Mine-a-Licious

An Excellent Game Review

This game is a debut on the Mines Games field. If you feel nostalgic for the 90s mega-hit Minesweeper, part of the Windows Entertainment Pack, this title may bring you back in time. It comes with a solid potential and some intriguing features.

This game stands out with a rather generic design but plenty of tools and features. Perhaps the point of view is to bring players to the authentic experience of the original Minesweeper. Then again, the gameplay is much more advanced with Diamonds and Mines under the hood. This game is playable with 3 different grid sizes - 3x3, 4x4, and 5x5.

If you choose the smaller board, you can select from 1 to 8 Mines to be active on any round. If you pick the 4x4 or 5x5 grid, the choice is 2 to 15 and 2 to 24 Mines, respectively. To start the game, select your bet, grid size, number of mines, and hit the Start Game button. Next, you need to select one of the positions to see whether it will reveal a Diamond or a Mine.

If your first choice is successful, you can either continue with another tile or select one of the Collect and Bank It options. Before any selection, you can find useful statistics on the left side of your screen. They show remaining Diamonds, the risk of hitting a Mine, how many tiles you have opened so far, and the chance of revealing another Diamond on the next turn. This data might turn out to be particularly useful.

The game has packed it with 2 game modes - Manual and Auto. The first one is obvious, while the second one is designed to facilitate your performance. You can choose from 1 to 1000 consecutive rounds to be played in the exact pattern you've drawn on the grid. The AI will open the titles you want and thus will free your hands.

You can also set advanced settings from the tools on the left, including an increase of the bet by a certain percentage after a win or loss. This will allow strategy experts to use all of their potential. This game is loaded with 25 stake levels, and players can bet from €0.10 to €500 per round. Keep in mind that the high wagers can quickly dry your account, especially in Auto Mode.

The game RTP ranges from 87.50% up to 97.20%, depending on the size of the grid, number of Mines, and your decisions. The maximum win is visible beneath the Balance screen and also depends on the difficulty level. For example, the 3x3 grid offers top wins from 8.63x to 120.95x, the 4x4 board - from 15.36x to 12,354.46x, and the 5x5 grid has max wins in the range between 24x and 2,000,000x the bet. At the same time, you can't win more than the maximum exposure which is volatile and you need to read the T&Cs.

Game Features

This game may look simple, but it is more informative than most of the similar games available online. I particularly like the win multipliers above all tiles and how they change with every turn. Given the nature of the game, you can't expect bonus features and minigames, like in online games, for example. However, there are a couple of specials that you can find listed below.

Bank It

Bank It is an insurance option, and it is available only when you play in Manual mode. If activated, it will award the saved amount of money when you hit a Mine. Whenever you reveal a Diamond, you can bank in a piece of the win and continue. You can select how much to save via the "+" and "-". Once you bank in, the winning values on top of the grid will change, dividing between the saved and unsaved wins.

Bank It can be used on every successful turn you like, and you can save different money amounts. Only the unsaved rewards will increase with every successful Diamond reveal. This will potentially limit your wins and will decrease the max win of the round according to the selected Grid and Mines configurations. The accumulated Bank It amount will be paid off at the end of the round, regardless of whether you will or will not hit a Mine.

Progressive Jackpot

This game features a progressive jackpot, which is displayed on top of the grid. There is no information about it in the game's menu and on the website at the time of writing. Obviously, you will need to collect 3 Gold Diamonds to win the pot. Obviously, it is progressive since it's not displayed in demo mode. However, that part of the game remains shrouded in mystery. Moreover, casino operators may decide to deactivate the progressive jackpot, so it might not be available everywhere!

Theme & Graphics

This game stands well on desktop and mobile devices, and I must admit that the blue nuances go very easily on the eyes. The square and rectangular shapes bring us back to the 20th century, when visuals were not that important. Then again, the quality of the graphics is of the highest standard, and the nice music effects add to the experience.

The Mines Games category has been on the rise in the last year or so. Many leading and boutique studios have their versions of the old classic. They all provide various stats and data, but in this game, they are more conveniently displayed. The control area is on the left, and my only remark is the lack of jackpot information in the menu. The rest is quite well-done and the title has easily become my favorite Mines game!

Pros And Cons

Our Verdict

This game is simple and easy to play, and you need to spare only a minute to get acquainted with all the controls. However, unless you want to leave it all to chance, I recommend spending some time with the free demo version. You should test the different grid and Mines configurations, as well as some betting strategies. The Auto mode has turned out to be quite useful!

If you want to compare the title with other games from the same category, you will find plenty of options, as I mentioned earlier. As you can see this game has one or two advantages compared to other top titles. You may find even more after a few rounds, so have fun!