The Magic Orb Hold and Win

The Magic Orb Hold and Win Overview

Designed by iSoftBet, The Magic Orb Hold and Win is not just your run of the mill Hold and Win slot. This game is played on a 7x7 board with some fantastic features and a very promising top payout of 20,776x the stake. Before playing, gamers should be aware that this is a cluster pays slot. This means that rather than wins being scored in lines across the board, wins are triggered when matching clusters of symbols land together in vertically or horizontally aligning formations. The RTP is under average at 95.94%.

The features here begin with the cascade bonus triggered every time a win is found on the board. The winning symbols are removed from the board and replaced by a new set, giving players multiple chances to score wins from the same spin. Another feature included here is the Magic Orb feature, which can be activated completely at random, bringing one of six modifiers into gameplay. However, the main feature here is the Hold and Win feature triggered when five or more of the Hold and Win scatters land on the reels. Finally, there is also a free drops bonus and a side bet feature. All bonuses will be explained in more detail later in the review.

Theme and Symbols

The theme for this game is one of fantasy taking its main inspiration from the medieval Norse aesthetic. This is apparent when you look at the game's patterns and symbols, which are very close in appearance to the ones used in Norse decorations and art. Most Norse art, or Viking Art as it is sometimes called, incorporates the use of heavy metals or stone carved in an intricate fashion. The other main aesthetic here is the idea of magic, which is expressed through the many lightning bolts and plumes of multicoloured light, which are probably meant to bring visual representation to spells and the like.
The background for this game looks like an Iron Maiden album cover with crazy electric patterns and heavy stone structures. The creators of this game clearly enjoy the manic and dynamic art style of Derek Riggs.

The playing board for this game is a stone construction of impressive solidity encased within Norse braid designs.
The symbols for this game are split into low-paying, high-paying and special symbols. The low-paying symbols are the four gemstones with a black background. These come in turquoise, light blue, orange and purple. The purple one is the most valuable of these, paying out at 10x the stake for the top combination. On the other hand, the more valuable symbols are the gems with the golden background in green, dark blue, red, and pink. The pink one is the most valuable, worth 500x the stake for the top combination. The specials for this game are the wild, the scatter, the bonus and the magic orb.

Game Play

The Magic Orb Hold and Win is played on a 7-reel, 7-row machine cluster pay machine. To form wins, players need to land groups of vertically or horizontally aligning symbols in a formation.

The betting range for The Magic Orb Hold and Win is 20p to £100 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stake up and down using the tool located at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.
Further information, including a short tutorial and a display of the paytable, can be found via the menu button in the right-hand corner of the screen. The spin and auto spin buttons are located in the centre of the screen.
Volatility for this slot is rated in the very high range. The return to player percentage for The Magic Orb Hold and Win is 95.95%, which is below average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 20,776x your stake.

Features

The first feature mentioned in this game is the cascade feature triggered every time a win is registered. When this occurs, the winning symbols are removed from the board and replaced with a new set, giving players multiple chances of winning from the same spin. The cascade dynamic will only end when a new set of symbols does not form a win.

The second feature included in this game is the Magic Orb feature. You will notice when looking at the playing board that there is a magic orb in the middle. It stays on the board at all times and will, at random activate one of the following modifiers:

- Transform: This modifier selects a symbol and transforms all iterations of it into another symbol to help create more potential wins.
- Wild: The magic orb reveals an icon to suddenly become the wild. These wilds can then create more wins.
- Multiplier: A random multiplier is awarded up to the range of 10x the stake.
- Destruction: All paying symbols are destroyed apart from one.
- Free Drops: The Orb triggers the free spins bonus.
- Hold and Win: The orb triggers the Hold and Win bonus.

Next on the feature list is the Hold and Win feature triggered when players land five or more scatter symbols on the reels simultaneously. When triggered, the game will take you to a new board that only drops coins onto it, which become sticky when they land. Every new coin awards another re-spin. The feature ends when you run out of re-spins or the board becomes full of coins. At the end of the feature, all the coins values are totalled and paid out to you in one lump sum. You can also win several jackpots here by landing a certain number of scatters.

Finally, this game also carries a free drops feature, triggered by landing three or more bonus icons (the face) on the reels at the same time. Any cascade in this bonus game will build the attached multiplier. The Magic Orb also triggers on every free drop spin.
There is also a side bet option that ups the bet for a better chance of triggering the features here. However, this option may not be available in the UK.

Conclusion

Hold and Win slots can be pretty samey and dull; however, this one feels much fresher and more complex. The added features, crazy theme and stimulating graphics all go a long way to make this game more engaging. However, watch out for the low RTP and the high volatility. Both are not conducive to a consistently financially rewarding game.