Mention of the word 'magician' brought to mind images of an illusionist cavorting around on stage alongside a dedicated yet silent assistant for several minutes, hyping a trick that ends up lasting about 10 seconds. However, stage tricks weren't on Pragmatic Play's mind when they designed their online slot Magician's Secrets. This one delves into the more mysterious elements of the craft, shifting reality to fantasy as they put it. Accomplishing this reality shift will take harnessing one, or both, of its two free spins features where sticky or expanding multiplier wilds appear as if from the ether.
Located in what must be a room in the magician's abode, it looks like a well conducive place to explore the mystical side of life. A large game grid takes up much of the space, but around its edges loads of books can be made out, while a neat glass-domed roof allows a cloudy night sky to peek through. On a side note, when you see rooms stacked to the rafters with books like this, do you ever wonder how many of them have actually been read? Maybe all, maybe none, who can say, however, the masses of books help create a 19th-century gentleman scholar's hang out effect.
Moving on to the technical aspects, and Magician's Secrets is played on a 6-reel, 4-row game panel, providing 4,096 ways to win. It's a highly volatile slot, where the base game can feel like patiently stirring a cauldron before the brew can be released during free spins. Playable on any device, stakes range from 10 p/c to $/€100, while the variable RTP has a most optimal setting of 96.5%.
Clicking on the paytable info reveals ten regular pay symbols, a wild and a scatter. Pays start with four card suit tiles (diamonds, clubs, hearts, spades), orange gems, and potions which are worth 0.8 to 4 times the bet for a six-symbol winning combination. These are superseded by premium swords, chalices, shields, and book symbols which payout 6 to 100 times your stake for a six of a kind win. The magician is displayed on the wild symbol, appearing on all but the first and last reels to replace any other symbol except the scatter. The wild is also central to each of the three features covered next.
As mentioned, wilds are the key ingredient in Magician's Secrets' broth, expanding at random in the base game while possessing two special powers in the free spin bonus rounds.
When wilds land in the base game, there is a chance they expand to cover all positions on their respective reel. Also, the wild will add a random multiplier of x2 to x10 to the total win if it expands.
Scatter symbols appear on all reels, and landing 3 or more of them at once triggers free spins. In addition, when 4, 5, or 6 scatters are in view, players collect a payout worth 20x, 200x, or 2,000x their stake. Once free spins are triggered, players can pick from one of two options:
If Magician's Secrets comes equipped with this option in your jurisdiction, players can buy free spins at any time from the base game for the cost of 100x their total stake.
So, have you figured out what the magician's secrets are by now? No, neither did we, though we didn't have a disagreeable time trying to figure them out. As usual from Pragmatic Play, Magician's Secrets possesses a glossy sheen we've come to expect, its visuals bold, with effects as smooth as you like. The studio hasn't gone to town on the theme, choosing to skim the surface rather than really dig in and get under its skin. Regardless, Magician's Secrets is an attractive game, possessing a reliable list of stats, typical of a Pragmatic Play slot – provided you play the version offering the most generous RTP.
Features follow the same pattern as the rest of the game in that they function well without being highly inventive. Players benefit from random expanding wilds and multipliers in the base game, though it kind of felt like Magician's Secrets was built with bonus buyers, aka the streamer crew, in mind, and having the choice of two free spins rounds is always welcome. Each bonus round has its merits, so it's players' choice whether they prefer the longer and less volatile (presumably) expanding wild option or the shorter and sharper sticky wild one. Both have been limited as to how much magic they conjure up, with a 5,000x the bet win cap being placed on them. Hit the cap, and whatever bonus round you are in comes to a close.
In the end, Magician's Secrets came across as a decent choice for some magic-ish gaming. It capably does what it does, throwing a measure of player choice into the bargain, though a lack of imagination meant the game failed to make much of a lasting impression. All told, Magician's Secrets felt like a mid-rank illusionist happy to perform tricks rather than a student of the arcanum tearing open the fabric of existence to extract its mysteries.
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