Hot Fruits 40: the same fire, an extra row

What forty lines change

Hot Fruits 40 keeps everything players know from the 20-line version: cherries, lemons, plums, grapes, watermelons and the flaming red seven. What Amatic changed is the grid. An extra row gives each reel four positions, and that room is used for forty fixed lines.

In practice, the screen is busier. A single cluster of the same fruit can count on several lines at once, so wins appear more frequently than on the smaller version, though each line is a smaller slice of your total stake. Stacks of one fruit filling a reel are what produce the satisfying multi-line hits.

Features, kept to a minimum

There's still no free spins round. The scatter pays from anywhere on the reels, and after any win the card gamble lets you try to double the amount by guessing red or black. Everything else is reels and lines. For many fans of fruit slots that's exactly the point.

Hot Fruits 40 demo: a quick comparison test

The free play version comes with 1,000 virtual credits and no sign-up. A useful experiment is to play the 20-line and 40-line games back to back at the same total stake, say £0.40 equivalent, for 150 spins each. Note how often you see a win of any size and how often you see one bigger than your stake. Most players find the 40-line game smoother and the 20-line game spikier; the demo lets you check which you prefer without spending anything.

On a phone, the taller grid still fits comfortably in portrait mode, though the symbols are a little smaller.

Our view

Hot Fruits 40 is the version to choose if you like seeing lines light up often. It's honest, quick and very easy to read. The same game runs for real money at the casinos below.