replaced the dead canary, however, and it starts with 3 lives and an x1 value again. Here is an overview of all the special symbols you can land in the bonus round:

• Coins - add their random value between 1x and 100x to the scatter cages if collected.
• Multipliers - boosts scatter cage values by x2 or x3 when collected.
• Bomb - explode in an x-shape to affect symbols, as well as removing scatter cage life points and unlocking corner vaults.
• Upgrade - turns silver cages into gold cages, and adds a life point as well.
• Gas - removes one life from all adjacent cages.
• Dwarf - adds a life point when collected by a scatter cage, and this makes the scatter collect all values from other scatters per spin until the canary dies.
• Rat - adds a life point when collected by a scatter cage, and the scatter then adds its value to all other scatters per spin until it dies.

The feature ends when you run out respins, and all unlocked corner vault values are then added to the total win. Non-UK players, and anyone eligible, can use the Bonus Buy menu to purchase the Canary feature for 68x the stake. You can pay 500x your stake to get the Golden Canary Bonus Round, and there is also a lucky draw option that costs 284x your stake.

The 200 Spins Slot Experience

You get to see a few smaller wins in the base game, before we purchase the top-tier bonus round at 0:37 into the 3:52-minute highlights video. This gave us 2 gold cage scatters and 1 silver cage scatter, and you can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.

Review Summary

If you compare the mining slot series to what many developers do with their follow-ups, the contrast is stark. Each of the 3 games has a natural progression of the storyline for once, but each installment also feels completely fresh and unique. They never simply rehashes the old game with a twist. They completely reinvent the experience each time. It’s hard to remain unimpressed by this fact alone, and this is the perfect ending of the trilogy (if that is indeed the case, as more installments may be in the works for all we know).

The sliding effect is highly satisfying, and the game pace is excellent as usual. You get plenty of bang for your buck in terms of base game bells and whistles, but the payouts are usually not too impressive. The xBet gives you a solid 1 in 98 bonus round hit rate though, and the 65,000x potential comes with a decent 1 in 7M hit rate (1 in 90K during FS and 1 in 11K during golden FS). The feature is highly entertaining due to all the special symbols, and the drowning in beer rescue win story is an hilarious way to round this story off.