Play Pirates Charm demo
Ship scatters, Mystery Charms and no Wild
It's now the moment for Pirates Charm by Quickspin, and this buccaneer-themed slot is played on a 5-reel, 243-ways reel grid. There is no standard Wild symbol in the game. The grid pays left to right. I played 320 spins at a stake of 6.00, starting from a balance of 5,000.00. It arrives with a package of features including Mystery Charms, Mystery Charm Respins and Stormy Free Spins, and Pirates Charm is available from 0.20 to 100 per spin. A Mystery Spin can also trigger at random in the base game, landing more Mystery Charm symbols on that spin.
There's certainly a buccaneer atmosphere to this slot. Ghost Pirates and Pirate Gold are other pirate-themed slots. I imagine the gameplay unfolding aboard a buccaneer vessel or wherever my fancy carries me. My session finished on a balance of 5,881.40, with 1,920.00 wagered and 2,801.40 won, a return of 145.9%.
Five card ranks beside a Ship that never pays
On the reels you'll find 5 card symbols and 5 premium symbols. The card symbols are 10, J, Q, K and A, and they pay 0.25 to 1 times the stake for 5 of a kind.
It's a 243-ways slot. Mystery Charm symbols can land on any reel, including during the base game.
Paying combinations begin from reel 1 and pay left to right on adjacent reels. The Bonus Scatter is the Ship, and it does not pay on its own.
Charms that stick on reels 1, 2 and 3
Core to the game is the Mystery Charm Respins feature, and Mystery Charms landing on reels 1, 2 and 3 lock in place and trigger a respin. Each new Mystery Charm that lands locks. It awards another respin, until none land. Each Mystery Charm transforms into a randomly chosen symbol to help form winning combinations.
The Minty Breakdown: one Stormy Free Spins round on spin 301 paid 2,004.00, which is 72% of all 2,801.40 my 320 spins won, so the 145.9% session return is mostly that single round.
Twelve Stormy spins on spin 301
Pirates Charm is an exceptionally volatile slot. Only 47 of my 320 spins paid anything, 17 of those paid less than the stake, and the longest run without a win lasted 33 spins, ending on spin 210. It is entirely about the Mystery Charms, which is also why the base game can become a touch dull, as basically all potential is loaded into the features. Stormy Free Spins are triggered by 3 Bonus Scatters landing on reels 2, 3 and 4, and they award 10 free spins. The Stormy Free Spins on offer, however, can pay to good effect with a max win of 3,861 times the stake. During that feature every Mystery Charm that lands stays locked and transforms on every free spin, and each reel fully covered in Mystery Charms adds 2 extra spins, up to 20 in total.
On paper, Pirates Charm can come across as somewhat complex although it is not, and in truth, it is a fairly straightforward slot. My only Stormy Free Spins round came on spin 301, when a reel filled with Mystery Charms raised the 10 spins to 12 and the round paid 2,004.00, or 334 times the stake, taking the balance from its low of 3,888.80 to 5,886.80. Once you've triggered a few respins, you'll quickly get the knack of what's happening.