Published: 16.06.2020, 10:43
4 min read
Back in January, Quickspin promised to release a total of 12 slots this year. It seems they are living up to that as they just marked mid-year with the 6th release of 2020- Arcane Gems. It’s been basically one release each month, with the latest addition coming after a quintuple of hit slots, namely Skulls Up, Wild Claudron, Panther’s Reign, Nero’s Fortune, and Diamond Duke.
This review explores what the brand new Arcane Gems Slot brings to the table.
Play Arcane Gems for Free – Mobile & PC
Time to sort through the gems inside an old-timey treasure chest to reveal awesome rewards. Play Arcane Gems for real money here or enjoy a free demo below:
Slot Features
- RTP: 96.05%
- Volatility: Medium
- 9 Betlines
- Bet Range: €10-50
- Win up to 5625 times your bet!
- 9 Betlines
- Arcane Lock Mechanics
- Arcane Multipliers
- Devices: Desktop, Tablet, Smartphone
Rules
The term arcane refers to something mysterious, a secret, or that which cannot be understood by many. That is sure true about this slot when it loads up to a treasure chest, but most of that soon dissipates when it opens up to reveal a typical 5X3 slot gaming area populated by slots universe-hackneyed gem symbols of different shapes and colors. It is at this exact moment that you realize that moving forward will pretty much involve the ush – nothing unfathomable.
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Punters alter their betting preferences with the Quickspin-patented controls tab we see just below the grid of virtually every other of their releases. You can set the ideal stake using the up and down total bet selectors just before using the huge spin button on the far-right corner or the mini auto-spin button right next to it to set the reels in motion. There’s also a fast-forward button just below the mini auto-spin button, which allows you to toggle between normal and fast gameplay.
Math Model, Gameplay & Extras
Like with the majority of slots out there, landing a win here involves lining up at least 3 identical symbols, counting from the leftmost reel. With only 9 active paylines, however, the chances of landing a winner on an unutilized payline are very high.
In an attempt to redeem the mysteriousness the game put across upon launch, a suspenseful soundtrack plays relentlessly in the background. Also, the volatility setting is set at medium, meaning that there’s no predicting how your gaming session will turn out. You can either start with dead/low-win spins only to hit the motherload after a while or start triggering medium wins from the word go resulting in a good game overall. Our testing session exposed us to the aforementioned, and after persevering what turned out to be a rather unentertaining session, we were lucky to hit something quite close to this slots max potential- a whopping 4000X with the max bet (€50) in play.
Finally, the default RTP is at a perfectly safe 96.05%. What makes this game an absolute gem, however, are the newfangled exclusive Arcane Mechanics duo, which makes walking away with the ultimate prize on the very first spin a possibility. Let’s look at how they work.
Arcane Lock Mechanics
As already mentioned, landing a win here involves lining up 3 or more symbols from the leftmost reel. Here come the glad tidings: Whenever there is a winning combination, the Arcane Lock Mechanics come into play, causing the triggering symbols to lock in place while triggering re-spins until no more of that symbol land on the grid.
Arcane Multipliers
If you look just above each reel, you notice a blank multiplier symbol levitating at the top. As the Arcane Lock Mechanics play out, you will be hoping that the re-spins will manage to fill any reel with the same symbol as that will award a random booster multiplier of up to 5X.
NB/ If a spin results in multiple winning combinations, the arcane lock mechanics will only apply to the highest-paying symbols in that round. In other words, the arcane lock mechanics can only apply to one gem type at a time.
Arcane Gems- Verdict
Arcane Gems does not feature a bonus round, but even that is not necessary because of the arcane mechanics, which give you the chance of landing the premier prize on the very first spin. That, however, comes at a price as the gameplay turns out to be quite repetitive… the same thing over and over again without the anticipation of triggering a different feature other than the sticky symbols and the booster multipliers.
All up, Arcane Gems is about making sure that you land a win with the high-paying gems, or precisely, those which do not take after blackjack icons, and then hoping that the Arcane Lock Mechanics will yield a full grid of them. That said, the symbol you will be wishing to see often on the grid is the blue diamond. It is the highest paying symbol that nets rewards of up to 25X, meaning that it will award 225X (25X9) when occupying all the paylines. Take that and subject it to the sum of the booster multipliers (assuming that they all turn out to be 5X) and you get a whopping 5625 (225X25) times your bet!
