ALL ABOUT RAINBOW RICHES MEGAWAYS™ SLOT
Rainbow Riches must be one of the most iconic slot brands around. From its birth as a fruit machine to its transition to online games, the famous yellow and green logo and cheeky leprechaun have become one of the most recognizable graphics in UK gambling. There are now no less than 30 online game formats to play, most of which feature the famous Wishing Well and Road to Riches bonus rounds. The game is well known for its free spins round and the big win potential that can be unlocked if you get a good run on the Road feature. In fact the game is so big that it has even inspired its own fan sites, like the brilliant Rainbow Riches Games.
So with all that in mind it is somewhat inevitable that we sit here reviewing a Megaways™ version of this slot. After all, every man and his dog is on a Megaways™ slot tip right now, with the expanding reels format being applied to some absolute classics, including the infamous Raging Rhino from WMS.
Bacrest have not tried to reinvent the wheel with this one. The format follows the classic Bonanza game set-up, and uses all the features of Megaways™ that we have come to know and love, including cascading wins and multipliers. Truly this promises to be one of the better releases from the long parade of Megaways™ games currently joining the UK slot site market.
Gameplay, Symbols and Pay Tables
If you’re a fan of the many versions of Rainbow Riches then you’ll be pleased to see that Barcrest haven’t altered the graphical format of the game in any way. And why would they? As ever, the screen is resplendent with a huge rainbow backdrop to the reels, emanating from a big pot of gold. The lower value symbols are the cards, Ace through to 10, whilst the higher value symbols are represented by the gemstones, purple, blue, orange and green. There is also a diamond symbol which is worth 50x for six on a payline.
Look out as well for the horseshoe wild which substitutes for all others bar the scatter, which is required to unleash the free spins round.
Rainbow Riches Megaways™ Features
Anyone familiar with the classic Megaways™ game, Bonanza, from Big Time Gaming, will recognise the format of the reels here – 6 wide, with up to 7 symbols on each. That creates up to 117,649 ways to win on every spin. There is also a 4×1 horizontal reel that sits above reels 2 to 5 of the main set. This reel features special symbols which affect the gameplay – more on that in a moment.
Again, like Bonanza, Rainbow Riches features the cascading wins game feature, where after any winning spin, all winning symbols are removed and replaced with new ones. The process repeats every time new win lines are created. This is one of the features that makes for exciting win sequences in the game as you can sit back and watch more and more wins pile up.
During the base game lookout as well for the Super Gem Bonus feature – here, when a Super Gem appears in the 4×1 reel above the main set, all high-value gems are transformed into one randomly chosen gemstone to create more win chances.
Outside the base game of course, it’s all about the free spins which will drive big wins. You’ll need to land four scatters to get 12 spins. Any additional scatter will get you an extra 5 spins, and during the round, any +1, +2 or +3 symbol to land on the 4×1 reel will get you further spins to the value shown.
And just like Bonanza, the key to driving up the massive jackpots is the multiplier. This value increases by 1x for EVERY cascading win. And it never re-sets during the round. So there is huge potential when you can start getting sequential wins and extra free spins. That’s is what this game, and all other Megaways™ that follow the Bonanza format are all about.
NOTE: If you want to jump straight into the free spins round you can do so by paying 100x your stake. This is called the Buy Pass Feature. It also comes with a Take a Chance mode where you can spin a wheel to see if you can jump into the round – if you pay 25x your wheel spin gives you a 25% chance of entry, 50x gives you 50% chance, and 75x gives you 75% chance. We think that’s a bit risky – imagine paying £75 then not even getting into the round. If your wheel spin lands on the green, you’re in. Outside the green and your money is gone!
THE SLOT BUZZ VERDICT
With so many Megaways™ games entering the market right now it is inevitable that there will be some duds out there. But we can honestly say that Rainbow Riches is not one of them. Such an iconic brand is always going to make a great match for this exciting new game engine and whilst this slot doesn’t do anything different to Bonanza et al. it still has a charm that raises it to another level. As ever, the win potential is huge and the thrill of hitting a big win sequence in the free spins round will be hard to beat. So strap in and get spinning!
