Retro Reels: Diamond Glitz was released to MicroGaming casinos on January 11th 2011, and it is the second slot in the Retro Reels series of online slots. I really enjoy playing the first Retro Reels slot and so far I am enjoying Diamond Glitz as well.

This new slot features 25 paylines, free spins, and the respin feature which made its debut on the first Retro Reels slot. Diamond Glitz is similar in style to the first one, but there are a few noticeable differences besides the obvious different symbols. There are 5 more paylines and it takes 3 scatters instead of two to trigger free spins.

You are awarded 15, 20, or 25 free spins when 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols land on the reels during a spin. You can also use the respin feature to try for 3 scatters when two land, but you can’t try for more after that because you are automatically taken to the free spins feature. Free spins can be retriggered.

As with the first Retro Reels slot, and all others that have it, the respin feature must be used carefully (if you use it at all, there is no need though it can be tempting). Trying to spin in a third scatter symbol is both expensive and not usually worth the gamble. The best time to use this feature is when there are lots of similar symbols on the reels, since you get a mixed pay for the different bar symbols and diamond symbols, while trying to line up 5 of a kind of one of those symbols. Having the mixed pay symbols is very handy for winning back the expensive bets when respinning.

See the screenshots below for paytable information, and hopefully soon I can add a nice winning screenshot to the mix. Play this great new slot yourself at any of these MicroGaming Casinos today.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Rings & Roses is my favorite “Classic Slot”, featuring 5 win lines and a wild symbol. Line up 3 wilds to win 1000-6000 coins (minimum coin size is $0.25) depending on the winning payline, so playing with quarters could win between $250 – $1500. See my screenshot below to see my lucky spin of 3 wilds on the third payline, giving me $800 from a $1.25 bet.

Out of all the classic style slots, this one seems to be the most consistant, hitting 3 triple bars quite often to keep you going, and big wins to boost your bankroll.

Play it now at any of these great MicroGaming online casinos!

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Robin Hood: Feathers of Fortune hit Microgaming casinos on November 9th 2010. This slot features 243 paylines, stacked wilds, free spins, and the Archery Bonus feature.

It is very similar to Alaskan Fishing, almost exactly the same slot with a different theme, but there is one slight difference. Looking at the very similar paytables, there are two extra symbols on the reels for Alaskan Fishing. This means that the reels are set up quite differently and that will have an effect on the variance (how often it pays). Robin Hood appears to be lower variance, meaning it hits more often, but the wins are relatively small. Alaskan Fishing hits less often, but the wins are usually larger.

I also found that Robin Hood seems to hit free spins more often than Alaskan Fishing. Free spins are triggered when three or more scatter symbols land on the reels during a spin. You are awarded 15 free spins and all wins are doubled. Free spins can be retriggered and the Archery Bonus can be triggered during free spins.

The Archery Bonus is triggered when Robin Hood lands on reels 1 and 5, again just like Alaskan Fishing, and you are taken to a screen where you choose which 5 bags of money you want to shoot to collect the prize.

Since it is so similar to my favorite slot, I definitely like this one too, and it can be less frustrating to play since it hits more often. I haven’t hit anything really big yet, but I’ve had several decent wins so far. See the screenshots below for paytable information and hopefully some nice winning screenshots in the future.

Play Robin Hood: Feathers of Fortune today at any of these Microgaming casinos.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Royal Feast was released to Microgaming casinos on December 7th 2010. This 5-reel video slot features 15 paylines, wild symbols, and a unique free spins feature.

Free spins are triggered when at least two scatter symbols land left to right. You are awarded 5 free spins and the triggering scatter symbols are held for all 5 spins, paying each time. Only scatter wins are paid for these free spins, other symbols don’t matter. If another scatter symbol lands on any reel during those free spins, the free spin count is reset to 5 and that scatter is also held. This can repeat until all reels are held with a scatter on each one, at which time you would win the max payout of 15x your bet 5 times in a row.

I don’t recall seeing this type of free spin feature on any other Microgaming slot, and I’m pretty sure I’ve played all of them, though only a few spins on some that I didn’t care for. I didn’t have the best luck when I first played this slot, and it took forever to hit the free spins. After playing it a few more times, I’ve had better luck with some decent wins during regular play, but still had a tough time hitting the bonus.

I was playing this slot for fun today at Jackpot City, just trying to see how rare the free spins were. They are definitely hard to hit, but it tends to line up the symbols for decent wins fairly often to keep you going. After many spins I finally hit the bonus, and ended up getting 5 scatters to win over $300 on a $3 spin. So it is possible, just don’t bust out trying to get the bonus as it doesn’t seem to trigger very often.

Play Royal Feast today at any of these trusted Microgaming casinos.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Ruby of the Nile is a new MicroGaming slot released on February 7th, 2011. It features 20 paylines, double wild and triple wild symbols, and up to 20 free spins with all wins doubled.

When I first played this slot I kind of wrote it off and wasn’t going to bother playing it enough to write a review, but it started to grow on me after a while. It’s a fairly high variance slot, meaning decent wins don’t come very often, but when they do, they make up for all the crappy spins. What I like about it is the fact that all the highest paying symbols pay as left-to-right scatters, so they don’t have to line up on a payline.

A random number of Free Spins are awarded when the treasure chest symbol lands on the middle of the 5th reel. You are given up to 20 free spins, I’m not sure what the least amount is, but the lowest I have seen is 8. All wins during free spins are doubled, and the feature can be retriggered.

The Wild Symbols and high paying scatters are what makes this slot decent. The usual symbols of 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A all pay on the 20 paylines, but the higher paying symbols pay as left-to-right scatters. If you can get a few wilds to land with one of those symbols, the payout can be huge, and it has saved me a few times now when my balance was almost wiped out. See the screenshots below for paytable information.

Play Ruby of the Nile today at any of these trusted MicroGaming Casinos.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Santa Paws is a bit of an odd Christmas themed slot found at MicroGaming online casinos due to their choices for symbols. They took animals found in the arctic, or North Pole, and dressed them up for Christmas. There’s even a killer whale with antlers and a red nose named “Rudolf”.

This slot features 20 paylines, a wild symbol, and a free spins feature. Free spins are triggered when three or more scattered Penguin symbols land on the reels during a spin. You are given 12 free spins with a random multiplier from 2x to 7x, and Rudolf becomes wild along with the polar bear Santa. Free spins can be retriggered with 3 or more scatters, adding 12 more spins.

I have had decent luck with this slot, but it doesn’t seem to give free spins very often. I don’t play it much, usually just around the Christmas season when I tend to play lots of Christmas themed slots, seems I forget it’s there until then. When you do get free spins, there can be some very good wins with the extra wild and multiplier up to 7x.

There is also the Gamble feature that is found on many MicroGaming slots, where you try to guess the color of the next card drawn from a deck to double your win each time. You can keep guessing until you either get it wrong, or hit the limit for the amount you can win. See the screenshots below for paytable information.

Play Santa Paws today at any of these MicroGaming casinos.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Santa’s Wild Ride is one of two new Microgaming slots released on December 7th 2010. It is a 5-reel slot featuring 243 ways to win, a wild symbol with a multiplier of 2x-4x, free gifts on reels 2 and 4, and a free spins bonus feature with three different options.

If a free gift lands on reel 2 and/or 4, it will pop open and reveal a cash prize. Free gifts are not present during free spins, and they are not multiplied by the wild symbol. So far I have seen anywhere between 150 to 750 coins awarded per gift when betting 150 coins.

The wild symbols award a random multiplier of 2x, 3x, or 4x when involved in a win.

When three or more scatter symbols land on the reels during a spin, you are awarded 25 free spins with three different options for the type of wild you would like, and all wins are doubled. You have the choice between stacked wilds, expanding wilds, or trailing wilds. Stacked wilds are what I find to be the best choice, the wild symbols are stacked three high on every reel, I’ve had the best luck with this option so far. Expanding wilds are OK, but I find the stacked wilds have a better chance of at least hitting one wild on a reel, and it’s a 243-way slot so the better chance of getting at least one wild on a reel is the better bet.

The trailing wilds are interesting, and I have had a bit of luck with them but nothing big yet. When a wild lands on a reel at either the middle or the top, it will slide down after the win is tallied and stay there for the next spin along with the original. After it can’t slide down any more, it goes away for the next spin. This has great potential since the reel can have a wild for up to 3 spins, and if other wilds land there could be some big wins.

Play Santa’s Wild Ride this holiday season at any of these great Microgaming casinos.

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Scrooge is a Christmas themed online video slot from MicroGaming that features characters from the classic holiday story. It features 50 paylines, a wild symbol, free spins, and the XMAS Dinner Feature that awards up to 20x your bet.

The XMAS Dinner Feature is triggered when three or more scattered door knocker symbols land on the reels during a spin. You are taken to a screen with 5 hungry characters waiting for you to serve their Christmas dinner. Try to guess which one will be the winner and give that character the highest paying dinner to win 20x your bet, lowest win is 6x your bet.

Free spins are triggered in a unique way. You will notice when you load the game, that there is a XMAS countdown calendar on the top left of the screen and a free spins counter on the top right of the screen. While you play the slot, each time any symbols line up for a win, you can select one of the winning symbols to reveal either +1 free spin or +1 day. Once the XMAS calendar reaches the 25th of December, you are awarded the free spins that have accumulated and all wins are doubled during free spins. By the time that happens, there is usually over 30 free spins to play at the least. If you leave the game, you can come back any time and the accumulated free spins and days will still be there. That information is stored on the casino server, you can even log in from a different computer and resume the game.

The amount you can win during free spins is weighted by the amount bet during the whole process of accumulating the free spins and days toward the countdown. I found this out after low-rolling until the 24th and then started betting max. I definitely didn’t win what I should have with 40 free spins on a $5 bet. So stick to one bet size until the feature is triggered so that it will be fair to you.

Play Scrooge this holiday season at these MicroGaming online casinos.

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Steinfest is a brand new MicroGaming slot, realeased on October 11th. It features 9 paylines, a free spins feature, stacked wild symbols, and the “Beer Chug Bonus”.

The Beer Chug Bonus is triggered by 3, 4, or 5  scattered Beer Mug symbols land on the reels during a spin, you are awarded 3, 4, or 5 picks respectively. You are taken to a screen with 12 patrons sitting in a bar. Select the thirsty patrons that you want the ladies to serve. The more they can drink before passing out, the more money you win. You can also win additional ‘bonus beers’ when you select a patron, allowing you to pick again.

The free spins feature is triggered by three or more Scatter symbols landing on the reels during a spin. You are awarded 12 free spins where all wins are doubled. Free spins can be retriggered for 12 extra spins, and the Beer Chug Bonus can also be triggered during free spins.

Much like the new Monsters in the Closet slot, I had a hard time winning anything on this game. Again there are two different scatter symbols for two different bonus rounds, and I find it difficult to hit hit either feature. The fact that this slot also only has 9 paylines with all those scatter symbols clogging things up, it’s tough to line anything up as well. Once you do hit the Beer Chug Bonus, it pays quite well, but it took me quite a few spins to get there.

The stacked wilds are really the only thing that saves you on this slot. They do show up often enough to keep you playing for a while, and there is potential for some very big wins since the stacked wilds show up on every reel. I have managed some decent wins, though nothing worth taking a screenshot of. See the screenshots below for paytables.

Try Steinfest today at any of these trusted MicroGaming online casinos.

Screenshots

Sterling Silver 3D is a fairly new Microgaming powered online slot machine which has 5-reels and 25-paylines. This is the first true 3D slot machine offered by the software, so you can imagine the popularity of the game since its release. This is just not ordinary 3D game; you actually need those funny looking glasses to fully enjoy the effects of the graphics.

The symbols on the screen really come to life and pop out at you while you play, granted you have your awesome specs on. The symbols are classic slot game icons such as high playing card values, Bars, Wilds and Scatters.

All of the symbols are 3D, the type that you need the old red and blue glasses for, and there are plenty of cool animations as you spin. The wild symbol is the Sterling Silver symbol and it acts as a substitute for all other icons in the game except the scatter logo, and it’s also a multiplier that can multiply your win up to 10x!

When three scatter symbols land during the same spin, you will receive 15 free spins. All wins during the free games are doubled and the wild is active acting as an additional multiplier. The games can be re-triggered as well; making it possible to receive an unlimited amount of spins.

The coin denominations start low at $0.01 and peak at $.25 per payline. You can also change the paylines that are enabled, however; it’s always best to keep as many lines in play as possible. The maximum bet per spin is 5 per payline, making it a high maximum bet at $31.50. The maximum payout is $100,000 when playing maximum coin stake, however; no matter your bet size the jackpots are awesome.

All in all Sterling Silver 3D is a unique slot experience and is well worth playing. If you find yourself at your favourite Microgaming online casino, I recommend giving it a spin or two. Even without the glasses the payout potential is enough to keep players spinning their way into three dimensional wins.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)