Merlin: Journey Of Flame

Review Merlin: Journey Of Flame

Play’n Go went ahead and took the ‘Book of’ mechanic to the Merlin: Journey Of Flame also the name doesn’t necessarily reveal that there is a Book Of-touch to it. Powered with excellent graphics, this is a free online pokie game that most Kiwis will enjoy although they should prepare for heaps of dead spins and smaller payouts between the bonus rounds. The highlight of this casino game is definitely the moment the 6th reel which gets unlocked when you make it to the free spins round. When this happens, an expanding symbol is picked with the extra reel enabled giving the player up to 7,500x the bet which we find a reasonable payout for a game that reminds us of other Book Of-games.

How to Play

Making winning combinations with standard symbols is very entertaining in this pokie. In order to do so, you’ll need 3 to 6 low value symbols or 2 to 6 premium symbols. With the scatters paying anywhere, here is how to play Merlin: Journey Of Flame:

• This online casino game is played on 5 reels and 3 rows although there is a sixth reel during the free spins feature. The number of paylines is adjustable, with the default number being 10 paylines.
• The green button with two pointers will start your spins.
• These spins can be automated which is thanks to the orange play sign that can be found next to it.
• The info button on the opposite side will enable players to check out the payout table.
• The bet value can be adjusted. This can be done below the playing field by choosing a coin value and a number of coins. The minimum bet is set at $0.1 whilst the max bet can go up to $100 per round.

Symbol Wins

Merlin: Journey of Flame is presented in a fascinating wizard game theme, bringing the player back to the magical world of Arthurian legend. The pokie’s background shows a rather mystical cave with all sorts of rune stones found in different colours including green, blue, red, orange, and yellow. These are the low value symbols in this pokie game. Making 6-of-a-kind wins with payouts ranging from 15x to 20x the stake. The high-values can be found in the potion bottle, a book, a staff, and Merlin. In this case, 6 matching high values will award winning combinations and lucrative payouts between 100x and 750x the stake. There is also a wild symbol that can take up the role of scatter; this symbol is recognised via the red dragon egg. This symbol can also replace regular symbols and activate the bonus round.

Bonus Features

There is actually only one real feature in Merlin: Journey of Flame, the free spins feature which is what everything in this pokie game revolves around. In addition, you can play the optional gamble feature after every winning spin. Below, we will discuss the bonus features in Merlin: Journey Of Flame by Play’n Go:

Merlin: Journey of Flame Free Spins

The free spins feature of Merlin: Journey of Flame is rather interesting. To be able to play those, you will first have to spin enough scatters to earn access to the free spins round. Spinning at least 3 scatters will award 8 free spins. In addition, you will be rewarded with a cash prize, which will be paid out immediately. The amount of this cash prize depends on the number of scatters you have spinned. Here is how that works:

• With 3 scatters, the cash prize is equal to 2x the stake.
• With 4 scatters, the cash prize is equal to 20x the stake.
• With 5 scatters, the cash prize is equal to 200x the stake.

The magical 6th reel of the playing field is unlocked as soon as you activate the free spins feature of Merlin: Journey of Flame. The dimensions of the playing field are therefore always 6×3 during this feature.

Also – before the free spins feature actually starts – a random symbol is chosen as a special expanding symbol. Classic “Book of” game element as we all know it from Book of Ra and Book of Dead. If this symbol is involved in a winning combination, it will expand to the maximum size of the reel. What makes these special expanding symbols extra interesting is that they are the only symbols that do not have to be on a payline or spin on consecutive reels to form a winning combination.

Gamble Feature

With the gamble feature in Merlin: Journey Of Flame you can try to double or quadruple the prize money won from the last spin, but you also run the risk of losing everything. It’s all about correctly guessing a face down playing card that is drawn.

• Bet on the colour of the playing card: red or black. If guessed correctly, your winnings will be doubled.
• Bet on the symbol of the playing card: hearts, diamonds, spades or clubs. If guessed correctly, winnings will be quadrupled.
• As long as you manage to make the right picks, you can basically continue playing up to a maximum of 5 rounds. The max is limited to 250x your stake.

Payout Metrics

The RTP for Merlin: Journey Of Flame is set at 96.28% which is fine as it’s above the industry average. The percentage is also above the Play ‘n Go standard that is normally set at 96.2%. In addition, there are a few other versions with significantly lower percentages: 94.28% and 91.28% RTP. Before you go ahead and play this pokie at your favourite NZ online casino, it is always recommended to check out the paytable as this will inform you about the percentage used by the casino website you have your account with.

Also, the Merlin: Journey of Flame pokie is labelled as a high-volatility casino game and ranked as 9 out of 10. As for the max payouts in Merlin: Journey Of Flame, you can win up to 7,500x the stake. With top wins going up to 1 in 100 million spins, make sure to pay attention to the Dragon Egg Wilds and/or Merlin symbols in the free spins. These are the moments you will be able to make the most lucrative winning combinations.

Summary

In most other online pokies out there, Merlin is displayed as a typical old and bearded wizard, but in Merlin: Journey Of Flame you’re about to meet a much younger version of him. As this is a pokie by Play’n Go, you can count on excellent graphics as well as some action based commentary. The base game of this online pokie is not that exciting, which often tends to be the case with Book of-pokies, but you might just land some nice winning combinations. The only exciting twist in this game is the additional reel during the bonus phase, but what holds for the rest of the game is true for this characteristic as well; this is not original as Play’n Go is very good at copy-pasting other games. All in all, top wins of 7,500x the bets are possible which is just excellent. Merlin: Journey of Flame is not a bad alternative in this niche although it does come with a number of drawbacks.