Sharknado- The horror pokies from Aristocrat to play free

Most of the Aristocrat pokie titles are based on some movie , celebrity or a novel. Such themes are quite exciting to play. Sharknado is also one such spectacular game based on the sharknado movie franchise. When it comes to over the top sci-fi / horror / comedy cross-over movies – it is hard to beat the Sharknado series. There are 6 films, which feature tornados filled with man-eating sharks. The original was a big success, which led to a series of 6. They star Ian Ziering and Tara Reid, battling the sharks!

With such an over the top theme, making a pokie which combined the comedy and intensity of the movies is a big challenge. Aristocrat have produced a poker machine which does a brilliant job of this. The graphics and animations are amazing, and the depth of game-play is excellent.

About Sharknado

Sharknado is a five-reel pokies machine that uses an expanded 5×4 format for its gameplay area. The machine is decked out with a cool blue ocean look, with plenty of images of stars like Tara Reed and John Heard shown above the main screen. You’ll even hear some of the more infamous lines from the film, including gems like “we can’t just wait here and wait for sharks to rain down on us!” and “sharks: I never saw that coming.”

In basic terms, gameplay is just like any other machine. You’ll match a variety of symbols from left to right across your reels in order to earn prizes. Characters from the first film are heavily represented (in expanded icons that take up two positions), while other items like license plates, shark teeth, propane tanks, wedding rings and so on can be found across the screen. Shark wilds can appear on the screen, matching up with anything else on the reels in order to help you win bigger prizes.

Bets are in increments of 50c in this game, with a 10x bet multiplier possible for the high-rollers. The base game plays out over a 5×4 grid – though this can expand during the random feature.

Characters from the movie appear double sized. They also come in stacks, often covering entire reels on a single spin. Smaller wins come from movie-themed items. These include sticks of dynamite, shark teeth and signs saying, ‘bite me’.

Sharknado pokies Features

There are a number of randomly trigger features that you can potentially trigger during this game. One of the more common ones is an extension of the reels to provide more symbol positions for each column. This most commonly results in five or six spots per reel, but this game can also expand all the way out to an 8×5 mode. Sometimes, one main character will replace all the others, making it even easier to make matches across the screen.

Another special feature is the chainsaw bonus round, which recalls one of the more infamous scenes from the first Sharknado film. In this game, players are asked to swipe across the screen to destroy flying sharks, naturally. Each one will reveal an instant credits reward, and players can keep swiping until they cause three explosions, at which point the round is over.

• Wild Storms: Randomly while you spin, shark filled tornados can appear, dropping wilds onto the reels.
• Expanding Reels: Stacked symbols take centre stage while the reels expand to give you additional win lines.
• Shark Mouth Bonus Wheel: Spin for further features, including cash wins, free spins and jackpot prizes.

Sharknado – Bonus Wheel Feature

This is unlike any bonus wheel you will have seen. When you get 3 bonus symbols – which show sharks holding coloured cylinders – things get crazy fast!

The reels disappear and are replaced by a huge shark. Its mouth opens, and two chainsaws appear at the sides. These send sparks flying, while a wheel, viewed from the outside, appears inside the shark’s mouth.

You can win one of three prizes. There are cash amounts, which get multiplied by your bet multiplier. There are also 5 different progressive jackpot prizes, ranging from the mini through to the grand. Free spins bonus games also appear.

Those free spins feature extra wild symbols, and the chance to retrigger the wheel. You only need two of the shark bonus symbols in the free spins to replay the wheel game.

On-Reel Random Feature

The on-reel random extras is the wild storm. At the start of a spin, you’ll see a tornado, filled with man-eating sharks appear over the reels – together with some crazy sound effects. This will fling wild symbols onto the reels, connecting wins. If a wild lands on top of one which landed during your spin, this gets a multiplier. Those multipliers work together. For example, if you get 2 of the 2x wilds on a winning line, your wins are paid at 4x – the perfect time to line up those stacked symbols.

Sometimes you will hear a voice identifying a shark. For example, ‘tiger sharks’. This precedes the reels expanding upwards by up to 3 rows. In addition, one of the bigger paying symbols at random will appear more frequently in stacks on the reels. This gives you plenty of big win potential.

Where to play Sharknado pokies?

You can play Sharknado pokies both at online casinos for free or at land casinos. At land casinos Sharknado plays in the ‘Behemoth’ and Arc cabinet, this is huge, giving you an immersive pokie experience. On the top of the screen you will see the jackpot prizes – though it is the animations which really catch your eye.

Below the reels is some water, this splashes when the reels land, while wind blows it around then the features begin. There are also plenty of short clips from the movie involved. You’ll even see the characters taking off in the Space Shuttle at one point!

When the features start, things go crazy. The bonus wheel is worth hitting just to see the amazing wheel in the shark’s mouth. Any big wins you get from this are an extra.

This pokie really can’t be compared to the classic, simple games which Aristocrat started with. It is both spectacular and immersive – big on entertainment as well as having plenty of big win potential.

While you spin tornados full of wilds can strike. Expanded reels give you even more winning potential. It is the bonus game which has the real ‘wow factor’. The chainsaws and shark’s mouth wheel combo has the potential for free spins, jackpots and big cash prizes.

There is another pokies game with the same name. But note that the other Sharknado is a Pariplay pokies with 5 reels and 25 paylines.