Magic Charm Slots
From Leprechauns and four-leafed clovers to horseshoes and magic pennies, Irish luck is a theme that has understandably been explored in a number of video slot titles over the years, but perhaps none more so that in Magic Charm, a 5-reel, variable payline slot from the team at Zeus Gaming.
In Magic Charm, you’ll find just about every cliché in the lexicon of luck making an appearance at some point, but the slightly unimaginative theme shouldn’t detract from the fact that it is a low variance slot that serves up a stonking jackpot win of 9,000x your stake per line in regular play.
The slot also includes the usual features that come as standard across the entire Zeus Gaming line, including wilds that substitute for any regular symbol to complete winning paylines while also doubling their prize and scatter symbols that not only pay, but also trigger a free spins feature.
No Smoke and Mirrors
Like a lot of titles in the Zeus Gaming catalogue such as Legend of the Sea, Magic Charm is a very easy game to get to grips with and doesn’t feature any overly-complex walking wild rules or bonus rounds. Before starting a spin, players simply have to choose the number of paylines they want to be active (up to a maximum of nine) and the coin amount they wish to bet for each line, which in this case can be anywhere between 1-50.
Winnings from any successfully activated payline can either be collected right away or gambled, with the latter choice whisking players away to a red or black bonus game. Here, they have to correctly pick the colour of the next card to double their win, with their prize forfeited if they get it wrong.
Standard payouts vary from 2x your stake for matching two ladybird or pendant symbols all the way up to the aforementioned 9,000x jackpot for finding a fortune teller icon on each reel, but Magic Charm’s maximum jackpot of 27,000x your stake per line can only be won during the bonus feature.
A Charming Theme?
As mentioned above, the symbols used in Magic Charm are all items that are typically associated with good luck. This means that in addition to the regular ace through nine playing card symbols, the game’s five reels are adorned with horseshoes, ladybirds, necklaces, coins and four-leafed clovers.
The game’s wild symbol is a female fortune teller and her crystal ball is used to denote the free spins scatter symbol, but all in all you won’t find anything entirely unexpected here. Each symbol also boasts its own unique animation when featured in a winning payline – which does make the game a bit more visually impressive – but, again, the game is more functional than breathtaking to look at.
Audio-wise, the game features casino-standard bleeps and whirs while the wheels are rolling, but does also include unique music when a winning payline is activated. Similarly, the bonus round has its own theme, separating it nicely from the regular game and making it feel like more of an event.
Fortune In Your Future
There is only one bonus feature in Magic Charm, but fortunately for players, it’s quite a generous one. Triggered whenever three or more crystal ball scatter symbols appear in any configuration across the reels, players are awarded 15 free spins – although “spins” is an inaccurate description.
What actually happens is the board is shrouded by tiles, which are then taken away to reveal the symbols beneath. While in free spin mode, all winning paylines are subject to a 3x multiplier – which is what gives the slot its 27,000x maximum jackpot – and the feature can also be re-triggered as well.
All in all, this makes the bonus round in Magic Charm pretty lucrative for players, but as the stake per line and number of active paylines cannot be adjusted once the free spins start, we’d strongly recommend at least playing with all nine lines switched on as this will certainly secure bigger wins.
Lacking In Magic
While Magic Charm is a playable enough slot with a decent bonus feature and a sizeable top award, it has to be said that the game is lacking a little sparkle. The theme is a bit too generic to really capture the imagination and while that may be fine for players who are merely in it to try and make money, more casual slot gamers often need something a little more original to hold their attention.
