Golden Hen

Among online slots, Golden Hen is a true stand out. With a whopping 243 ways to win in base play, a non-progressive win of 2,000 coins and a bonus game with a five-fold multiplier, this slot’s rooster’s tremendous vivacity might spread to its players, too. NextGen has pulled out all the stops, and the result is a vibrant slot with an extremely high theoretical return to players of 97.22%.

Theme

Golden Hen is set on the farm: amber waves of grain roll along in the background, with autumnal trees and a blue sky on the horizon. Gaming symbols are all related to poultry farming, including eggs, baby chicks, hens, a henhouse shaped like a gazebo, and a crowing rooster in silhouette at dawn. The rooster, who sports a barrel chest, robust arms and massive plumage and is perhaps the manliest gaming symbol of all time, acts as the wild symbol and appears on the middle three reels. A glowing, feathered shield acts as scatter, which also appears only on the middle three reels. The playing card symbols valued ace through nine are the lower-valued symbols. A down-home, rural feel dominates the soundtrack.

Betting Options and Functions

Though there are 243 (well-advertised) ways to win in Golden Hen base play, the betting structure functions as though there were 25 fixed paylines: though bets can theoretically range from .01 to 10.00, each spin carries an actual bet range of .25 to 250.00 times the betting currency. Bet size can be set either at the lower-left corner of the game screen or while exploring the detailed options menu available on the upper-right corner of the game screen. The Autoplay Spins feature can be set from zero to 50 spins of the reels. At the bottom of the game screen, positive, poultry-based messages are sent to the players to keep players going. 

Features

One unusual feature in Golden Hen is that free spins can be triggered by any combination of three wild or scatter symbols, with ten free spins awarded no matter how they are awarded.  Once in the bonus game, however, there are two significant changes to the game structure. First, wild and scatters symbols combine into a golden rooster symbol, which acts as both wild and scatter. Second, all wins of five of a kind receive an additional fivefold multiplier… this is the where the truly big wins are to be found in this game.

The base play also contains the possibility to win two non-progressive bonuses, regardless of bet size: five of a kind of the rooster at dawn symbol pays 2,000, while five of a kind of the henhouse rewards with a payout of 1,000.

Our Take

Usually, when a slot is especially highly recommended, it’s a result of innovation and painstakingly thought-through design. In the case of Golden Hen, however, NextGen has thrown innovation by the wayside and just made a straightforward, excellent game. The play is smooth, bonuses plentiful, and design is rock solid. It’s everything a player could want in an online slot.