The Mafiosi: Slot Overview

Why not come indulge your inner crime boss fantasies with developer Peter & Sons in the online slot The Mafiosi? Crime is a hot topic in the slot world, mirroring people's appetites in other forms of media to feel what it might be like to cross the line and live a world outside the law rather than sensibly following the rules like a good, well-behaved citizen. The Mafiosi offers a glimpse of this where a chap called Don Giovanni, the 11th head of the L'Amiranta family, lets his underlings know war is coming via his gaze, or so says the blurb in The Mafiosi's game info. It also mentions expanding wilds, a multiplier, and more than one bonus game; let's scope it out.

At a guess, we'd have to say purple is the Don's favourite colour, as much of the screen features the hue, as does the big bossman's shirt and tie. Makes a change from just straight dark tones, though The Mafiosi does feel less gritty, almost 1990s-ish, when compared to something like Whacked!, Mafia Clash, or Narcos as three crime-addled slot comparisons. Nah, a heavy atmos isn't really Peter & Sons' way, and The Mafiosi keeps things on the somewhat breezier side rather than induce melancholic despair from witnessing the way some people are willing to treat their fellow human beings to fulfil their goals.

On a brighter note, when setting up a session, players may select a stake of 20 c to $/€50 per spin while the action unfolds on a 5x3 gaming grid. The reelset uses a win-all-ways system rather than paylines, and there are 243 of them, triggering a payout when matching symbols land on at least 3 adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost side of the grid. The Mafiosi has a default RTP of 96% and is highly volatile with decent winning potential to boot.

Casino chips with spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts on them are The Mafiosi's low-pay symbols, while a car, jewellery, pistol, and three character symbols are the higher-paying group. When landing a winning combination consisting of 5 casino chips, players collect 0.4 to 0.5 times the bet, rising to 1.25 to 5 times the bet for a 5 premium symbol hit.

The Mafiosi: Slot Features

The Mafiosi doesn't just have free spins and super free spins, but it also has mega free spins. In all phases of play, including the base game, expanding wilds and multipliers are another feature adding an edge to the proceedings.

Expanding Wilds Symbols

Wild symbols appear on the three center reels and substitute for all other symbols in the game except the scatter. When a wild appears in the base game, it expands to cover the whole reel. For each wild that appears, the multiplier increases by +1. However, if there is no win, the wild will not expand.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols triggers the free spins, Super free spins, or Mega free spins bonus rounds, respectively, awarding 10 free spins.

• Free Spins - the same mechanic as in the base game applies. That is, wilds expand to cover the whole reel and each additional wild increases the multiplier by +1. In free spins, at least 1 wild is guaranteed on each free spin.
• Super Free Spins - the same as free spins except the grid expands to 4x5.
• Mega Free Spins - the same as Super free spins except the multiplier increases by +2.

The Mafiosi: Slot Verdict

Just for the record, this isn't Peter & Sons' first flirtation with the wrong side of the law. One prior example was Animafia, a humorous take on the Cosa Nostra, which used animals as hardened criminals instead of their human counterparts. The Mafiosi uses people but could hardly be considered much of a heavier game as a consequence. It's not a majorly heavy-hitting game in general, really, where much of its bigger thrills rely on the expansion of wild symbols across whole reels, increasing the multiplier in the process. It's a proven formula, not the most original, yet one which has entertained players in a variety of different settings, from 'book of' style games, broadly speaking, and beyond.

The good news is that The Mafiosi complements expanding wilds with a couple of extra tricks - provided you're lucky enough to trigger free spins with 4 or 5 scatter symbols. The not-so-good news is that triggering free spins with more than the entry-level number of scatters is not always the easiest of tasks in any game. Not saying it can't happen, but it might have been handy if The Mafiosi offered clear ways of upgrading bonus rounds from regular to Super to Mega by, say, landing a special symbol or whatever. As it stands, The Mafiosi achieved max wins of 7,000x the bet (its win cap) during Peter & Sons' 100 million simulated spins, though one wonders whether this occurred in Mega free spins or if it's possible in other modes, too. You'd think technically yes, though it is not specifically mentioned.

All in all, The Mafiosi is a decent, somewhat lighter-toned Mafia slot which performs interesting things with expanding wilds and multipliers. Wannabe-wiseguys should be able to get a kick out of it, but The Mafiosi didn't stand out enough to really push it past mid-levels in the hierarchy.