The wombat says: Shamrock Holmes Megaways slot – yes you guessed it! We’re taking another trip to the Emerald isle, but with a twist!
The lucky leprechaun is in disguise as London’s most infamous detective, and it’s a Megaways release. It’s Emerald, dear Watson.
Brought to us by Microgaming and All41studios, it’s Microgaming’s first ever Megaways slot. So we’re expecting big things. It promises expanding reels and Magic Forest re-spins plus the standard 117,649 win ways. if you are used to playing one-pay-liners like Foxpot, then this might seem initmidating, but stick with it. it’s not really.
Shall we transport ourselves to the fairy realm? Why not Wombat fans…
Look and Feel
You might have thought this slot would be set at 221b Baker Street, but you’d be very much mistaken. Instead, the reel action takes place in a misty green enchanted forest with fairy dust and dappled sunlight. Looks like a lovely spot for a nap! it’s all drawn out in high quality toon graphics that are on a par with the Piggy Bank farm slot from Play’n Go. The designers have done a great job here.
The wooden reels have been given the fairy magic touch, while the soundtrack to your spins is a traditional Irish jig that will get your feet tapping as you play. But, the best thing about the design in this game is there’s not a rainbow in sight!
Game Play
Shamrock Holmes Megaways slot has 6 reels and from 2-7 rows. As this is a Megaways engine ( licensed from Big Time Gaming) the number of win ways starts at 324 and can go up to 117,649 – but it changes randomly on each spin as more or less rows are added and taken away.
This is one of those games, like San Quentin xWays, that is bursting at the seams with features and bonuses.
There’s even a horizontal extra reel at the top with four more positions on it, giving you you the chance to land even more symbols
Wins are made when you hit between 2-6 matching icons on adjacent reels from left to right. And you can enter this magical forest from 0.20 to 20.00 leprechaun gold coins per spin.
Now to the pay table…
Your high value reel icons are made up of our leprechaun detective with Holmes’ trademark magnifying glass, a purple-haired pixie and her pot of gold, a lucky clover and a blue flower. On the lower end of the pay-outs are the 9, 10, J, Q, K and A playing cards. Shamrock Holmes himself is the most generous symbol, offering a chunky 50x your bet if you land 6 of them.
The golden ‘W’ is your wild symbol here and will substitute for all other symbols on the reels (bar the scatter). Meanwhile, the Scatter symbol is the golden coin.
Free Spins Bonus Features
Rolling Reels
This is what they are called in Megaways language but you might know them as Cascading or Avalanche reels.
All symbols from any winning combo disappear with a puff of fairy dust to make space for new symbols to drop in from above. The process continues until no more new winning combinations can be made.
Free Spins
Hit 4x of the gold coin Scatters and you will trigger off the Free Spins Bonus.
Now you’ll get 10 free spins and a 2x multiplier. But this increases by 1x after each rolling reel winning combination – and there is no top limit to this increasing multiplier!
Better still, with every scatter that lands on the reels during the round, another +2 free spins will be added to your tally. This truly is a bonza bonus!
Magic Forest Respins
Just in case you miss out on 4th Scatter icon for those Free Spins, Microgaming have kindly given you a little treat.
The Magic Forest Re-spins are triggered off whenever you hit 3 scatters on any spin AND one or both character symbols (Shamrock and the Pixie) land on the horizontal reel. Here’s what you’ll scoop
For 3x Scatters plus the Pixie symbol – A respin with minimum 10,000 Megaways. Not too shabby.
For 3x Scatters plus Shamrock Holmes symbol – A respin with minimum 32,400 Megaways.
For 3x Scatters plus Shamrock & Pixie – A respin with all 117,649 Megaways. You’re almost guaranteed another Scatter here!
Conclusion
Well done to Microgaming – this Sherlock/Emerald Isle mash up is a right ripper! Or should we say ‘hats off’ to Big Time Gaming as you really can never go wrong with a Megaways slot. Well, it’s a bit of both really. As the addition of the Magic Forest Respins really ups the ante and put a big smile on this wombat’s furry chops.