Towering Pays Excalibur

Towering Pays Excalibur Overview

This latest product from GamesLab and Yggdrasil combines its Towering Pays dynamic with the theme of King Arthur and the Round Table. However, the game is far from being original. It mirrors much of the same content and playing mechanics as the provider's previous product Towering Pays Valhalla. In terms of the nuts and bolts of this game, players will be greeted initially with a 5-reel, 3-row board formation; however, the rows in this game can expand to eight high as part of the Towering Pays feature. This game is available across platforms from mobile to laptop to tablet.

The features included in this new online slots are extensive. The first is the Excalibur Magic bonus which concerns the Excalibur symbol. When this symbol lands, it transforms into the same random symbol and can cover part of or all of a reel to help score more wins. The next feature is the stage play feature. Whenever an Excalibur icon appears in at least one position in each reel, play moves on a stage, and an extra row is added to the playing board. This dynamic adds more pay lines to the board and can happen a maximum of eight times. This game also has a feature wheel, a win spins feature, an Avalon feature, a Hold and Spin feature and a bonus buy option. All features will be explained in greater detail later on in the review.

Theme and Symbols

For those that don't know, the story of the sword of Excalibur is an Arthurian Legend popular in Britain. The theme for this game is a cartoon version of this tale. In one telling, Arthur, who had become an orphan when his mother died in childbirth and his father died in battle, was looked after by Merlin the Wizard and taken away from the Kingdom when he was a baby. Only when he grew to be a boy did he return to court to prove that he was the rightful heir to the Thone by pulling the famous sword Excalibur from the stone when no other Knight in the realm could do so. Although a funky depiction, this slot still has all the main aesthetic elements of the tale and is quite engaging in its looks.

The background for this game is the castle fortress representing the Arthurian Kingdom's epicentre. The perspective is from the deep moat which surrounds the castle. To the left of the reels, one can see the tall walls and towers of the castle. One can see the only bridge that crosses onto this royal piece of land to the right.

The playing board is a deep blue box with no real thematic harmony with the background.

The symbols for this game are split into low-paying, high-paying and special symbols. The low-paying symbols are the four card suits of clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds. The diamonds and hearts are the most valuable of these, paying out at 0.8x the stake for the top payout of five icons. On the other hand, the more valuable symbols are the characters painted onto shields. These are the wolf, the horse, the Knight, the Princess, the Wizard and the jester. The jester in green is the most valuable regular symbol, paying out at 6x the stake for the top combination. The specials for this game are the golden king wild, which is also the most valuable icon, worth 10x the stake for the top combination and the mystery Excalibur symbol.

Game Play

Towering Pays Excalibur is initially played on a 5-reel, 3-row machine; however, the number of rows can expand, increasing the number of pay lines available. The maximum number of pay lines in this game is 65. To win combinations, players must land three or more matching symbols on pay lines moving from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.
The betting range for Towering Pays Excalibur is 25p to £40 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 high range. The return to player percentage for Towering Pays Excalibur is 95.7%, which is below average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 6,500x your stake.

Features

The first feature in this game is called the Excalibur Magic bonus. It concerns the influence of the Excalibur symbol. When this symbol lands, it transforms into the same random symbol, covering part of or all of the reels to help score more wins.
Next is the stage play feature, triggered when an Excalibur symbol appears in at least one position on each reel. An extra row is added when this happens, and ten more pay lines come into play. This feature can occur a total of eight times.

There is also a prize multiplier bonus here. At random, a prize multiplier may occur. When it does, the more active rows, the bigger the multiplier. The largest multiplier that can be applied is 10x.

Next on the feature list is the feature wheel. This bonus is activated when three feature wheel symbols land in view on reels one, three and five. Depending on where the needle land on the feature wheel, you can land access to the Hold and Spin feature, Win Spins or enter one of the free spin rounds. You may also be given wheel upgrades which increase the probability of winning one of the other features.

There are four different free spin rounds, each with different modifiers active. All award six free spins and start on a five by three grid. An extra spin is added to your tally when an Excalibur symbol land son reel five.
If landed on via the feature wheel, the Win Spins features will make Excalibur when it lands cover reels 1,2 and 3, while the other two reels spin. This guarantees player wins.

The next feature is called the Hold and Spin bonus. During gameplay, Excalibur will reveal shield symbols if the Quest Bet option is activated. When six or more of these shields land, the Hold and Spin feature is triggered. Once triggered, you are given three re-spins with all triggering shields frozen to their positions. Only more shields may land in this feature. If a new one does, it resets your re-spin tally to three, and these shields also remain in place. At the end of the feature, all prize values displayed on the shield are totalled and paid out to you as a lump sum. Filling all of the positions on the reels with bonus symbols unlocks a special cash prize of 1,000x the stake.

Finally, a bonus buy option allows players to buy their way into the various features. However, this option may not be available depending on which country you are accessing this game from.

Conclusion

This game offers a lot in terms of the available features and the many gameplay levels. However, don't let this deceive you. The win potential of this game is actually pretty poor, and from playing the game, we can say that features are very tricky to trigger. It's basically a clone of their previous Towering Pays slot in a different skin. Play in demo mode first and see how you feel, although bear in mind that providers usually stack the demo mode to make the game look more promising than it is.