Divine Fortune Black: Slot Overview
The year 2017 saw software provider NetEnt grab hold of the ancient Greek reins and release Divine Fortune, before revisiting the scene a few years later in the revamped Divine Fortune Megaways. Whilst the two games shared commonalities, swapping the progressive jackpot for a bunch of static jackpots was arguably the most contentious issue – or biggest benefit? Either players showed a preference for static jackpot prizes or NetEnt did, because the studio is back with a third instalment. Titled Divine Fortune Black, fans of the previous two slots can enjoy spotting similarities and pointing out differences, as they attempt to collect cash and jackpot prizes, trigger respins and expanding symbols, and pick between two bonus rounds.
Where Divine Fortune Megaways was a visual explosion of a gleaming distant past, Divine Fortune Black is a lot more optically subdued. Its base game background is black, like literally, that’s pretty much it. No lion statues, no piles of coins, as if you’re staring into the coldest, furthest part of the universe where not a single speck of starlight can reach. Or, you’ve just sauntered into a swanky, achingly cool club that is minimalist to the bone. Take your pick. The music is stirring, though, gold beams of light illuminate Divine Spins, and the full reel Pegasus wilds dramatically flutter onto the reels when they hit, forging connections to previous Divine Fortune slots despite an attempt by NetEnt to push the series upmarket somewhere more chic.
The gaming area has shrunken a bit since the Megaways version, as Divine Fortune Blacks’ action takes place on a 5×3 reelset equipped with 20 paylines. Volatility has been ramped up, however, now coming in highly volatile, while three RTP values are topped by a 96.08% figure. It is possible to wager 20 c to $/€24 per spin, and players may choose from four feature buys if that’s how they’d prefer to try their luck.
Queen, King, and Delta are the lower-paying symbols, awarding 1x to 1.5x the bet for 5 OAK, followed by birds, bulls, lions, and Medusas, paying 2 to 5 times the bet for 5 OAK. Wilds appear on the three middle reels in the main game and during Divine Spins to substitute all symbols except scatters, Cash Prizes, and Jackpots.
Divine Fortune Black: Slot Features
The features have a familiar ring to them and include Cash Prizes, Jackpot symbols, respins, expanding symbols, two pickable once triggered bonus rounds, and Elevate feature buys.
Cash Prizes and Jackpot Collection
Cash Prizes (1x–20x bet) and Jackpots (25x Minor, 250x Major, 2,500x Mega) can land on reels 2-4 in both the main game and Divine Spins, and on any reel during Fortune Spins. When a Fortune Collector symbol appears, it collects all visible prizes. Collectors land on reels 1 and 5 in the main game and Divine Spins, or anywhere in Fortune Spins.
Respins and Expanding Symbols
A respin triggers when a wild, Cash Prize, or Jackpot lands in the main game. These symbols stick and drop one position each spin. If a matching symbol lands behind another in the main game or Divine Spins, it expands – unless blocked by another special symbol. Expanded symbols also drop with each respin. Respins end when no wilds, Cash Prizes, or Jackpots remain.
Free Spins
Hit 3 or more scatters, and players choose whether to activate Divine Spins or Fortune Spins.
- Divine Spins – Triggered by 3, 4, or 5 scatters, awarding 5, 8, or 12 free spins. Wilds, Cash Prizes, and Jackpots expand unless blocked by another special symbol and trigger respins, shifting down each time. If a wild lands behind a prize symbol (or vice versa), it still expands. Fortune Collectors collect all prize values after expanding. Respins pause the free spins counter.
- Fortune Spins – Triggered by 3, 4, or 5 scatters, awarding 3 spins plus 0-2 Mystery symbols. Only blanks, Cash Prizes, Jackpots, Collectors, and Mystery symbols can land. Landing any non-blank resets the spin count to 3. Symbols stick, and their values add to the total win each spin. Collectors gather visible prizes before the next spin. Spins end when no spins remain or the grid is full. Mystery symbols reveal a random Jackpot (Minor, Major, or Mega). Filling 1, 2, or 3 rows awards an extra Minor, Major, or Mega Jackpot.
Elevate
Elevate is the name given to the bonus buy section, where there are four choices. Scatter Hunt costs 1.5x the bet and increases the chance of triggering free spins, while Walking Wild, at 10x the bet, makes only Fortune Collectors award respins, moving down the reels, and expanding when landing behind another Fortune Collector. Divine Spins may be bought for 50x or Fortune Spins for 100x.
Divine Fortune Black: Slot Verdict
One of the interesting things about Divine Fortune Black is the way NetEnt has really been true to the title and produced something that, for a lot of the time, simply looks black. Not sure whether the dark, minimalist approach is a significant improvement or a deterioration, but it is quite striking and makes a bold break from the past, even if it is a little uninteresting to look at. However, the studio clearly made the game this way on purpose and not because of a lack of talent, so the result is quite chic, and it makes Divine Fortune Black stand out from the others.
There might be less to say about the game’s features than its new look. There are links to the previous Divine Fortune slots, but enough differences to tell them all apart. The progressive jackpot has been left out again, for better or worse, and yet another slot with mid, static jackpot prizes probably wasn’t stratospherically high up on the online gambling list of needs. Fortune Spins have double the price tag to buy than Divine Spins, creating the impression they’re the bonus round you want to be in. Divine Spins are pretty plain, though they do have an added sweetener in the form of filling rows to win Jackpot prizes. Divine Fortune Black’s winning potential is less than Divine Fortune Megaways, yet sturdy enough at 20,000x the bet. However, one wonders what the max win probability might be, given the previous slot had a butt clenching figure of 1 in more than 39 billion spins.
Mix the unknowns with the completely made over appearance, and the average gaming and Divine Fortune Black comes out as a pretty middling slot. Not terrible, not amazing, an okay gambling device with a recognisable name that could have been better.
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