Bounty County

Bounty County Review

At sundown bandits, thugs, and outlaws gather together to drink and relax in the saloons of Wild West towns in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps many people have that vision when it comes to gunslingers and Western pictures. Well, Bounty County is a slot game by Relax Gaming that presents things differently. It's more brutal, raw, and therefore, more realistic!

Relax Gaming is perhaps the best iGaming studio to monitor if you are a fan of Western slots. The company has a proven record of building innovative machines, like Outlaw Territory and the Money Train series. But Relax Gaming is much more than that, as it stands behind one of the most advanced partner programs, Silver Bullet, and frequently launches masterpieces.

I have all the reasons to believe that Bounty County is the next mega-hit, and even from the first glance, I can see innovation in motion. A 6x6 grid stands on a background of a dusty desert with sheriffs and outlaws on the right side and a Wanted poster to the left. However, a closer look shows that the symbol area is just 4x4 and the rest is Crates, where special symbols hide.

Bounty County is powered by a Pay Anywhere mechanic with cascading wins and numerous features. The 4x4 board may look insufficient, but you need to land only 4 symbols of a kind, or more, anywhere on the reels to get paid. The game is packed with all the technical features you may need, including Autoplay, Quickspin, Double Bet, and Bonus Buy.

Bounty County Slot - Game Screen

Three sheriffs, a silent type, a lady, and an old-timer, are assigned in Bounty County to get rid of all the thugs and bandits. You will spot them frequently on the reels, and each of them pays from 0.30x to 50x the bet for 4 to 9+ of a kind. The medium-valued Clover, Bottle of Whiskey, and Horseshoe award from 0.20x to 20x, while the low-valued card royalties pay between 0.10x and 10x the bet.

The wild symbol may land on the Crater part of the board, as a special symbol, and it substitutes for all the regulars. There are no scatters in the game, but plenty of special symbols that I will introduce later. The betting range is really detailed and wide enough to satisfy a large group of gamblers - €0.10 up to €200 per spin.

The Bounty County RTP ranges, and you can find one of 3 variants with rates of 96.10%, 94%, and 86%. The slot is characterized by medium levels of volatility and has a Hit Frequency rate of 27.29%. All that creates a nice opportunity for the implementation of betting strategies. The max win is lower than expected, especially for a provider from the rank of Relax Gaming, but is still tempting - 5,000 the bet.

Bounty County Features

Bounty County is all about consecutive wins and multipliers, in both the base game and free spins. Once you start spinning the reels, you will be engaged in a real shootout. Once crates start exploding, various special symbols will help you take down all the criminals around, and each one will bring a cash prize.

Scatter Pays

Scatter Pays and cascades are active only in the 4x4 Inner Symbol Area. In order to activate, there must be 4 or more symbols of a kind within it. If that happens, the participating symbols explode, new ones come from above, and potentially continue the sequence. Crates in the Special Symbol Area do not cascade and are destroyed when a winning symbol is adjacent to them.

At the start of a spin, 5 to 7 Bandits are randomly placed in the Special Symbol Area. They have life bars colored in green, showing how many times they need to be shot in order to be killed. In Free Spins, Bandits who were not killed during the respective round are kept and become persistent until they are shot down or the bonus ends.

Special Symbols

In order to reveal Special Symbols and benefit from their superpowers, you'll need to destroy the respective Crates. If the Crate is in the corner, the winning symbol also must be in the 4x4 area corner. Here are all the Special Symbols and what they do:

• Blank Crate - can contain nothing or a wild symbol;
• Guns Crate - contains a Gun that will either deal from 3 to 6 hits on random Bandits or will shoot out a TNT Crate;
• TNT Crate - contains Light TNT or Heavy TNT. They make 1 or 3 hits on all Special symbols on the same row or column, respectively;
• Cash Bandit - pays 0.10x, 0.20x, or 0.30x the bet and takes 3 hits;
• Multiplier Bandit - increases the Total Multiplier by x1 and takes 3 hits;
• Free Spins Bandit - awards 1 extra free spin if the bonus is triggered (base game) or awards 1 extra free spin (bonus round), takes 3 hits;
• Boss Bandit - only available in the bonus minigames and takes 6 hits. Small Boss pays from 5x to 15x, Medium Boss pays from 20x to 75x, and Big Boss pays from 100x to 500x the bet.

Bonus and Super Bonus

In order to trigger the Free Spins minigame in Bonus or Super Bonus mode, you'll need to destroy all Bandits in a base game spin. The next step will be to choose one of the following:

• Easy - play with Free Spins Bandits only
• Medium - play with Free Spins Bandits and Multiplier Bandits
• Hard - play with Multiplier Bandits only

As I already mentioned, all undestroyed Bandits are persistent in the Bonus and Super Bonus. The minigame starts with 6 free spins and x1 win multiplier. However, if you achieved a higher Global Multiplier in the triggering base spin, it would be carried over. Every time you activate a bonus with at least one Free Spin Bandit or Multiplier Bandit, it becomes Super Bonus.

Super Bonus is more rewarding than the Bonus mode on average. Only one Boss can appear at the same time. If you manage to destroy it, you will get the cash prize, but also 3 extra free spins. There is no limit of the Free Spins minigame duration.

Double Bet & Buy Feature

The Double Bet toggle is available in the lower left side of your screen. If you activate the feature, your base bet will be doubled, and the regular payouts will remain the same. However, in return, you will receive a 60% higher hit rate on average and more than twice as frequent activations of the bonus. Moreover, 2 out of 3 bonsu entries will be Super Bonus.

Bonus Buy offers 2 possible options - Bonus and Super Bonus, at the prices of 50x and 100x the bet. This can not be combined with the Double Bet feature. If you decide to purchase one of the bonus variants, the RTP rate will jump up to 96.50%. Keep in mind that Bonus Buy might not be available across all countries.

Theme & Graphics

Bounty County takes place in the scorching desert of the west, a place slightly different from the expected town and saloon settings. However, the Western theme fits perfectly, and you can find most of the main characters to the right. Colors change as you play different stages of the slot, but remain faded, complementing the atmosphere.

Backseat Gaming is known for its attention to detail and premium-class graphics and animations. The game stands well because of the audio effects, too, which include multiple gunshots, clatter of horse hooves, eagles' cries, and guitar tunes. Overall, Bounty County is a nice Wild West slot without being too lavish.

Pros And Cons Of Bounty County Slot

Our Verdict

It was about time to see something new and refreshing with the Pay Anywhere mechanics, and I was not surprised that exactly Relax Gaming had brought it. Bounty County is another wonderful game by the provider with a lot of shooting, TNT explosions, and tumbles. In fact, the combination of Scatter Pays and Tumbles is what seems to be one of the hottest combinations at the time of writing.

Relax has a number of cascading slots with TNT Tumble being one of the highest-rated titles. It features Cluster Pays and not particularly high max win, but also stacked wilds, exploding dynamite symbols, and 3 Free Spins bonuses. Bounty County is superior in my opinion, and I was kind of expecting something like Money Train.

Money Train 2 and Money Train 3 were true masterpieces and still engage thousands of slot aficionados daily. They may have line-based gameplay, but the bonus rounds are a work of art and have brought the Hold & Win bonus gameplay to a whole new level. These games also pay up to 50,000x and 100,000x, showing the true capacity of the developer.

Well, Bounty County does not challenge them, but definitely brings a new element on the table. Decreasing the grid and lowering the minimum symbol requirement for paying cash feels thrilling. That makes the slot more dynamic even without activating the Crates around. And they always activate at the first win, revealing something or nothing. Bounty County definitely deserves a try, even if it be through the free demo.