Chavin’ It Large is a classic UK pub-style three reel video slot with a unique and bizarre theme. The game makes fun of a certain type of British personality similar to what Americans call “frat boys.” Wearing knock-off trainers and speaking in weird slang terms, the characters populating this game are more than a little annoying; thankfully Microgaming allows the player to turn down or even mute the volume.
Some of Microgaming’s best online slots use the same simple arrangement of three reels and one pay line as Chavin It Large. This game, and others like it in Microgaming’s library, combines the old-school reel and pay line layout with a pretty decent variety of available wagers and a few game extras not normally found in traditional games. The bonus game rewards bet multipliers of up to 250x your stake, and the main slot pays out multipliers rather than fixed prize amounts, with a top multiplier of 100x, or $1,000 at the max coin size of $10 each per spin.
Slot players outside of the UK may not understand the lingo or the whole “chav” phenomenon. Basically, chavs are people who wear gaudy clothing, glitzy fake jewelry, and say and do crude things. They aren’t poor, they aren’t rich, they’re just a strange cultural fad that Microgaming’s designers have used to produce another of their unique slot games, this one with just three reels and one pay line but plenty of extra features to keep the game lucrative and interesting.
Nudge, Spin a Win, and a Crack the Code gamble feature are fairly unusual inclusions for UK pub-style traditional slots. That hasn’t stopped Microgaming from producing a large number of classic-style machines with more features than you’d expect, and this has a lot to do with the popularity of their software.
Rather than paying out a set amount of credits for different combinations, Chavin It Large pays bet multiplier. It may take some getting used to for bettors used to the traditional credit prize system, but because it rewards bets placed with credits set to the highest values, it is a nice way to set up a slot if your intention is to convince bettors to bet true maximums.
To reinforce the theme, the slot is set up to include a cell phone screen which displays text messages from the chavs and their friends, though this doesn’t really affect the way the game is played and is just included for atmosphere. Since the bonus game (called Chavistocracy) can be re-triggered multiple times and pays out big multipliers, most players will concentrate on playing the bonus as often as possible. The bonus round starts when a specific set of trainer symbols pops up on the pay line, and the top multiplier prize available is 250x – bettors using credits worth the max of $10 will pocket $2,500 if they luck out and land the top bonus multiplier prize.
The best piece of advice for this title in terms of strategy is to only play if you can wager at least $1 per credit, since the prizes aren’t credit rewards but wager multipliers. Remember that only one coin per spin can be bet, so the value of that single coin determines the value of your session. Since the bonus round is the most valuable way to play Chavin It Large, another good strategic approach is to reserve nudges for trainer symbols that get you into bonus action.