Published: 16.06.2020, 11:01
6 min read
Aliyah-Din, shortened to Aliya, is a character from Arabian Nights who appears in a segment that follows a storyline with so many similarities to that of Aladdin. She is first seen as a seemingly shy girl who has black hair doing laundry on the banks of a river. It is here that he sees the prince with whom she falls in love with, only to discover later that she cannot be betrothed to him because she is not a royal. Just like Aladdin, a series of events leads her to discover a lamp with a genie that grants her biggest wish, which is to be a princess so that she can be worthy of betrothal to the prince. All that trouble is, however, deemed unnecessary when it is later revealed that she was a true princess since birth.
As Labyrinthine as this sounds, it is the plot that Microgaming & partner-provider, Fortune Factory Studios have gone for in their newest collaborative work titled Aliya’s Wishes. Contrary to what it is based on, the slot turns out to be pretty straightforward with the sole goal being bringing you closer to the wins you have been wishing for your entire life!
Slot Features
- RTP: 96.5%
- Volatility: High
- 20 Paylines
- Bet Range: €1-60
- Win More Than 3000 Times Your Bet!
- Rolling Reels™
- Multiplier Trail
- Scatters
- Bonus Round with Retriggers
- Devices: Smartphone, Tablet, Desktop
Play Aliya’s Wishes for Free- Mobile & PC
Time to air your most extravagant wishes to Aliya’s potent genie. Play Aliya’s Wishes for real money here or enjoy a free demo below:
First Look, Basic Rules, Gameplay & Math Model
A relaxed Arabic soundtrack tinkles away in the background from the moment the slot loads up. That together with the distinct inking style of art pieces from this genre manage to give off a cheerful Arabian Nights vibe that is quite reminiscent of Booming’s Arabian Spins Slot, though a bit duller.
As for the symbols occupying the reels, they are all relatable to the tale of Princess Aliyah-Din. A quick peek at the paytable revealed that the she-genie is the premier symbol with rewards of up to 15 times your bet for 5 of-a-kind lined up adjacently to each other, counting from the leftmost reel.
Before setting the reels to spin with the huge spin button or the auto-spin setting on its right, the player has to select their preferred bet with the + and – bet selectors. For those who are feeling lucky, confident if you like, there is a single-push max bet button, which gives you the option of going all-in without fumbling around.
Moving on, the RTP is dandy enough at 96.5%. Volatility, on the other hand, is set at high, rated at 4.0/5, same as the hit rate. This translates to fairly frequent wins, and since every win puts you in the way of triggering an extra we will be discussing later, don’t expect the base game to be boring as is typical of high volatility slots.
Extras
When it comes to the extras, most of what the Aliya’s Wishes slot has to offer will remind you of previously-released Microgaming slots, more so The Jungle Jim El Dorado Slot. The features we are talking about in particular are the Rolling Reels™ and the Multiplier Trail. Let’s revisit these to see how they work.
As is customary in the slots world, a winning combination is formed whenever three or more identical symbols are lined up from the leftmost reel. And whenever there is one, the Rolling Reels Mechanic is triggered instantly. With it active, the symbols that triggered the win are removed from the reels, causing others to fall from above to occupy the empty positions. This could result in a new winning combination and yet another removal of the triggering symbols, which leads to another gravitation and possibly another winning combination. In theory, this could go on forever as long as each roll yields a win.
As for the Multiplier Trail, it pretty much works in sync with Rolling Reels™ to award a higher win multiplier on every successful roll. This means that after the first win (before the roll) has been subjected to the default multiplier (X1), the first, second, and third winning rolls (if any) that come after it will be subjected to higher multipliers of X2, X3, and X5 respectively.
If there are any more successful rolls after the fifth one, they will be subjected to the biggest possible multiplier of the Multiplier Trail in the base game, which is X5. A usual, the values in the Multipliers trail will be higher in the bonus round, which we will discuss later.
How about the features that set this release apart?
Well for starters, there is some variation in the higher multiplier values offered by this slot. For example, while Jungle Jim Eldorado Slot offered higher multipliers of X2, X3, X4, and X5 for the first, second, third, fourth winning rolls in the base game, Aliya’s Wishes skips the X4 multiplier, meaning that you go straight to X5 after X3.
Secondly, there is a Win Booster accessible using a button on the left side of the grid, which gives you access to even higher win multipliers in the base game- X2 for the first win (before the roll) and X5, X8, and X21 for the consecutive rolls (if any). As you would expect, activating this feature automatically increases the bet deductible from the available bankroll for each spin.
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Third and finally, golden treasure chests can appear in stacks alongside the regular symbols to act as wilds. This means that they can take the place of any regular symbol to complete a winning combination.
Bonus Round- Your Wishes Come True!
The other principal feature you should be looking forward to other than the rolling reels and the multiplier train is the free spins session, which is activated with the help of scatters. This worthwhile symbol, represented by the recognizable genie lamp, awards 10, 15, and 20 free spins for 3, 4, and 5 appearances on the grid respectively.
Truth be told, there isn’t a huge difference between the base game and the bonus round, but the one change is quite significant. The Multiplier Trail loads up better multipliers of X2 in the initial win (just before the first roll) and X5, X8, and X21 for the consecutive rolls. Things get even better if you had already activated the Win Booster Setting prior to activating the bonus round as you will get an X5 multiplier for the initial win and an X12, X21, and X50 win multiplier for the consecutive rolls!
Our Verdict
Sure, Aliya’s Wishes comes off as a copycat to a huge extent, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a decent slot on its own, especially when you factor in the distinguishing extras. There are super-stacked wilds, way higher multipliers at your disposal, not to mention the full bonus re-triggers, which could see you enjoy more than 40 escalated rounds on the house.
Another positive thing about Aliya’s Wishes is the max potential, which is capped 3119.6 times your stake on one of those escalated free spins. This could have been better, but you won’t hear anyone who manages to get up there grumbling.
All up, this is yet another addition on Microgaming’s large portfolio of slots, which will appeal to the fans of the theme and those that cherish top-tier slot mechanisms alike.
