Big Time Gaming were the company that first developed the popular Megaways mechanic and so you would expect that out of all the slot development companies there are today, that they’d be the ones able to extract the most fun and enjoyment out of it.
Well, in their Kingmaker Megaways slot, they have pushed the limits of what is possible with the Megaways game mechanic in a fantastic, five reel, high variance slot that offers up to 16,807 pay lines each spin and a top jackpot prize of 24,250x your stake.
The first game was released back in August 2019 and has proven to be one of the more popular Megaways slots, with its medium to high variance certainly attracting those slot gamers that prefer fewer, but larger wins compared to lower variance games.
Playable from just £0.20 per spin, it is a slot that needn’t cost a huge amount to play, but as with all high variance games, you do need to be aware that with fewer wins, you can easily take a sizeable chunk out of your bankroll should you catch the slot when it is a little cold.
There is now a sequel to this slot called Kingmaker Fully Loaded, which offers even more ways to win and a larger top prize.
However, let’s continue our review with a closer look at some of the slots main details.
Kingmaker Slot Review
- Publisher – Big Time Gaming
- RTP – 96.65%
- Variance – Medium to High
- Ways to Win (Max) – 16,807
- Top Prize – 24,250x
- Min Bet – £0.20
- Max Bet – £20.00
- Reels – 5
- Playable On Mobile? – Yes
Kingmaker Theme & Symbols
The Kingmaker Megaways slot is based on a medieval theme. Set against the backdrop of mountains and with a river in the foreground, the reels are superimposed over a large castle.
Add to that atmospheric music that is well suited to the game with a low and sometimes ominous backdrop, you do get very much a ‘Game of Thrones” feel from this game, although it has no links to the famous books and TV series.
To the left of the reels are four banners. These are the multiplier bonus symbols and these are one of the key features of the game. You will see the multipliers on these banners increase and decrease as you play the game and trigger the bonuses.
The main controls are located to the right of the reels and the slot does have an autoplay option, as well as a standard spin button.
There are a variety of symbols on the reels in the Kingmaker slot. The lower value symbols are the six playing card values from 9 through to the ace and these offer a win value ranging from 0.1x your stake up to 0.4 times your stake for each pay line.
Now that may not sound like much, but remember, you can trigger multiple pay line wins on a single spin, so you can easily double, triple, quadruple or more those wins if you are fortunate enough to land enough of then consecutively across the reels from left to right.
The higher value symbols are the four Gem Multipliers we mentioned previously. Not only do these offer higher value wins when landed across the reels, but if you can land five of one type of gem multiplier across the reels (you can use a Wild to help you here), then the value of that multiplier will increase by one.
There are also Wild and Scatter symbols on the reels, which are linked in to the main bonus features of the slot which we will explore below.
Kingmaker Main Bonus Features
There are three main bonus features in the Kingmaker slot.
There are the four Gem Multipliers we mentioned previously which can be increased as you play through the base game. Collecting as many of these as you can in the base game is key to unlocking the higher value wins wen you trigger the main Free Spins bonus game.
In the game, there is also a Wild symbol that can appear across the reels. This can be used in place of any of the Gemstone or playing card symbols to create winning pay lines on a spin and the more Wilds you land, especially consecutively across the reels, then the greater the value of the wins you are likely to unlock.
In addition to the base game bonuses above, there is also a Free Spins bonus round which is where the bigger cash prizes can be won in the game.
To trigger the Free Spins, you need to land three, four or five of the Crown Scatter symbols anywhere across the reels on a triggering spin.
This triggers a win of 4x, 20x or 250x your stake, depending on how many crowns you landed, and then you will receive either 7. 12 or 20 free spins, again decided by how many crowns you collected on the triggering spin.
Now comes the key part, at this point, all the multipliers that you have collected and built up on the four Gem Multiplier banners throughout the base game are combined. So for example, if you have a 3x multiplier on two banners and a 4x multiplier on the other two, then this would combine for a 14x multiplier.
This multiplier is then applied to any wins you land in the Free Spins bonus game, which also sees the number of reels increase to seven and in addition, you can continue to increase the multiplier by one for each five gemstones landed across the reels.
Furthermore, land five more Scatters and you can trigger up to 20 additional Free Spins too.
With no upper limit on how high the Gem Multipliers can go, you really want to get those as high as you can before triggering the Free Spins bonus to get the most out of the slot.
Conclusion
In our view, the Kingmaker Megaways slot is a game that is for the more patient, high volatility slot gamer. This is a game where you don’t want to trigger the Free Spins bonus round too soon. It is more beneficial to you to trigger it after enough multipliers have been added to increase the potential wins in the Free Spins bonus.
As such, this can make it a game which can chew up a bankroll quickly if played at too high stakes, so choosing the right value per spin is crucial to getting the best from the game.
Kingmaker is a good Megaways slot and has some great bonus features, but it is not a game for players that want to play for five minutes, or are not prepared to risk a large chunk of their bankroll to build up those multipliers over time and trigger that Free Spins bonus.
Our Verdict – We give Kingmaker a 4* rating out of five. It’s a solid high variance slot.
