The swashbuckling adventures of pirates have always been a fun theme for slot developers. The latest studio to take a deep dive into the world of buccaneers is Pragmatic Play with the Smugglers Cove slot. A pirate-themed slot game with plenty of surprises, Smugglers Cove, offers a higher-than-average winning potential across 20 fixed paylines.

It’s one of those Scatter Pay slot machines similar to 9 Masks of Fire. While the gameplay is pretty straightforward, it has a few twists and turns to make it more exciting. On top of it all, it features all the great Pragmatic Play elements, such as excellent visuals and a strong soundtrack as you pillage the seas and stock your pirate's cove up.

Available for free and real money, you can play Smugglers Cover in any Pragmatic Play casino.

Pragmatic Play hasn’t reinvented the wheel when it comes to the layout in the Smugglers Cove slot. It has 5 reels in 3 rows with an already-seen pirate theme. The background shows a sandy beach somewhere in the Caribbean (most likely) with a funny crab in the lower corner and the obligatory skull cave to the right where pirates stock their plunder.

The visuals are great, with all those pirate captains drawn in detail. We especially like the golden Skull Bonus symbols and the tiny details on the low-paying symbols. As mentioned earlier, there’s a swashbuckling theme in the background that will make you feel like you are part of a pirate crew.

Premiums expectedly pay more, with values ranging between 10x and 100x your stake for five on a line. A ship’s wheel acts the role of a Wild, stepping in to complete winning combinations.

The Smugglers Cove online slot has been developed on the HTML5 platform, like most other slot games for mobile. You can play the slot at the best mobile casinos on Android and iOS devices without the need to download anything.

Place a bet between $0.20 and $120 per spin and click on spin to start your buccaneer adventure. You start playing by clicking on the Spin button or using the Autoplay feature. The base game is pretty straightforward, with premiums paying larger payouts boosted by Wilds. However, you can earn the biggest payouts from the Golden Coin Scatters, which pay according to the paytable on the left.

To earn a payout, you’ll need at least 5 of these coins. This is called Treasure Bonus, but in reality, it’s a Scatter Pay feature that can deliver rewards between 2x and 1,000x your stake. You can check the instant prizes on the left, and you can also pay double your bet per spin to boost your chances of landing a Scatter Pay reward.

The 5th reel is reserved for Super Wild Coins and Super Coins. A Super Wild Coin is a Wild multiplier that can boost your wins up to x10. The Super Coin is the same, except it’s not a Wild.

Apart from the Golden Coin Scatters that pay instant rewards, there’s a Skull n’ Bones Scatter that triggers the Bonus Round. You’ll need at least 3 of these on reels 2, 3, and 4 to get access to the Smugglers Cove. When the Scatters land, you spin a big wheel on the left side, which can give you between 8 and 20 slot free spins. All Treasure Bonus prizes are boosted significantly during the Free Spins Round, with the top reward as high as 10,000x your bet.

Landing 3 or more Scatters will retrigger the Bonus Round with 8 extra spins. Using the Ante Bet feature makes it more likely to trigger the Bonus Round, but it’ll cost an extra 25%.

The RTP of the Smugglers Cove slot is set at a solid 96.50%, which is great for a highly volatile slot. As mentioned earlier, the maximum prize is 10,000x your bet, achievable in the Bonus Round with 15 golden coin Scatters.

Smugglers Cove doesn’t reinvent the pirate ship’s wheel, but it does just enough to excite slot fans. It’s a straightforward slot with Scatter Pay prizes that boost the action and potential returns. The Coin Wilds and Scatters may be the only special features, but they can trigger solid payouts if you’re lucky enough to land them regularly.

Overall, it’s another fun slot from Pragmatic Play which fans of pirate-themed slots should definitely try at the best casinos online.