Merlin's Magic Respins Slot – Free Demo

Down to 737.20 from a thousand

That's Merlin's Magic Respins for you in brief. I played 300 spins at a 1.50 stake, and the balance went from 1,000.00 to 737.20. It is lively and cosy with a great deal of character, albeit rather restricted by its fixed set of paylines. That works out to 450.00 wagered against 187.20 won, a session return of 41.6%. There's more to discover, however. The lowest point on the way down was 734.65. If you wish to learn the whole story, continue reading.

Merlin's Magic Respins is a 5-reel, 4-row video slot with 50 fixed paylines. Line wins pay left to right on consecutive reels, and each spin stakes one coin per line. Players can wager between 0.50 up to 250 credits, and core to the game is the Wild Respins feature. That range is before SuperBet, an optional extra stake with five levels.

Chalice, Tome and a wizard worth 1,000

On the reels, you will spot 5 low-value symbols depicted by A, K, Q, J and 10, and the 4 high-value symbols are made out of a Chalice, a Tome, a Telescope and a Scroll. The Chalice is the most valuable. The Tome comes second, followed by the Telescope and the Scroll. Should you hit 5 across a complete payline, it returns a 500 times the line bet win. With one coin on each of the 50 lines, that equals 10 times the total stake before SuperBet. The wild symbol is Merlin. He substitutes for every symbol except the Cauldron Scatter. He also has some unique traits and is worth double the highest paying symbol. Play'n GO's Rise of Merlin is another Merlin game.

Merlin shows up stacked on reels 2, 3 and 4 in the main game, and with the aid of the Wild Respins feature, stacks can cover entire reels. During Wild Respins he can land on all five reels, not only the middle three. The max win is 1,000 times the stake per single spin. In 300 spins my top two wins were 28.80 and 25.50, or 19.2 and 17.0 times the stake.

The sword beside the reels

A stacked Merlin covering an entire reel activates 1 to 5 respins during play with SuperBet on, and complete wild stacks are kept for the remainder of the respins. The count follows the SuperBet level, so level 1 gives 1 respin and level 5 gives 5. Furthermore, any fresh full stack will grant extra respins. SuperBet costs 50 extra coins at level 1 and 300 at level 5, on top of the 50 coins of a base spin. It may seem puzzling when described in text. Foxin' Twins, another Light & Wonder game, uses a SuperBet as well. But it makes total sense once you begin playing. My biggest win, on spin 5, came from Wild Respins and lifted the balance to its session high of 1,022.80.

Seven Cauldron spins I never drew

3 Cauldron scatter symbols on reels 2, 3 and 4 grant 7 free spins, which can be retriggered in the bonus game. Three Cauldrons also pay 2 times the bet, and SuperBet stays active during the free spins.

Merlin makes random symbols wild in the free spins feature, and Wild Respins can activate just like in the main game. I did not trigger free spins once in my 300 spins.

Our Minty Verdict: 41.6% back over 300 spins, and the single hit worth writing down was a 19.2x Wild Respins win on spin 5. Everything else in the game hangs on SuperBet being switched on, and the Cauldron never showed up to prove the free spins exist.

Twenty-one dead spins

If I had some say, I would much rather have favoured Merlin's Magic Respins to be a 1024 win ways slot. Only 88 of my 300 spins paid anything, and 59 of those paid less than the 1.50 stake. But the stacked wilds and the Wild Respins feature means players will witness ample multi-line wins. The longest dry run I sat through was 21 spins, ending on spin 235.

Merlin's Magic Respins is certainly all about the Wild Respins feature. After a win, Gamble offers to double it on a correct colour guess or quadruple it on a correct suit. It is loaded with potential, but being a medium-volatility slot, players can anticipate to witness plenty of annoying low-paying spins.