About Shining King Megaways™ Slot
Shining King isa neat combination of an old-school slot machine and a modern video slot. It has a weird jazzy feel to it, with the reel set sat in front of a red curtain that may or may not be ready to reveal a stage and a band. Or is it a reference to David Lynch’s strange Twin Peaks series – could it get that weird? Who knows? Truth is, once we got into this game we found it to be a very traditional Megawaysz™ slot, with the usual set up and bonus rounds, high variance and big win potential. So it will appeal to those who are fans of the original Big Time Gaming slots from the series, but may prove to be a bit of a bore to those who have already spun themselves silly on this type of game.
So .. as ever we are looking at 6 reels where up to 7 symbols can appear on one reel, and a top horizontal reel that adds symbols on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5 and is critical in the bonus round. Let’s see how it all fits together …
RTP, Variance and Top Payout
The RTP in this game is variable. In the base game it is set at 96.11%, whilst during the Crown Bet option it goes up to 96.86%. Remember that we are talking about a seriously high variance slot so don’t expect regular wins, but rather long spells with not much payback before some dizzying win sequences driven by multipliers and free spins … if you get that lucky, that is! The top payout is advertised at around 10,000x though most will be ecstatic to even get close to 1,000x in a spin!
Symbols and Paytable
There are some classic fruit machine elements to this game. Not least the symbols – low values are represented by cherries, lemons, grapes, plums, oranges, and watermelons, which deliver from 0.8x to 1.75x for six of a kind. The top-paying premium symbol is the red lucky seven, offering 50x for the maximum combination. Meanwhile the dollar sign, star, and bell will get you from 2x to 7.5x.
Also look out for the crown symbol which is used as a Scatter and can appear on all reels. You’ll need four of them to trigger the free spins. Also check out the Wild which is there to substitute for all regular symbols, and the Mystery Symbol, which we will talk about more in the following section.
Gameplay and Features
Shining King has all the traditional elements of Megaways™ slots. Those who enjoy games like Bonanza will be familiar with this. For those who aren’t, here is how it works:
Cascading Wins Feature
After each winning spin, the Cascading Wins feature is triggered. Winning symbols will disappear, and the new ones will fill the blank cells. Cascades continue until there are no new winning symbols.
Mystery Symbol Feature
The question mark is the Mystery Symbol and every time one or more of them appear on the reels, it will transform into the same regular icon. This is a good base game feature when waiting for the free spins round – it has potential to enhance win opportunities when it reveals a high value symbol.
Free Spins Feature
Get 4 crown Scatters on the reels and you will trigger the Free Spins feature. Players are rewarded with 12 free spins. If there are more Scatters on the triggering spin, you get 5 free spins for each extra Scatter. Up to 27 free spins can be triggered at once.
Three or four additional Scatters landed during the feature will get you 5 or 10 extra free spins. Remember, the Cascading Wins feature is also active in the free spins round, but this time it’s enhanced by the Unlimited Multiplier feature. In this way, the win multiplier starts at 1x and goes up by 1x with each winning cascade. And the good news is, after a non-winning spin it does not re-set. So, if you keep earning extra spins with more scatters you’ll do so with the benefit of the progressive multiplier that can reach very high numbers. This is the only way you might get close to the 10,000x top win.
Our Verdict
Shining King is a great example of a classic Megaways™ title. It has all the elements that drive the best experiences in high variance slots play – a relatively slow base game with a few wins here and there helped by the Mystery Symbols feature, before the potential properly opens up in the bonus round. To score big you’ll need that holy grail combination of free spins, progressive multipliers and re-triggers. We’ve seen it happen before of course, but realistically speaking it will be a rarity. Still, this is a fun game, with a nice design and some classic fruit machine motifs. So if you are brave enough, enjoy, have fun, and play responsibly.
