Coba

ELK Studios has in fact attempted to create an innovative slot machine by coming up with some new features. In our opinion, they succeeded pretty well.

So let’s take a quick look at how Coba is exactly put together.

Coba RTP, Bets & Volatility

The playing field of Coba is something that immediately catches the eye. You could say that the playing field has dimensions of 7×7, but there are no reels in sight at all. The symbols do not lie straight and one row consists of more symbols than the other. In total, the playing field consists of 46 symbols.

The casino minimum bet at Coba is $0.20 and the maximum bet is $100 per spin. It is played with a high variance and has a payout percentage of 95.0%.

The low RTP is the first downside we were able to discover at Coba. After all, that percentage is well below the overall average of 96.0%. You can win up to 25,000 times your stake in Coba.

Features

A combination is considered winning in Coba when at least 5 identical symbols are connected. It doesn’t matter how this is done. It may be in the form of a cluster or a snake, for example.

Winning symbols are removed from the reels, after which new symbols fall from the top to the bottom to fill the empty positions. These new symbols can produce new winning combinations, which therefore means that the spin does not have to end yet. This is also called an Avalanche mechanism.

If we look further into the features of Coba, we notice that this slot has no free spins feature. However, there is a special snake meter that collects winning clusters for you. Collect enough winning clusters to be rewarded with snake clusters, which in turn can yield Multiplier wilds.

Coba vs. 3 other slots by the provider ELK Studios

Snake Meter

The snake meter can be seen on the right side of the screen. It collects all the winning combinations you manage to form in Coba. The snake meter has 4 levels. You start at level 0 and to reach a higher level, you need to collect enough winning clusters.

• Level 1 yields 1 snake cluster
• Level 2 brings you 2 clusters
• Level 3 brings you 3 clusters of snakes
• Level 4 delivers 6 snake clusters

But what exactly are snake clusters? You probably know the popular computer game Snake. The snake clusters are a bit like that. A snake cluster is a cluster of symbols that crawls across the playing field. It consists of a minimum of 5 symbols and can form its own winning cluster or join another winning cluster.

Snake clusters consist of 1 particular symbol type and eat all units of that symbol type when they encounter them on the playing field. This causes a snake cluster to grow in size, allowing for larger and larger winning clusters. At some point, the snake is full and refuses to eat any more new symbols. As a result, the snake dies and disappears from the playing field.

A snake cluster also dies if it becomes entangled in its own body while crawling, just like in the computer game Snake.

Winning combinations lead to different levels of modifiers.

Multiplier wilds

In the event that 2 snake clusters cross each other, a x2 multiplier wild is placed where they crossed.

Each snake cluster that crosses this multiplier wild after that doubles the value of the multiplier. This multiplier is applied to each winning combination it is a part of.

If multiple multiplier wilds are involved in the same winning combination, their multipliers are first multiplied by each other. Then the total multiplier is applied to the prize money.

Final Verdict

Although the theme is not original, ELK Studios did attempt to put down a unique slot machine. They succeeded quite well in doing so. For us it felt a bit like a combination of Gonzo’s Quest meets Snake Arena combined with the cluster mechanisms of Play N GO.

This makes for a very dynamic and smooth game experience. Furthermore, the design of Coba is well done and there is a pleasant soundtrack in the background. In our opinion, there is more stretch in the snake mechanism, but this is a good start. A big setback is the remarkably low RTP of 95.0%.