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Slingo Genie Gemstones, the latest twist on Slingo, has come to the US online casino market, and we’ve found it on offer at DraftKings and FanDuel. Its a bit of a weird and interesting one, where the payouts in the base game aren’t cash, but entry to a second stage where the real winning happens.
If you’re not familiar with Slingo, its Gaming Realms’ mashup of slots and bingo. That’s where it gets its name from, anyway, but if you ask me, there’s a heavy dose of keno in there too. More on those mechanics in a moment.
There are now over 50 versions of Slingo out there, many of them based using themes from other companies’ popular slots under license. This isn’t one of those, though. Genie Gemstones is all Gaming Realms’ idea.
The basic principle of Slingo is that slot-like reels produce numbers that fill a bingo-like grid. Completed lines are “Slingos,” and the more Slingos you earn within the allotted spins, the bigger your prize.
Each new version of Slingo expands on this in some way. Genie Gemstones brings back the Super Wilds and Free Spin symbols you may have seen in earlier versions. But what makes it unique is the Genie Gemstones Bonus Game, which is your prize for completing at least three Slingos. More Slingos awards a better version of the bonus.
The Bonus Game is very slots-like, so Genie Gemstones is a great version of Slingo for players who wish the mix of mechanics was leaning more towards slots than bingo.
Slingo Basics
Pretty much every Slingo game starts you off with a 5×5 grid full of random numbers. It’s just like a bingo card except there’s no free space in the middle.
Your base wager gets you a certain number of spins. For Genie Gemstones, that’s 10 spins. There are five slots-like reels below the grid that will each reveal a number or, occasionally, a bonus symbol. If the number matches one in the grid column directly above the reel, you get to mark it.
As in bingo, the goal is to complete lines of five numbers—horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Typically, the first of these isn’t enough to get a prize. You’ll have to complete several before your spins run out. For Genie Gemstones, it’s a minimum of three Slingos to have a shot at the Bonus Game.
There are three bonus symbols in Genie Gemstones, all of them pretty straightforward:
- Wild: You can choose to mark any number in the column above that reel.
- Super Wild: You can choose to mark any number anywhere in the grid.
- Free Spin: Adds one to your spin counter.
After your spins expire you can accept the result you have, or pay for one more spin. The cost for the extra spin depends on how close you are to completing more Slingos. The game computes it so that the RTP of the extra spin is the same 95.44% you get from the initial bet.
How the Genie Gemstones Bonus Game Works
If you’re used to other Slingo games, the immediately confusing thing about Slingo Genie Gemstones is that no prize values are listed in the pay table. Instead, each number of Slingos corresponds to a differently-colored gem.
That’s because the cash prizes only come in the Bonus Game, while the basic Slingo round is how you earn the right to play that game.
The Bonus Game takes the form of a 5×3 reel slot machine with 10 paylines, but with the first reel already filled with whatever Gem you won in the base game. So, a measly three Slingos gets you a full reel of teeny-tiny white gems—the lowest-valued symbol in the Bonus Game. Conversely, filling the grid for the maximum 12 Slingos starts you off with a full reel of giant blue sapphires, each good for 20x the bet per payline for five-of-a-kind.
Naturally, with the first reel filled with three copies of the same symbol, that’s the only one that matters. However, ats long as you spin at least one more of that symbol, you get to lock those matches and respin. In other words, it’s like a hold-and-spin bonus in a regular slots game, but where the goal is to get more of whatever gem you won while playing Slingo.
The respins continue until you don’t get any more of the right type of gem, at which point you’ll score any paylines with three or more matching gems. The maximum win would require 12 Slingos to get the Sapphire Bonus Game, and then spinning the maximum 15 Sapphires for ten full paylines. That equates to a 200x payout.
Slingo Genie Gemstones Strategy
Unlike most slots, there is actually a little bit of strategy to Slingo. Specifically, the choice of where to place your Wilds and Super Wilds matters.
Fortunately, it’s not hard to play perfectly. Gaming Realms discloses that the best strategy is to prioritize placements that get you closest to completing a Slingo. So, if you can get a Slingo, do so. If you can’t, then place it somewhere that gets you four out of five numbers. If you can’t do that, then three out of five, and so on.
If there’s a tie between several choices, then the priority is to choose spots that fall on the diagonals. Imagine a big X through the grid. Those are the best places to put your Wilds, as long as they’re also getting you as close as you can to your next Slingo. That’s because those spots contribute to a higher number of winning lines. The middle space is part of four potential Slingos. The other spaces on the diagonals are part of three. Every other number in the grid is only part of two.
The other meaningful choice is whether to pay for extra spins. That doesn’t change your RTP, but it does affect your volatility. It can help you win a big prize but those extra spins can also be very expensive when the grid is almost full. Personally, I don’t like it. I’d rather save my money to play a new game, but there’s no real right and wrong choice here, it just comes down to the kind of experience you’d like to have.
What’s the verdict on Slingo Genie Gemstones?
I enjoyed testing out Slingo Genie Gemstones, but I also like Slingo in general. A round of Slingo takes a long time to play compared to just spinning a slot machine, and in my book that’s a good thing.
I timed it, and even without paying for extra spins or triggering the Bonus Game, you’re getting nearly a minute of entertainment from a single bet, compared to an average of 3 to 6 seconds on most slots. Of course, you’ll probably want to increase your bet size compared to your usual because otherwise the wins can be disappointingly small for such a long wait. But even if you play for five times your normal stakes, you’re going to get twice as much fun for your dollar over the long term.
Having a Bonus Game instead of a straight payout is a fun twist. Hold-and-spin features are very popular at the moment, so I expect a lot of players will enjoy this Slingo variant. However, it can also sometimes be a bit of a letdown. Even just getting three Slingos isn’t easy, and that version of the Bonus Game might pay out as little as one-tenth of your bet if you only match three gems on a single payline.
But of course, that cuts both ways. Even a middling result in the basic Slingo game can turn into an exciting win if you happen to spin well in the Bonus Game.
All-in-all, I’d say if you’re looking to make your gambling budget last a little longer, and you like hold-and-spin features, this is a game worth trying. Just don’t get carried away paying for the extra spins, because that can stack up fast.
