Magpies are chatty, sociable birds, but it's got to be said that they can be a bit light-fingered, or better to say, light-beaked. They like to swoop in on anything shiny that takes their eye and carry it off to wherever they hide their stash. Don't get me wrong; I'm not being disrespectful and saying you can never trust a magpie. Some of me best friends are magpies. But keep your jewels and any other shiny valuables out of sight when they're around, just to be on the safe side.
The Magpie Jewel Swoop Scratchcard, on the other hand, turns the tables and gives all me little foxy friends a chance to dip their paws into the magpie’s stash. And just to show he’s not all paid, the bird himself will put in an appearance to help you make those matches!
The game from CR Games is a straightforward scratch-and-match one, played on a 3x3 grid with nine panels. The symbols are all different jewels the magpie has managed to lift from what is obviously a pretty well-to-do neighbourhood 'cause magpies 'round my way mostly have bottle tops and such in their stash.
After setting their bets and the number of cards they want to play, players just scratch off the panels to try and find three matching symbols. There are no paylines on the scratchcard, so the symbols can be anywhere in view.
The magpie symbol is Wild and can form winning combinations with any two other matching symbols. There's also a Jewel Swoop logo that acts as a Scatter. Any lucky fox who sees three of these come into view gets to play the bonus game.
The bonus feature is played on a 6x4 grid with 24 scratch panels. Behind all these panels are cash prizes of different values. The player can scratch off eight panels to try and find the highest amount. But, and it is a big but me foxy friends, after each panel is revealed, they have to choose whether to bank the amount or leave it and try to find a higher one. And they only have the chance to bank three amounts.
At the end of the eight picks, or when the three banks are used up, the amounts collected are totted up and awarded to the player. If any banks are remaining when the eight picks are up, the last amount is auto-banked, and any other banks left are forfeited. But at least this means even the most indecisive of foxes isn't going to leave the round empty-pawed.
Magpie Jewel Swoop is an excellent example of what scratchcards are all about; quick gameplay, instant wins, and an exciting bonus round. Just remember that here at Foxy Bingo, responsible gambling is the name of the game, so always set yourself a loss limit before playing this or any other casino game.