The new year is off to a promising start as more game providers are exploring the utterly successful Megaways concept on their new slots. We can count half a dozen developers who will bless us with their multiway creations in the first few months of 2019. But we also see some innovative thinking on the usual reels slots with fixed pay lines, proving that these type of games are set to weather the Megaways frenzy.

Play’n GO is staying with the standard 5×3 format, but surprises with an exciting reel mechanic on Wild Falls. On the Megaways front, we have the next creation from Blueprint Gaming called Lightning Strike Megaways, which comes with a new way to enter the free spins round. Pragmatic Play has gone the opposite way and will release Treasure Horse, a 3×3 slot with a win potential of 6,000x your stake. In turn, Netent is taking us on a magical journey on Golden Grimoire with cloning symbols on a 5×4 game window.

Wild Falls | Play’n GO

Get in on the 19th century gold rush on Wild Falls and keep your washing pan ready as the gold will drop onto the reels. Play’n GO is introducing an interesting reel mechanic that sees treasure chests floating towards the game window and locking on the reels to award respins or the bonus round. With a win potential of up to 10,000x, the high volatility game will have players buzzing to find the gold.

Playable from 0.20 coins on 20 fixed pay lines, the game comes with two base game features – Rapid Respins and Gold Rush Respins – that each can lead to a separate free spins feature: River of Gold Free Spins or Super River of Gold Respins.

In Rapid Respins, one or two chests dropping onto reels two, three or four will trigger a respin with the chests turning into a sticky wild. They can turn into a multiplier wild of up to 5x. More landing on the respin will award a further respin. Collecting a minimum one chest on reels two to four during the respins will trigger the River of Gold Free Spins.

The River of Gold Free Spins is a round with unlimited free spins, but no win multipliers on the chests. The chests will not fall off the reels as in the base game – instead, they will move down by one position on each spin until they fall off the bottom. The free spins will continue as long as there is at least one Wild Chest on the reels.

The Gold Rush Respins can be triggered randomly on any spin, turning all chests in view into Golden Chests. The same multiplier and respin mechanic as in the Rapid Respins is applied. Accumulating three Golden Chests in one sequence will trigger the Super River of Gold Free Spins.

The Super River of Gold Free Spins follows the same mechanic as the standard River of Gold Free Spins, but the sticky wild chest will always have now a win multiplier attached, ranging from 2x to 5x. The maximum win multiplier peaks at 125x.

Lightning Strike Megaways | Blueprint Gaming

Yes, yes, yes, we have yet another Megaways slot. But if you think you have seen it all, think again as Blueprint has included a completely new way of triggering the free spins on Lightning Strike Megaways. It will take slotting to a new level as the gamble for free spins becomes now a pure betting strategy. A win potential of up to 10,000x your stake will make it even more exciting.

Playable from just 0.10 coins on up to 15,625 ways to win, the slot comes with a pay-both-ways mechanic, mystery symbols, Thor’s Hammer Respins, and the aforementioned Mega Spins Gamble.

The mystery symbols can land on any reel and on any spin, revealing one common pay symbol once the reels have stopped. Thor’s Hammer Respins are triggered when a hammer wild lands on reels two to five, turning it into a reel-tall wild with a multiplier of up to 3x and awarding respins until no new hammer wilds land on a respin. The maximum win multiplier on a spin can reach 81x.

Hitting a win of a minimum 5x the bet will grant access to the Mega Spin Gamble. Players can now gamble to win more cash or exchange the winning amount for Mega Spins. For example, 20x the bet will get you two Mega Spins. Up to 100 Mega Spins or a cash win of up to 1,000x the bet can be won during the feature.

Players can collect their winnings and walk away, or gamble the result to potentially go up the ladders for the prizes. For that, they will spin a giant wheel with a green and a red wedge. The gamble is won when it stops on green and all is lost, including the triggering win, when it lands on red.

Once Mega Spins have been collected, more Thor’s Hammer wilds and mystery symbols are added to the reels, providing more chances to trigger the two features.

Treasure Horse | Pragmatic Play

Enter a serene Asian mountain scene on Treasure Horse on your quest to find golden riches worth up to 6,000x your bet. Going against the trend, Pragmatic Play developed the slot in a 3×3 format with 18 ways to win in the base game. A fourth reel containing win multipliers will be activated during the free spins round.

Bet sizes on this high variance game start at a low 0.18 credits. Hit three treasure horse scatters in one spin to trigger eight free spins. Any further landing during the round will add +1 free spin, no limits. The fourth reel will appear and the multiplier landing on the middle position will be applied to the win from the free spin. All symbols, including the wild, can appear stacked in the bonus round.

Golden Grimoire | Netent

Originating from the French language, a grimoire is a textbook of magic that contains among other things instructions on how to summon spirits, build amulets and cast spells. Get ready to experience the power of the grimoire on the new Netent slot in a 5×4 format with 40 fixed pay lines.

Playable on all devices from 0.20 coins, the game comes with a symbol cloning feature, mystery magic books that will reveal a common symbol and a free spins round.

When magic grimoires land on the back reels they will reveal one common pay symbol. If the same symbol is on reel one, then the symbols in between will be transformed as well into the same symbol to award a win. During the free spins, the golden grimoires can land more often than in the base game, providing more chances to clone symbols.

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