Pelican Pete: The Basics
Designed to simulate the sights and sounds of a beachside
retreat, Pelican Pete is built around a seagoing theme. The
mascot Pelican Pete is usually featured with his giant bill
stuffed full of gold coins, and on the game’s title screen,
you’ll even see the sunken treasure chest from which he feeds. A
pair of orange starfish and a silver anchor completes the
underwater ambiance while the deep blue sea offers a stark
background.
During the actual game, the background screen will feature
the sun setting into an expansive ocean, with the light turning
the waters alternating shades of blue and purple.
As for the reel symbols, this is an Aristocrat game so you
can expect to find the familiar lineup of card rank symbols, and
the 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A make an appearance. These basic
symbols are joined by others which complement Pelican Pete’s
oceanic theme, including the blazing sunset, the purple fish,
the treasure chest, the silver anchor, the orange starfish, the
shining lighthouse, and Pelican Pete himself.
When compared to the video slot machine titles which were
recently released, the reel symbols and other graphics found in
this game aren’t all that much to look at. You won’t find any
animations or themed sounds either, so players who enjoy a fully
interactive slot machine experience may find Pelican Pete to be
lacking in terms of overall design. The game is nearly 15 years
old, however, and all things together it’s aged relatively well
when compared to other games from that era.
Players who have a natural affinity for all things aquatic
will generally enjoy Pelican Pete’s maritime theme, and the game
is especially popular in Aristocrat’s native Australia. An
island nation blessed with many of the world’s most pristine and
picturesque beaches, Australia is the perfect birthplace for a
game like Pelican Pete.
Gameplay Features and Mechanics
Pelican Pete is one of the first five reels, 50 pay line
video slot machines ever produced, joining other Aristocrat
favorites like 50 Lions and 50 Dragons in that regard. It offers
players a medium to high variance level, so you should take your
bankroll limitations into consideration before playing.
Each of the five reels holds four symbols, putting 20 symbols
in play during each spin and giving players more than 2,000
possible winning combinations.
As a fixed pay line game, players must activate all 50 pay
lines on each spin. So even though the $0.01 minimum coin
denomination technically makes Pelican Pete a penny slot, you’ll
need to spend at least a $0.50 minimum cost to cover each spin.
The following denomination are also available, in addition to
$0.01
- $0.02
- $0.03
- $0.04
- $0.05
- $0.06
- $0.07
- $0.08
- $0.09
- $0.10
- $0.20
- $0.25
- $0.50
- $1.00
- $2.00
- $5.00
- $10.00
This wagering range gives Pelican Pete one of the widest in
the industry, for machines produced near the turn of the
century.
Following the preferred Aristocrat design, Pelican Pete
offers players a preset wild symbol and scatter symbol, a free
spins bonus round, and scatter payouts. Unfortunately, the game
lacks the popular multiplier feature, as well as any larger
progressive jackpot. A list of basic specifications for Pelican
Pete has been compiled below:
- Wilds: Yes, and Sticky Wilds during the free spins bonus
round
- Free Spins: Yes
- Multiplier: Yes, but only when the scatter symbol
generates a win, it multiplies by amount of credits bet per
line
- Bonus Game: Yes
- Progressive: No
- Return to Player: 94.71%
The base game for Pelican Pete offers surprisingly low
payouts when compared to the rather high minimum cost to cover
per spin. Landing five of the blazing sunset symbols from left
to right will return a jackpot of just 100 credits while four of
a kind is good for 50 credits. Three of the blazing sunset
symbols offer a payout of 15 credits.
The next most valuable symbols on the reels are the purple
fish and the treasure chest. Landing five of a kind in these
symbols pays out 75 credits while four of a kind will score you
a 50 credit return.
Five of the silver anchor symbols or orange starfish symbols
will net 75 credits as well, but four of a kind for these only
pays out 25 credits.
Each of the card rank symbols will return 50 credits for
landing five of a kind.
Gamble Feature
When compared to most Aristocrat titles, this payout table is
generally considered to fall on the lower end of the spectrum.
In an effort to compensate for these low base game payouts,
Pelican Pete also includes Aristocrat’s popular Gamble feature.
By pressing the Gamble button after notching any win, the game
will bring you to a side screen featuring a simple guessing
game.
The screen will show a single playing card turned face down,
and your job is to guess either the color or the exact suit of
the card. Correctly guessing the color will net you double your
money while a correct suit guess is good for quadruple the
original win. You can even gamble successfully up to five
consecutive times before returning to the base game, giving
players an opportunity to turn modest pay line wins into much
larger hauls.
Wild Symbol
As is usually the case in an Aristocrat game, the title
character represents a wild symbol, so the Pelican Pete symbol
can substitute for any other symbol except the scatter symbol to
create winning combinations. The Pelican Pete wild symbol will
only appear on the second, third, fourth, and fifth reels.
Scatter Symbol
The scatter symbol is the shining lighthouse symbol, which
will only appear on the first, second, and third reels. The
shining lighthouse scatter symbol can generate winning
combinations from anywhere on the reels, and when it does, your
payout will be multiplied by the amount of credits being wagered
per line. This scatter symbol also holds the key to entering the
free spins bonus round.
Triggering the Bonus Round
Whenever the first three reels display the shining lighthouse
scatter symbol, the game’s free spins bonus round will be
triggered.
Players begin the bonus round with 10 free spins to work
with, and anytime the Pelican Pete wild symbol appears during a
free spin, it will act as a Sticky Wild.
Sticky Wild symbols stay in place along the reels during
subsequent free spins, continually creating new winning
combinations as more Pelican Pete wild symbols land. Lucky
players can fill whole reels, and even the entire screen on rare
occasions, with the Sticky Wild Pelican Pete symbols, generating
massive payouts.
Adding to the fun for players, landing three more shining
lighthouse scatter symbols during any free spin will retrigger
the free spins bonus round, granting you five more free spins in
the process. With the combination of retriggered free spins and
Sticky Wilds, the Pelican Pete free spins bonus round still
ranks as one of the most entertaining in the industry some 15
years after the game hit casino floors.
Summary
The Pelican Pete video slot machine has become a mainstay in
brick and mortar casinos around the world, so obviously,
Aristocrat did something right when designing the game. While
the graphics and theme appear to be quite old-fashioned by now,
casino gamblers continue to take a seat in front of Pelican
Pete’s inviting beachside atmosphere.
With base game payouts modern slot players would scoff at,
the game isn’t for everyone of course, but fans of slot machine
history would be well served by plunking a few pennies in a
Pelican Pete machine and savoring the sense of nostalgia.
