More Games by WMS Gaming
Game Design Features & Symbols
The Jetsons slot game is a 5-reel, 3-row video slot machine
with a physical bonus wheel. The game uses 20 pay lines and the
high value symbols are based on characters from the show.
Bonus Wheel Feature
The bonus wheel is the game’s most attractive feature. If the
Wheel symbol appears on reels 1 and 5 you win a bonus game. You
are prompted to spin the wheel to find out which bonus game will
be played. Of course, if you do nothing Astro will spin the
wheel for you.
The bonus games are based on different combinations of free
spins, multipliers, and special Wild symbols or bonuses. You
could win 1 or 2 Wild reels where the entire reels are stacked
Wild symbols locked in place. You could win extra Rosie symbols.
And so on.
Wild Symbol
If Rosie the Robot appears on reel 5 her symbol becomes a
Wild symbol and she starts scooting across the screen toward
reel 1. She turns a random number of symbols into Wilds.
Common Symbols
The most common symbol in the game is a television screen.
Stacked reels of TV screens often come down but then they turn
into various character symbols.
There are a couple of pick bonus games on the wheel, too. In
one game Elroy asks you to help George get home through heavy
clouds. You click on clouds in four columns clear a path for
George to his home, but if you uncover a police officer the game
ends. In another game you pick Spacely Space Sprockets.
If you are lucky enough to see 9 tiles of the same character
symbol appear together they will join together and play a short
animation of that character, such as George brushing his teeth.
Get a Big Win
For a Big Win you’ll see George walking on Astro’s treadmill
while the dog sits on a floating platform surrounded by piles of
cash. George eventually calls for Jane to help him get off the
treadmill (this is a classic shot from the end credits of the
show). On smaller wins Elroy may zoom up with his jetpack to
congratulate you before flying off again.
The tile designs and animations look like they were lifted
directly from the television show. The bonus round animations
were clearly designed for the slot game but they integrate
smoothly into the nostalgic experience. Bonus games end with
George sitting at his work console, admiring the winnings.
When the bonus wheel awards you a free spin game based on one
of the family members the TV set symbols all turn into that
Jetson, thus increasing your chances of winning a prize. You are
awarded 7 spins but the feature can be triggered again and again
whenever the Wheel symbol appears on reels 1 and 5.
Conclusion
If you enjoyed the Jetsons television show you will probably
have fun playing this game. WMS makes good use of many of the
gadgets and settings from the show, even if only in an
incidental way. You’ll see George being thrown out of his bed,
his robotic toothbrushes scrubbing his teeth while Elroy urges
him to get ready, and more.
Astro, always popular, is a little underused. He does get his
own bonus feature. You may also see him do a tail spin on the
Double Wild-O-Matic game.
There is one funny thing about the game. When a free spins
bonus is retriggered a dialog box pops up and says, “1 More
Spins Awarded”. What you get is a full set of spins. So if the
bonus originally awarded you 5 spins you get another 5 spins, if
you won 7 spins you get another 7 spins. This is the kind of
annoying little detail that bugs people who have developed
software because there should be enough memory on the
programming chip to give the game one more word for the message.
Why couldn’t they say “1 More Free Spins Awarded” or “1 More
Spins Game Awarded”?
The theme song is played at almost every excuse. It gets a
little old, but then you might not want to listen to Tiffany
singing for Judy Jetson (from the 1990 movie).
The game’s logo serves as its Wild symbol and you see this
come up often enough during the bonus games but the Double
Wild-O-Matic feature irritates some people because you win two
columns of stacked Wilds but they can move around in-between
spins. So if you start with reels 2 and 3 set as stacked Wilds
you may finish with reels 4 and 5. That’s not necessarily a bad
thing but it can lead to some interesting comments from people
who see the stacked Wilds jump to new reels for the first time.
The game brings a lot of variety to the slot experience. The
morphing TV set symbols are a definite plus worth mentioning
because you never know quite what to expect from them. The
interactivity of the bonus wheel combined with the pick games
gives the player a real sense of participation in the game.
Gone are the days when all you did was pull the arm so you
could watch the three reels spin. Maybe slot machines in the
year 2062 will do crazy things we cannot yet imagine but you
definitely have come a long way from the old slot machines
people were playing in 1962 when the show first came on the air.
