While it possesses mundane definitions too, the word 'portal' often has fantastical connotations, as if passing through the right one would send someone to a magical realm, or a mage might create one to draw beings or objects of power to this plane of existence for malignant or benevolent purposes… Developer Pragmatic Play has delved into the magical side of the word when designing Fire Portals, an online slot heavy on esoteric arcana. However, while its game world might be complex, the gaming isn't so much and features a potentially potent mix of roaming wilds with multipliers that can grow and merge in all phases of play, but in free spins, they remain on the board for the full duration.
The Pragmatic Play team really put their witch or wizard hats on when they set about crafting the world for Fire Portals to reside in. For the base game, players behold a glowing stone portal, a bit like the Stargate from the Stargate movie and series, though sliced through the middle for greater effect, while behind or within it is a rotating, err, energy field. Is something going to step out of it? Are we meant to dive in? So many questions. When moving to free spins, the scene shifts to one of fire and rock, the symbols on the portal lit in a bright red colour. Does that mean the spell was a success or not? So much room for player interpretation here to run wild.
Fire Portals is a cluster pays slot played on a 7x7 aligned gaming grid. Winning clusters must contain at least 5 matching pay symbols and be connected in vertical or horizontal directions. The math model is a highly volatile one, letting loose a default RTP of 96.06% when betting 20 c to $/€240 per spin. Or, when activating the ante bet, the RTP shifts to an even 96%. With the ante bet activated, the stake increases by 25%, granting extra scatter symbols on the reels.
Other symbols include the regular pays. These are a chalice, an hourglass, a potion bottle, a locket, a ring, a fiery object, and a magic-y lady. Hitting 5 OAK winning clusters of these symbols pays 0.2 to 0.75 times the bet, while clusters of 15-49 OAK are worth 20 to 150 times the bet. The tumble mechanic explodes regular winning symbols from the grid when a win is formed. Symbols fall downwards, plugging the gaps on the board, providing another chance to win. Tumbling continues like this as long as new wins keep appearing.
Fire Portal's namesake feature is its Fire Portal Wilds, available in the base game and in free spins. Other features are tumble wins and a bonus buy.
Fire Portal Wild symbols substitute for all symbols except the scatter. The Fire Portal Wild appears as a result of a winning combination that does not already contain one. It appears in a random position within the area of the winning combination which spawned it once winning symbols have been removed. When a wild appears, it starts with a multiplier of x1, and each time it is used in a win, the multiplier increases by +1. After an explosion, it moves one random position within the area of the winning combination
The multiplier applies to the win of all combinations which contain that wild. If 2 or more wilds are part of the same win, they merge together into a single wild after the combo has paid, multiplying their multipliers. If 2 or more wilds are part of multiple winning combinations, the merge is prioritised depending on the combination with the most wilds, followed by the combination containing the highest paying symbol. Fire Portal Wilds remain on the reels until winning tumbles end.
Landing 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 scatter symbols in the base game awards 10, 12, 14, 16, or 18 free spins, respectively. During free spins, Fire Portal Wilds stay on the reels for the full duration of the round. If Fire Portal Wilds are present on the triggering spin, they cross over to free spins. It's possible to retrigger the round.
Players are able to buy free spins triggered by 3-7 scatters for 100x the bet. A default RTP of 95.95% applies when doing so.
It might have a greater appeal for magic devotees, of course, Potterheads, for example, but Fire Portals did everything necessary to make a glowing first impression. The mystical background has been expertly drawn, and the whole portal concept comes glowingly to life. The visuals could hardly have been any more inviting for players interested in the idea of stepping through a magical gate and ending up somewhere else, in this dimension or plane of existence or somewhere else entirely new. The free spins round might have been held in a more imaginative location, but whatever, the fire realm gets the job done, too.
Fire Portals' features get the job done, too; at least, they do so on paper. In practice, they could be excruciating. We're talking here mainly about the Fire Portal Wilds. They're a nice concept; wilds with growing multipliers generally are. In Fire Portals, they have the benefit of multiplying their values together when merging into one, which is a very nice trait. It's a trait that will arguably see more use in the bonus round since the Fire Portal Wilds are not removed between spins as they are in the base game. However, repeated bonus rounds failed to see them really perform much magic, even when building solid multiplier values, as they frequently ended up shutting down in a dead spin storm during our test sessions.
Perhaps we hadn't managed to stir in the right reagents, or the session was performed under the wrong moon phase or something. Get the mix right, and players can technically win up to 10,000 times their stake, so there is magic to be had. Fire Portals proved to be tough going, a tad frustrating, but some players may relish the challenge or at least enjoy immersing themselves in a rich magic game world.
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