Jewel in the Crown Slots
Barcrest presents a rather unique slot machine in the form of Jewel in the Crown, a dazzling 5-reel title that is anything but ordinary, even despite its classic appearance.
Although there’s no funky looking fruit, there’s a vintage undertone here that charges the game play ahead, and so both new and old school gamers are accommodated to. That being said, it’s the features of this game that has us most interested.
First of all, the win lines aren’t conventional in the slightest, for you get the standard 10 lines and then 3 additional ways to play, which is completely exclusive to this title. That would be enough to grab our attention, but then there’s the free games which have a blue and red feature. Even better - more variance equals more fun for us. But wait, there’s more. Jewel in the Crown has a Big Bet alternative way to play that really ramps up the energy.
That’s a lot for such a small looking slot to be getting on with, and that’s before we’ve even looked at the rest of the pay table! With so much to cover, let’s get started and see what the game has in store for us when we lay down some cash.
Two Ways to Play
Before we even get to the BB, aka the Big Bet, you have two other ways to approach this real cash slot, either via the <2.00 or >=2.00 options. This sounds very technical, but in fact it simply refers to the amount of cash you put down; if you play with 2 credits or over you’ll get higher wins, but play with lower than that and the pay outs will change accordingly. This explains why there’s so many versions of the pay table to play through.
For example, when you play with a stake of under 2 coins, the top amount you can win is x10 of your bet for either the wild symbol or the royal blue gem. However, if you play without the above limit, the top amount is x20.
Consequently, the more money you can play with the better your odds of scoring big, which is going to be sad news for those of you that like small pay-ins. That being said, the lowest you can wager is just 0.10, which isn’t half bad.
BB Spins
There’s a purple widget next to the regular spin button that will take you to three different Big Bet options. A shower of dust and blue curtains will close on the normal grid and open up on a new one, essentially symbolizing that the game and its rules have changed.
Players can play with either a bet of 20, 30 or 50 credits, with the latter being the highest possible stake in this section. Each level has it’s own benefits, such as the Crowning Glory Feature, which we’ll get to soon enough. The (+) and (-) will help you change between the options, with the select button on each triggering the associated round.
A total of five waves is all that’s given to you, and during that time you must try and get a further 8 or 16 games, only they’re now free. Should you not manage that, you simply walk away with whatever winnings you’ve earned thus far.
All for the Glory
Crowning Glory is your pathway to the free games in the BB rounds, as we mentioned previously, and to put it into action you need a shining red crown to appear.
There’s six spots to fill upon the line-up presented just below the title, with the crowns becoming illuminated whenever you find a matching symbol. Five of them get you the 8 games, while the sixth enters you into the 16 rounds. During our play through we only managed to get a maximum of four crowns of Crowning Glory before our time was through, which is good going considering there’s only five chances.
The volatility is very high here, meaning that you’re likely to risk a lot of cash for minimal returns. That being said, when your chance pays off, it does so in abundance.
The Jewel of My Eye
Jewel in the Crown is by far the most innovative and thrilling slot machine we’ve come across in some time, and all without an overzealous aesthetic. It uses clever tactics and design features to create a game that has many dimensions to it, thus ensuring you never tire too easily of the action. Barcrest got it so right with this slot.
