My top pick turned out not to be what I had anticipated.

Can you believe I didn’t pick the Play’n Go game I had on my list for this month? I know! I’m just as surprised as you are that Ninja Master beat out Reactoonz. 😆

It’s not only surprising because Ninja Master is a game from a totally different slot game provider (GVG), but it’s also easily the oldest and most basic online slot – in terms of gameplay and features – of all the games I played in August.

With that said, here’s some info about the game, my experience, and why I picked it as my favourite for the month.

Note: All details I’ll provide about Ninja Master below is related to the version of the game I played at an Ontario online casino. As such, keep in mind that this information may not fully apply to the version of the game you experience if you are playing it from a different location than Ontario. For instance, this game has a gamble feature known as “Double Up” available in other jurisdictions that is not available in Ontario.

Ninja Master – General Gameplay Facts

• Software developer: GVG*
• Release date: 2017
• Theme: Ninja, Cartoon, Animation
• Reels: 5
• Rows: 3
• Paylines: 20
• Notable features: Win Both Ways, Wilds, Free Spins, Multipliers
• Bet range: $0.20 – $200.00
• Max win: $250,000
• Jackpots: No
• Volatility: Medium
• RTP: 95.9%
• Free version available: Yes (can be played for free at SkillOnNet casinos*)
• Where I played it for real money: PlayOJO*

Ninja Master is set inside a ninja’s dojo. It’s a 5×3, 20-payline slot with decent 3D graphics and animations for its time. Instead of being encased in a typical slot grid, the reels are free floating in front of the game’s background, which I think adds to the game’s aesthetic appeal.

On one side of the reels is a Ninja clad in black and on the other side are four hanging paper lanterns.  Each lantern is a different colour and features a different multiplier number. As you spin the reels, the Ninja moves about and will jump from one side of the reels to the other as well as strike the reels with this sword.

Like the Starburst slot, all symbols pay left to right and right to left and line wins are multiplied by the chosen denomination of coin values. The only exception is a five of a kind combination, which is only paid left to right.

The Ninja Master symbol is wild. When this symbol lands on the reels it will substitute for all symbols and awards between 1 and 4 free spins. A special multiplier is awarded on wins with the wild symbol.

And that’s, pretty much the gist of this slot for Ontario players (because we don’t have access to the Double Up feature, which is a gamble feature that gives you the chance to double your winnings after each win). This game isn’t complex, but it’s fast-paced with a fun theme. This, complemented by its win-both-ways and free spins with multipliers features makes it a win for me.   

As for its developer, the game is from GVG (Green Valley Games), which is the name of the casino game development side of SkillOnNet, a B2B casino software turnkey provider. While GVG isn’t know for creating mind-blowing slots, and I wasn’t too impressed with their Thor: Trials of Asgard game (as I mentioned in my Favourite Casino Game for July post), I truly enjoyed Ninja Master.

My Ninja Master slot experience

I’ll admit that when I was waiting for Ninja Master to load it didn’t give me a good first impression. Unlike games from other providers that tease you with images of the game’s various features, Ninja Master displays a single still image of the game’s main character in an action pose, with the words “Game Ready! Tap The Screen To Start” stamped across the image in a boring snot-green-coloured font.

However, once I did tap the screen, the game loaded right away and looked great. The soundtrack is light and fun, suiting the game’s cartoonish and comedic ninja theme. I bet $2.00 for every game I played, which is unusual for me as I typically bet lower amounts per spin, but I was feeling adventurous at the time.

The ninja character did move around a lot, making several stereotypical movie ninja sounds. I found that this kept the game interesting, although on a couple of occasions when the ninja became animated, the game did glitch a bit. These tiny hiccups aside, it ran smoothly.

Playing Ninja Master – I landed several big wins (for me)

One of the best things about playing the Ninja Master slot was that I won frequently and managed to trigger the free spins feature multiple times, which landed me a few sweet wins.

In fact, after playing for less than 5 minutes, I landed my first wild and unlocked 4 Free Spins and won $16.05.  A few spins after that, I landed another set of 4 free spins and won $21.00 and then another 4 free spins about 10 spins later, getting my largest single win from the game, $27.00.

I get that these wins may not seem like a big deal to some players, but for me, winning anything over $10 with a single bet is awesome! Those three wins combined (and factoring in the amount I lost and won in the base game) I was up $60+ when I called it quits. Not bad if I do say so myself. 😁

What do I like most about Ninja Master?

• You can win both ways, which helps increase landing a win.
• The theme and all the sounds, animations and features that complement it are well done.
• It’s fast-paced and the Ninja is always moving, keeping the game interesting.
• I triggered the free spins feature multiple times and thanks to multipliers, got some nice wins out of it.

What do I like the least?

• The game can be a bit glitchy at times.

What I thought of the other four games I played

Reactoonz – This was my second favourite to play overall. It features all the lovely Play’n GO features like the charge meter and such, but it just didn’t grab me in the same way that Viking Runecraft Apocalypse and Sweet Alchemy did. The theme was super cute and colourful, with little aliens that reminded me a lot of Minions in both their silly, zany appearance and their gibberish talk 😂. But…it just didn’t grab me in the same way that the other games have from this provider. That’s why it didn’t take the top spot for me last month. I suppose I was in the mood for something a little different in August.

Book of Power – Beautiful graphics and an immersive soundtrack and sound effects aside, Book of Power is your standard explorer-heads-to-Ancient-Egypt-in-hunt-of-treasure kind of game. It was decent enough to play, but it certainly didn’t have wow factor for me. I got bored with it pretty quickly, but I might play it again at some point when I’m more in the mood for that type of theme. Maybe after I watch The Mummy or something.🤠⛏️

Lobster Bob’s Crazy Crab Shack – I had such high hopes for this game, but it turned out to be the slot that I was most disappointed in. At first, with its SpongeBob feel, it was really amusing. It’s colourful, has up-beat music and creates, well, a very SpongeBob-like atmosphere. I also found it amusing that when you win, the slot makes a sound effect that reminded me of the winning sound effect traditional land-based casino slots make (you’d know what I mean if you heard it LOL!) However, the more I played Lobster Bob’s Crazy Crab Shack, the less enchanted I became with the game. It’s very repetitive and though I played it longer than any of the other games on my top picks list, I never triggered any of the features and hit quite a losing streak. While I know this can happen, it still sucked and did nothing to warm my feelings toward the game. I don’t think I’ll be playing this one again.

Razor Returns – This game experience was okay. Its graphics are excellent, but the music and sound effects did nothing to improve the gameplay and were rather boring overall. The one feature of this slot that I did like however, is its Mystery feature which triggers the Nudge & Reveal feature. I landed this several times, which did make the game more exciting. I might play this one again in the future, if only for that fun Mystery feature.

Mia’s 5 Star Rating for Ninja Master

I give Ninja Master 4 stars for:

• The fun theme featuring a very active and silly ninja.
• Its win both ways mechanic. 
• Its free spins with multiplier feature.
• Landing me three great wins! 😂

Have you played the Ninja Master slot? What star rating would you give it out of 5?

Until next time, good luck and have fun!

Mia 👩‍💻

*I am not affiliated with GVG, SkillOnNet, or PlayOJO. All opinions about Ninja Master are my own and are not intended to provide advice of any kind. If you choose to play Ninja Master or any of the games I mentioned that I played for real money, remember that my experience won’t be the same as yours, so play at your own discretion and please keep it fun and play responsibly. 

**All links and images in this post are for informational purposes only.