The tale
There is an old notion along this coast that the sea turns colour before it turns temper. Teeth of the Grey Tide is set in exactly that hour: light draining out of the sky, the swell lifting under the keel, long shadows wheeling slowly below. Sharks slide across the reels in slate and gunmetal, a few of them bearing numbers on their flanks, and the whole tale carries the hush of deep water, broken now and again by a sudden splash. Nothing in it is real except the mood, and the mood is very good.
How a round unfolds
Every spin spends a little of the play credit the game hands you when it opens. Sharks that bear credit values can surface anywhere on the four left-hand reels. The fifth reel belongs to the collector: when that symbol shows, it sweeps up the value of each shark on screen and adds the lot to your pretend balance, on some spins with a multiplier that swells the sum. Spins with no collector are just part of the swell, as the sharks drift past and the water closes over them.
The bonus round, counted in credits
Land a good shoal of sharks while a collector is showing and the tale moves into its bonus round: five free spins that take nothing from your stack. Keep watch for a collector carrying a “+1 spin” mark, which adds another spin to the round. The twist in this part of the story is that the sharks are worth a little more with each spin that passes, so the closing turns usually bring bigger numbers than the first. Every figure is counted in play credits, which have no worth in money and which nobody can purchase, cash in or trade.
Playing at an easy pace
Take the tide as you would a story told over several nights. Before the opening spin, decide when you will stop (fifteen minutes makes a fine chapter) and honour that decision whatever the counter shows. Autoplay is on offer, but minutes slip away quickly when the reels turn themselves, so lean on it lightly and glance at the clock. Should you catch yourself spinning to chase a feeling rather than to enjoy the pictures, close the tab and leave the sea for another evening.