Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness

Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness: Slot Overview

Born Vincent Damon Furnier, Alice Cooper is best known as the singer/songwriter front man for the Alice Cooper band, while also releasing a large number of solo albums. Over the years, Alice Cooper has sold millions of records, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and picked up a couple of Honorary Doctorate degrees in Music along the way. Now, he's receiving an honour of another kind, starring in an online slot from Play'n GO titled Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness.

As the name suggests, Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness is loosely based on a previous game called Rich Wilde and the Tome of Madness, though the studio has made quite a lot of alterations. The first visceral change is the look, and since the game is Alice Cooper based, it makes sense there's a darker, creepier than normal atmosphere. Gone is the dapper figure of Rich Wilde on the right side of the screen, replaced by an image of Alice covered in chains and padlocks – more on this below. Taking centre stage is a 5x5, cluster paying grid in the middle of what appears to be a chapel in the base game, shifting to a full-blown rock concert for free spins. As you'd hope for, the game comes with a suitable heavy fitting soundtrack to match the subject matter.

Playable from 10 p/c and rise to $/€100 per spin, the math model's been chopped and changed since Rich Wilde had a bash. Volatility has been softened a tad bit, rated as 7 out of 10 on Play'n GO's volatility chart. Potential is up, so is the default RTP value of 96.2%, though the return is variable, so be on the lookout for lesser values as well. Wins, meanwhile, hit when four or more matching symbols are connected horizontally and/or vertically, thereby forming a cluster. Winning clusters are then removed from the screen via the cascade mechanic, filling the gaps with new symbols and only stopping when no new clusters are formed. Four skull icons have been used as the lower-value symbols, followed by spiders, crosses, snakes and hearts as the high pays. The most valuable clusters contain 15+ matching symbols, and premium clusters of this size are worth 40 to 200 times the stake. One more symbol for here is the regular Tome wild, which substitutes for all normal pay symbols. There is also a stacked Alice Mega Wild, covered next.

Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness: Slot Features

Play'n GO has padded out Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness with a bunch of extras from Reality Effects to the Alice Cooper Mega Wild, the Hat of Madness, and Reality Spins.

On non-winning spins, there is a chance one of the Reality Effects modifiers may be randomly triggered. There are four:

• Insane Asylum – transforms all high pays into the same high pay symbol.
• The Dungeon – transforms all low pays into different high pays.
• Chamber of Horrors – destroys symbols and fills the gaps with wilds.
• Temptation Room – adds a wild and transforms symbols into the same symbol.

Special key symbols may also land on the reels. When keys are collected, they leave a wild symbol behind. If 3 are collected in a single spin, they unlock the stacked Alice Cooper Mega Wild when there are no more wins. The Mega Wild is added to reels 2, 3, or 4 and walks left or right between cascades before walking off the reels altogether.

Next, when winning clusters hit, the number of symbols involved charge the Hat of Madness. When reaching certain thresholds of collected symbols in a cascade sequence, various Hat of Madness features trigger, like so:

• 10 symbols – 1-2 wilds are added to the next cascade.
• 25 symbols – 3-6 wilds are added to the next cascade.
• 50 symbols – 3 Reality Spins.
• 75 symbols – 3 Reality Spins with an x2 multiplier.
• 85 symbols – 3 Reality Spins with an x5 multiplier.

If Reality Spins are achieved, only the highest tier is awarded. Then, the game shifts to a selection menu where players choose Reality Spins with either the Insane Asylum, The Dungeon, Chamber of Horrors, or the Temptation Room Reality Effects. Whichever Reality Effect is chosen will play at the end of every Reality Spin. If the Alice Cooper Mega Wild is added to the reels during Reality Spins, there is a chance 3 to 6 additional wilds are added to the reels when it walks.

Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness: Slot Verdict

Play'n GO is certainly experienced in making these sorts of games, and Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness is another playable addition to the studio's considerable contribution to the grid slot genre. A little surprising given the hard rock subject matter, but the game is fairly middle of the road mathematically and in terms of potential. However, Play'n GO has paired it with a peculiar back story about Alice Cooper writing his memoirs in a strange journal which conjures up stories of other Alice Coopers in different dimensions - now he must keep writing to stay alive. Fair to say, players who like the stranger side of the Alice Cooper persona may well be sold.

Do you think Play'n GO gauges the risk/reward tolerances of the fans of these music artists and uses them to plan their slots around? If so, Alice Cooper's fans might not be as living on the edge getting wild and crazy as you might suspect. Volatility has been dialled back from the 10/10 rating in the Rich Wilde version, though it has to be said potential has increased. Where the most that Rich Wilde could squeeze from his version of the Tome of Madness was 2,000x, Alice tweaks it a bit harder, increasing the figure to 3,000x the bet. Still, some players might have thought a big-name star like Alice Cooper would have prompted an even bigger number, and those three Reality Spins can be a real everything or zilch thrill ride.

To sum up, Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness serves up a wide selection of features in an unusual grid slot setting. It'll help if you're a fan of The Godfather of Shock Rock, but there's enough here to entertain general grid slot players who aren't craving an enormous game to go with it.