Microgaming Games of the Month: October 2020

With Fortunium Gold being the Game of the Month for September 2020, which of the 12 releases that hit casinos in October 2020 will be named its successor? Welcome back to our review of all the top Microgaming releases of October 2020, ranked and rated for your enjoyment.

It has been a very good month for slots fans, with five great slot games released plus seven versions of Multihand Blackjack hitting casinos at the end of the month too. Let's take a look now at the games that are in contention for Game of the Month this October.

The contenders for October 2020

• African Legends: Wowpot (Slingshot Studios) - 6^th October
• Gold (Just For The Win) - 13^th October
• 777 Royal Wheel (Pulse 8 Studios) - 15^th October
• Tarzan Jewels of Opar (Gameburger) - 20^th October
• Wanted Outlaws (All41 Studios) - 27^th October
• Atlantic City Blackjack Multi Hand (Switch Studios) - 27^th October
• Classic Blackjack Multi Hand (Switch Studios) - 27^th October
• European Blackjack Multi Hand (Switch Studios) - 27^th October
• Vegas Downtown Blackjack Multi Hand (Switch Studios) - 27^th October
• Vegas Single Deck Blackjack Multi Hand (Switch Studios) - 27^th October
• Vegas Strip Blackjack Multi Hand (Switch Studios) - 27^th October
• Classic Blackjack 6 Deck Multi Hand (Switch Studios) - 27^th October

Quick preview of each of the contenders for October 2020

One thing to note for this month's data is that we are going to treat the seven Multi Hand Blackjack game releases from Switch Studios as just one game, given that they are very similar with only some very small differences between them (and each have a very similar rating anyway).

Let's now begin by taking a look at the first of October 2020's main slot releases

African Legends Wowpot Major

A hugely innovative slot from Microgaming, the African Legends offers a chance to win the Wowpot Major jackpot (seeded at £50,000) only. Will this type of game have legs compared to other progressives offering a shot at all four Wowpot progressive prizes? Only time will tell!

• Our rating 89.0
  

A truly intriguing release, we wonder if a slot will pull in the slots fans by just offering the second highest progressive prize, but you can't fault the quality of the game, or the innovation from Microgaming for releasing it.

Western Gold

Scatter collecting is back on the horizon in the western themed Western Gold slot, collect up to 12 Scatters on a spin to land a prize of up to 10,000x your bet. Add to that an enjoyable Free Spins game and a decent jackpot and you have a game no cowboy could refuse.

• Our rating 83.2
  

Another innovative slot game from Just For The Win who have given us a somewhat rare 5x4 reel game with 40 pay lines. The Spins bonus is also nicely done and this is another quality release from the company.

777 Royal Wheel

A rather nice looking slot from Pulse8 Studios which features a Wild Wheel and the chance to earn Wild Multipliers up to 24x the standard win. With a Respin bonus rather than Free Spins, the bonus is also more easily accessible in the base game.

• Our rating 79.9
  

There's nothing particularly bad with the 777 Royal Wheel slot and it does have some innovative features, but I just felt it didn't quite have the same appeal or excitement as some of the other games I have played. It is still a very enjoyable slot however.

Tarzan Jewels of Opar

Gameburger have been threatening to produce a classic for some time and now they have. A fantastic 20 pay line, 5x4 reel slot game that offers up to 30 Free Spins and up to a 10x multiplier on those wins. A welcome return for the Tarzan brand.

• Our rating 93.4

For me, this is comfortably Gameburger Studios best ever game. The graphics, attention to detail, bonus features and volatility are pitched just about perfectly in this fantastic new Tarzan slot. A fine way to bring the license back to life.

Wanted Outlaws

The second western-themed slot release of the month and this All41 Studios offering has some very unusual bonus features and a Wild symbol that only appears in Free Spins and which can trigger a number of multiplier wins ranging from 2x to 200x your bet amount.

• Our rating 86.2
  

The Nobleways Wanted Outlaws slot makes a return in All41 Studios late October release. An innovative slot with no Free Spins or Wild bonus in the base game, and an innovative look and bonus features mean that it is certainly offering something different to your standard 5x3 reel slot. Well worth a look.

Multi Hand Blackjack Variations (7 in total)

Also right at the end of the month Switch Studios released a batch of seven different Multi Hand versions of a number of their Blackjack games. These seven games are all very similar and of the usual high quality you would expect from Seitch Studios and offer players a chance to play different types of Blackjack, across multiple hands from just £1.00 per game.

• Our rating 87.2
  

The games are all extremely similar in design and features with just some subtle tweaks between all seven versions of the game. My personal favourite is the Classic Blackjack and we will use this games score for the average rating for all seven games this month. You can see the individual scores for each of these games in the table below.

Our thoughts of all of October 2020 Microgaming releases

For us, the Tarzan Jewels of Opar slot (try the demo) was the real highlight of what was an incredibly high quality month of game releases from Microgaming. Even what we viewed as the worst game of the month, 777 Royal Wheel (try the demo), was still very enjoyable and featured some innovative gameplay.

The most intriguing release was the Wowpot Major only slot game African Legends (watch our video review), which could pave the way for more games targeted at the second highest progressive jackpot prize on a network if it proves to be a success. The seven Blackjack Multi Hand games swelled the number of releases considerably at the end of October and all were the usual high quality offerings from Switch Studios.

October was a very impressive and consistent month in terms of quality and innovation in games from Microgaming and we hope that going forward, releases in subsequent months will follow suit, especially with a number of eagerly awaited games set to be released over the remainder of 2020.

Let's now take a look at the full run down of games for October 2020 based on their ratings.

Game of the Month in October 2020

1. Tarzan Jewels of Opar - 93.4 - Game of the Month
2. African Legends: Wowpot Major - 89.0
3. Classic Blackjack Multi Hand - 87.2
4. Vegas Downtown Blackjack Multi Hand - 86.7
5. European Blackjack Multi Hand - 86.5
6. Wanted Outlaws - 86.2
7. Vegas Strip Blackjack Multi Hand - 86.2
8. Vegas Single Deck Blackjack Multi Hand - 86.1
9. Classic Blackjack 6 Deck Multi Hand - 85.9
10. Atlantic City Blackjack Multi Hand - 85.6
11. Western Gold - 83.2
12. 777 Royal Wheel - 79.9

Ranking of all Microgaming games of 2020

Inserted below is our updated table of all Microgaming 2020 releases containing the 12 released made in October 2020 alongside the other games. The games are ranked in order of the rating given to each one.

Remember to check back to the site at the end of November or beginning of December to check out which of November's releases from Microgaming was our game of the month and where they rank in the year to date out of all Microgaming releases.