Court of Hearts

Overview Court of Hearts

The surreal world of wonderland is the location for this latest slot created by Play ‘n GO. Like Ancient Egypt and Norse Mythology, Lewis Carol’s classic novel Alice in Wonderland has been the inspiration for countless games in the online betting sphere. Maybe it's because the book has a cavalcade of instantly recognisable characters, or maybe it’s because it lends itself to bright and colourful design palettes. Whatever it is, slot providers keep coming back to this particular watering hole and finding new interpretations.

In terms of the nuts and bolts of this game, it is a 5-reel, 10 pay line slot with a long list of features that include cascading reels, shifting and expanding wilds, as well as Mega Wilds. In addition, there is a free spins round which comes with a growing multiplier. To find out more read on.

Theme and Symbols

The rough narrative that is taking place for this slot is that the Jack of Hearts has been taken to court and is standing trial for a crime he is not guilty of. The central courtroom is what the game is named after. Your job as the player is to acquit Jack and reap the rewards of wonderland as your settlement prize. This is a new narrative dimension that has not been explored before coming out of this theme but one that works effectively as a background story.

The background for this slot is the described courtroom which sits amongst the bizarre wilderness of wonderland. On either side of the reels, one can see the court benches. Seated at the top of the left bench is the Queen of Hearts and opposite her is (one assumes) the accused Jack of Hearts. Surrounding these formal court structures is the most amazing jungle populated by mushrooms as tall as tower blocks and dense rich green foliage. The whole scene seems to have been hand-drawn and painted in a beautiful style.

The board for this game reflects the same wood that is used for the court benches. It has been crafted to look like a notice board that one might find in a church or some other established building. Atop the board is a small character who looks like the bemused King of Hearts, who looks to be the judge presiding over this strange trial, gavel in hand.

On the reels, you’ll find the normal cast of Carol characters from the Cheshire Cat to the Smoking Caterpillar. Normal, low-paying symbols are card suits, each of which has some sort of scene chiselled into them. These include a castle, a mountain vista, and a splashing seascape. The most valuable symbol that you will find in this game is the Queen of Hearts. If you land 5 of these on a pay line, you will be rewarded with 20x your stake. The pocket watch is the scatter symbol for this game. The wilds on the other hand are represented by a different character depending on the magical mirror.

Game Play

Court of Hearts is played on a 5-reel, 3-row playing board with 10 pay lines. To create a winning combination in this game, players need to land a minimum of 3 matching symbols in matching formations on pay lines running from left to right.
The betting range for Court of Hearts is 10p to £100 per spin. To change the stake levels, players can click on the stake numbers displayed directly under the reels to the left of the spin button. The spin and auto spin buttons are located to the bottom-right of the playing window.

For the paytable and other information, players should click on the small ‘I’ sign on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. The return to player percentage for Court of Hearts is 96.27%, which is above average. The volatility is rated at the higher end of the spectrum. The maximum win that is achievable for this game is 8,500 x your total stake.

Features

There is plenty of bonus content to enjoy in this exciting game from Play ‘n GO.
This starts with the cascading reels feature. This feature comes into play when any win is formed. The winning symbols are immediately removed from the board and replaced by new ones from above to see if you can score another win from the same spin. The cascade feature will continue until a new set of symbols does not trigger a win.

Next on the features list is the Rabbit Hole Bonus. This bonus funnily enough concerns the Rabbit Hole symbol. Whenever this symbol appears on the reels, you will be rewarded with 1 of 3 randomly chosen modifiers. These are explained below:
The Cheshire Cat Feature: The Cheshire Cat will expand to become a wild that fills up the entire reel that it lands on and instantly triggers a cascade. After this, the wild moves to a new reel. It will continue to do this as long as winning cascades continue to be triggered.

The Caterpillar Feature: The caterpillar, known for smoking a Hookah pipe in the novel, blows huge plumes of smoke across the reels, adding a randomly distributed number of wilds to the board. A new payout will follow the influence of the feature.
The Dormouse Feature: If you trigger this feature, the sweet little dormouse throws a Mega Wild onto the reels. This wild begins in a 2x2 format but randomly expands throughout the feature, eventually reaching a 4x3 size.
Another feature players should be on the lookout fo, is the Rabbit Reward Feature. This feature is triggerable only in the base game. At any time, the White Rabbit can hop onto the reels and distribute 2 scatters. This means that you only need to find one more to trigger the free spins round.

Speaking of the Free Spins round, to activate it you need to land a minimum of 3 pocket watch scatters. You don’t need to land them at the same time, just cumulatively as the game progresses. The more scatters you trigger the bonus round with, the bigger your initial triggering win is. Landing 5 scatters gives you the maximum of 15x your stake triggering win. It doesn’t matter how many scatters you land in terms of free spins though, as that is always kept at a standard 9.

For the free spins round the Queen of hearts symbol is transformed into a wild. The feature starts with a 1x multiplier. However, each time that you win a cascade the multiplier grows by 1x. If you trigger a winless spin this won’t reset the multiplier. There is no actual limit to the size of the multiplier that can be applied in this round.

To top up your free spins you must land additional scatter symbols in the free spins round. For every scatter collected you will be given an extra spin. The Rabbit Hole modifier feature can also be triggered from within this round too.

Conclusion

As is usually the way with Play ‘n GO, their design work is impeccable in this game. This extends from the beautiful background to the engaging and detailed visual graphics. The game dynamics and features are also well-executed and bring plenty of fun extra layers to the gaming experience. Although this slot is highly volatile, at least the RTP is good and the top win is worth battling through a few dud spins. All in all, this is another excellent effort from the Play ‘n GO studio.