Playnova

Playnova was established in 2022, and it quickly gained a UK Gambling Commission License together with a Gibraltar licence. The company is interested in providing quality slots for online casinos, and a strong software suite to go with it. Of course, the latter only matters if players actually find these games entertaining and attractive.

Video slots are the main product, with a couple of table and card games also found. The company seems to have plans to diversify its portfolio even further than this. However, they are a mid-sized producer, which means that the release schedule is somewhat conservative.

To ensure that players find their games and come back to them, the company aims for the highest quality. This is delivered via a combination of exciting games, and ways to take that experience a level further.

Join us as we go through the details, or jump in with our suggested online casinos and experience first-hand how these slots play out.

Online Slots

Tailoring the games to local audiences, and even to the brand of individual online casino is something that the company excels in. This comes with attention to localisation, together with different currencies to ensure that the games are as accessible as possible. And no need to mention that this also means cross-platform compatibility. Play on mobile, desktop, or tablet, it’s your choice and convenience that matters.

The games might not be numerous, at least not yet, instead trusting on their characteristics to make sure they can compete with the tens of thousands of casino games available. Whilst originally aiming to launch at least two new games per month, that schedule has petered out a little bit. Still, new titles are something you can expect, with new features and new mechanics.

Take a look at these popular Playnova slots:

• Genies of the Lamp

If you’re looking for something of a classic slot, then this one might be up your alley. Simple payline structures combined with an easy-to-understand payatable. Bonus spins and expanding symbols take care of special features.

• Rainbow Pots

Rainbow Pots doesn’t take things much farther than the title above, trusting in the same symbols to expand across the reels when bonus spins come into play. The wild and the scatter are the same symbol here.

• Tiger Kings

This game is reduced to three reels of three symbols each. Easy to keep track of, especially as there are only five paylines. The game comes with a respins feature that triggers a guaranteed win. Fills the reels with the Wealth symbol to trigger the top win!

• Power of the Pyramids

243 ways to win with wilds that only show up on the middle reels, obviously in the form of pyramids. During bonus spins, each wild can come with a multiplier of up to 10x. This quickly ranks up the prizes.

• Gods of the Underworld

Besides offering some wins, three scatters are enough to trigger the bonus wheel. This then allows the player a random chance in bonus spins, with multipliers that can go as high as 18x, with up to 15 spins. Expanded wilds and respins are also in play.

• Atlantis Returns

The underwater kingdom welcomes players with unimaginable riches. The Trident acts as a wild and scatter, completing prize combinations and dishing out bonus spins. The latter comes with a special expanding symbol that also pays out like a scatter.

• Astral Stones

Magical and otherworldly gems form up on the reels, with Maxways combining them into wins through all possible means. Bonus spins, scatters, wilds and multipliers are also part of the deal.

• Disco Joker

Another game with three reels, but this time with wins that are almost five thousand times the bet. There are two collectable symbols, regular and golden disco ball. When the scatter launches re-spins, only these two symbols land on the reels. Collecting one advances the prize bar, whilst the other pays out wins with a multiplier.

• Spirit of the Forest

Pixies and fantasy feature on the reels and in the background, as the Spirit of the Forest releases treasures and bonus spins on the reels. Collect special Crystal Flowers to unlock an Emerald Reel with special emerald wilds. These fill the reels and bring about multipliers. The fairy might remove all low-paying symbols too!

• Pirates of Kraken Island

Perhaps the most feature-laden treasure chest of a slot from Playnova. You have a choice of different bonus spin specials, a boatload of different modifiers that can hit the reels, Super Spins, and all sorts of wilds.

• Buffalo Bonanza

Classic theme, one that has been here since the first handful of slots hit the casinos. Offers slightly lower volatility with nice prizes, and a special wild reel when the bonus spins feature hits.

• New Year

Chinese New Year is the theme, so you can be sure that fireworks are going off all the time. Magnificent wins are combined with up to 50 bonus spins.

Common Characteristics

First off, there’s a rather unfortunate common characteristic in some of these slots. That is they are essentially the same game with a different theme, or skin as it is also known. The selection seems to be divided into two parts in that sense. About half use two or three different setups, repeating it from game to game, whilst the other half offers more original thinking.

Besides that, the games have pretty good graphics, sound effects and music. They occasionally offer animations. Paylines and ways to win, or Maxways as it is sometimes called here, are the two methods used for calculating wins. Most games come with either five reels or three reels, with three symbols per reel in both cases.

When it comes to special features the combination of bonus spins and multipliers are very common. In a few of the titles this monotony is broken, by adding special re-spins, extra reels, bonus spins where you get to choose your favourite method, or random bonus wheels.

Wins and prizes on the whole are quite conservative, usually around one thousand times the bet. Although, with bonus spins that might go a tad bit higher.

Other Casino Games

Blackjack and Lightspeed roulette are the two games available besides slots. Neither of these offers any surprises, as they are the standard version of these ancient casino games. The company does say that it offers scratch cards, social games, video bingo and even side games, but these aren’t available. At least for the moment. Perhaps they are looking to become an aggregator?

Engagement Tools

Engagement tools, also known as gamification, are something that can take playing slots to a whole new level. At the very basic level this means being able to play games with bonus cash and bonus spins, but that’s not quite the level Playnova is happy with. They’ve gone further.

Tournaments and jackpots are two that you are going to run into most often. These are intertwined and allow casino operators to configure slot tournaments in a way they see fit, including the prizes and rewards. There is also a special lucky wheel, which the casino can enable, giving players the chance to win different prizes.

And something that really stands out are missions and achievements. Once again, these need to be enabled by the casinos themselves. When they do, players get the additional benefit of gamification by simply playing select slots. It does change the way the whole gaming experience works out, even if it’s a little reward or benefit on top of gameplay.

Interpretation

Playnova is a bit of a mixed bag. There are games that are simple copies of each other, and at the same time others do really stand out in a way of innovative thinking and interesting features. They also profess to hold games other than slots, but they are so far limited to just the basic blackjack and roulette. On top of this, their ambitious release schedule has been reduced to a single game per year as of late.

The games that are there, and do stand out, benefit greatly from the added engagement tools. These allow the casinos to add all sorts of benefits, which in turn make the games even more playable than they are now. The only question is how popular these games are amongst players, and if the online casinos take full advantage of the possibilities. Check out our suggested casinos to find places where you might benefit from this.

All in all, these games are perhaps something that you can try out when the right bonus comes along. Or, in case you’re into low or medium-volatility games, there are several interesting games for that too. And you get to choose from different themes. On the whole, this software provider is yet to realise all the promises and hype they promised, and given that their operations are slowing down, it might just be that the games aren’t out there for much longer to enjoy.