Hockey Enforcers

We will admit, we don’t watch hockey that often. It’s not that we don’t like the game or anything – it’s just not our cup of tea. That said, we often tune in to watch the brawls that break out on the field.

There’s really no other sport that so openly embraces that part of itself! Seeing serious, competitive teams suddenly devolving into fist fights never gets old. So when we heard Bovada’s latest exclusive slot was full of hockey fighting action? Well, we just couldn’t resist!

Hockey Enforcers is not the most visually stimulating game. The background image is, unsurprisingly, a hockey ring, complete with goals and eager crowds. The developers even add to the atmosphere by adding sounds of an actual match being played. Crowds cheer, the puck is tossed about, and goals are eventually scored!

All of that makes us wish that we could see this instead of just hearing it. It doesn’t seem like the slot’s in a rush to implement animations, however. Bovada’s releases usually don’t expend too much effort on graphics, and this one is no exception. Despite the promise of skate ring brawls, we only see one or two symbols that fit the theme. Everything else is plain, regular hockey.

The layout was adjusted slightly, and improved in some areas. The spin button is still awkwardly placed, and now literally sits on top of the fifth reel. It overlaps so well that we thought it was some kind of special feature at first! However, open the settings and you can see menu bloat was cut down. Paytable now has its own section, but so do wagers, for some reason. It feels like the slot took one step forward and two steps back.

Bovada didn’t give us any official information about the volatility of this game. After playing it for a while, we would personally say it leans towards high variance. It promises a thrilling 2500x maximum prize, and it will make you work hard for it! If you plan to win big, you should prepare your wallet ahead of time.

Smack the Puck!

You play the slot on a 5×3 board with 243 ways to win, forgoing traditional paylines. That means players cannot turn some of them on or off to lower their minimum wagers.

The developers are also rather tight-lipped about the RTP of Hockey Enforcers. Despite digging around, we were unable to find any actual information on the topic. If you have read our previous reviews, you know this is a major red flag. Since we do not know what the house edge is, we have no clue if gamblers have a fair chance or not.

In a bizarre regression, players can no longer change their total bet on the main screen. Now, you have to open the menu, click the coin, and select your total wager from there. You can set your stake to be as low as $0.50, or as high as $100 per single spin. We imagine casual gamblers will be turned off by such a steep minimum wager. At the same time, high rollers will be over the moon thanks to a sizeable maximum bet.

Autoplay is also hidden away in the menu now. Unlike before, you can set the number of auto spins instead of just letting them play indefinitely. There’s still a clear lack of any other options like win and loss limits. However, any progress is better than none, so good on Bovada for finally improving an outdated system.

Wins are paid if you collect three or more identical symbols in adjacent positions, from left to right only. With no fixed paylines, there are no strict patterns you must follow for your prize to count, which is a huge improvement!

A Wild Event

Wilds appear stacked on the third, fourth and fifth reel. There is also a random chance for the Wild Event special feature to fire. When it does, up to two Wild reels are created on reels two, three and four.

Collect three, four or five Scatters to win 15, 20 or 25 free spins, respectively. You can also win a multiplier that is active during extra turns. It goes up to a maximum of 10x.