Time Travel Tigers (Yggdrasil Gaming): Overview

Yet another Yggdrasil slot that looks a bit chaotic at first glance. Luckily, it’s nowhere near as complex as Baron Samedi that we reviewed yesterday, even if it seems that way. Put simply, the base game doesn’t offer much, so you’re essentially hunting the free spins feature, which comes in four variants, each with its own twist.

Time Travel Tigers is a likeable, character-driven slot, but from a gambler’s perspective it has some notable shortcomings, as you’ll see. The game revolves around the striped Dr Tigerstein and his time machine. When you trigger free spins, the time-space continuum tears open and you’re randomly whisked away to one of four eras – prehistoric era, Ancient Egypt, medieval Europa or the distant future.

Time Travel Tigers runs on 5 reels and 4 rows, yet it only uses 25 paylines. That’s a strange combination, particularly now that win-ways mechanics are so common, and we honestly don’t see the benefit. Even with the larger reel layout, the number of winning routes is surprisingly restricted. On top of that, because there are no fully stacked symbols, most payouts end up being simple single-line wins.

Time Travel Tigers could appeal to low-rollers, since bets start at just €0.05, which is fairly rare—especially for Yggdrasil, where the minimum is often €0.25. The 96.3% RTP is fairly typical and, as with most Yggdrasil titles, sits within an acceptable range, which is one of the few clear positives here.

As for variance, it’s difficult to pin down, and Yggdrasil haven’t officially labelled it. It certainly doesn’t play like a low-variance slot despite the limited upside, and starting with a demo balance of €11,000 while betting €25 a spin, we still hadn’t triggered the bonus by the time we dropped to €4,000—at which point we called it quits.

Visually, it’s exactly what you’d expect from Yggdrasil: top-tier presentation. The background is full of small animated touches—swinging pendulums, blinking bulbs, and rotating gears. The reels sit inside what looks like a time machine, with Dr Tigerstein positioned on the left, even checking his pocket watch if you take too long between spins.

In total, there are 9 regular symbols. The 4 low-value symbols are the standard card suit icons and, unsurprisingly, pay very little. The premium symbols are more creative, representing the different eras: zap guns, potion bottles, shields, Egyptian scarabs, and prehistoric tools. The prehistoric tools are the best-paying, awarding 6 times the stake for 5 on a payline. The wild substitutes for every symbol except the scatter.

From what we observed, the low-value symbols can land in stacks of 3, while the premium symbols can appear up to 2 symbols tall. The base game offers very little potential—almost none, to be blunt—so hitting free spins is absolutely essential if you want any realistic shot at a worthwhile return.

Time Travel Tigers (Yggdrasil Gaming): Features

Landing three or more scatters activates the free spins mode and sends Dr Tigerstein (and you) to a randomly selected era (free spins feature). There are 4 different features:

• Egyptian era – awards 1 to 20 diagonal wilds on every spin + x4 multiplier on every winning spin. 3 or more scatters trigger 6, 12 or 18 free spins respectively.
• Medieval era – awards 4 to 20 cluster wilds on every spin + x3 multiplier on every winning spin. 3 or more scatters trigger 7, 14 or 25 free spins respectively.
• Prehistoric era – awards 1 to 20 adjacent wilds on every spin + x5 multiplier on every winning spin. 3 or more scatters trigger 5, 10 or 15 free spins respectively.
• Future era – awards 1 to 20 random wilds on every spin + x2 multiplier on every winning spin. 3 or more scatters trigger 12, 24 or 36 free spins respectively.

Time Travel Tigers (Yggdrasil Gaming): Verdict

Does it look impressive? Absolutely. Is it fun? That really depends on what you enjoy. But when it comes down to gambling value, it’s a poor slot. For starters, a game that’s 4 rows tall but only offers 25 paylines just doesn’t add up for us, even if less experienced players might be distracted by the flashy presentation.

The payouts are, frankly, terrible, and the base game is about as dull as it gets. We can’t confirm the exact max win potential in the base game, but we’d be shocked if it’s higher than 50x. If you do manage to reach free spins, there’s at least a max win potential of 1000 times the stake, but even that isn’t particularly exciting. For context, a full screen of wilds with the top x5 multipler results in a 750 times the stake win. Most of the time, though, the wilds in the free spins features end up landing too far away from the active paylines, leaving you with little or nothing.

Time Travel Tigers isn’t a slot we’d ever choose to play, not even to clear wagering. Whether you’re new to slots or highly experienced, there’s simply no compelling reason to spend time on this one.