Rising Royals slot features a Symbol Lock Re-Spin Bonus & Symbol Upgrade

Sometimes in the slots industry, to make a game that is somewhat different to the others you have to take risks. Sometimes things work out and you produce a game that really appeals to fans, other times the public will take a look at a game and decide it is not for them.

It's hard to know which way things will go for a game offering something different, so I applaud Just For The Win and Microgaming for grasping that particular nettle with one of their most recent releases, Rising Royals.

Set against the backdrop of French Royalty, the game looks to be a pretty standard 5x3 reel slot with medium variance, but when you realise that there are no Wilds or Scatters on the reels, and no Free Spins bonus, you do wonder where the appeal for the game will come from.

Well, that comes from the rather unusual Symbol Lock Re-Spin bonus and the Symbol Upgrade meters, so how do these combine with the base game and what kind of slot results? We decided to take a look to find out.

Overview

• Game: Rising Royals
• Developer: Just For The Win (for Microgaming)
• Reels: 5x3
• Pay Lines: 20 (non)
• Minimum Bet: 0.10
• Maximum Bet: 250.00
• Jackpot: 500x
• Free Spins Bonus: No
• Other Bonuses: Other
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: Medium

Presentation

The presentation of the Rising Royals slot is very elegant and somewhat eye-catching. Set against the backdrop of a luxurious palace, which I can only presume to be at least based on the famous Palace of Versailles, given its French aristocratic influence, the reels are bordered by elegant chandelier-like columns, which play a part in the game as we will see later in the review.

Flowers adorn the top and bottom of the reels and the transparent nature of the reels makes the backdrop a visible part of the game. The soundtrack is also very nicely done combining a rather cheery tune, with a baroque style interlude which captures the royal theme somewhat perfectly. You can almost imagine the French nobility enjoying a little dance in the great hall to the tune. Overall, as tends to be the case with Just For The Win slots, Rising Royals looks and sounds superb.

What is on the reels?

There are just eight standard symbols on the reels and these start with the four lowest paying symbols, which are the four playing card symbols, Jack, Queen, King and Ace. These offer wins ranging from 0.8x your bet up to 3x your bet with all of these symbols paying the same amount.

There are four higher value symbols on the reels too and three of these are the Royals that the game is about. There is a long-haired gentleman, an elegant lady and lastly, the caddish looking royal with the impressive hat and moustache. Wins with these symbols range from 1x your total bet up to 7.5x your bet on a pay line.

The only other symbol on the reel is the highest value symbol, the Rising Royals logo, which offers wins ranging from 2x your stake up to 15x your stake.

These wins don't sound that high, but it is how they are used in conjunction with the main bonus feature of the slot that offers the best way to land some of the higher value wins in the slot.

Wild features

Somewhat unusually, there is no Wild symbol on the reels on the Rising Royals slot game.

Free Spins features

There is no Free Spin bonus game on the Rising Royals slot but what we do have instead are two bonus features that are linked together, along with the base game and that is the Symbol Lock Re-Spin feature and the Symbol Upgrade meters.

The Symbol Lock Re-Spin feature triggers when you land any of the higher value symbols, the three royals or the Rising Royals logo on a winning line on any spin. When you do, the symbols will lock in place and you will receive one free Re-Spin of the reels.

If on your Re-Spin of the reels, you land more of the symbols that you landed to trigger the bonus, these symbols are also locked in place and a further Re-Spin is awarded. This continues until you either land a spin where you do not add to the number of symbols collected on the reels, or you fill the entire reel set with the same symbol.

As you land Re-Spins, each of the Re-Spins you trigger will also see the Symbol Upgrade meter increase by one step. These are the chandelier-looking meters on the left and right of the reels that we mentioned earlier in the review.

If you manage to land enough Re-Spins in succession to fill up the Symbol Upgrade meter then the good news is that the symbols you have collected will then change to the next highest value symbol on the slot. This of course increases the overall value of the win.

The more of the same symbol you can land across the reels and the more you can upgrade that symbol using the Symbol Upgrade meter, then the potentially more lucrative the bonus feature can be, however it should be noted that wins in this bonus feature can range from the very small to the largest ones available in the slot.

Best feature of the Rising Royals slot

I must admit to being surprised to see that the Rising Royals slot does not have either a Wild symbol or a Free Spins bonus game and it is somewhat brave of Just For The Win to produce a slot without what many feel are two important elements of any slot. That said, I think that the Symbol Lock Re-Spin bonus and its associated Symbol Upgrade meters work well, and they certainly offer players an exciting new challenge. The bonuses are used frequently in the game and they do add an extra element when you land any win involving the four higher value symbols.

Conclusion

I have to admit to being very surprised when I read Rising Royals didn't have Wilds or Free Spins and I did wonder if it would be a slot that was difficult to like as a result. I was wrong to think that way as I feel Rising Royals offers an enjoyable game in its own right that offers a different type of slot to the standard offering. I don't feel the rewards are enough to really appeal to higher stakes players, but I think low to medium stakes players will enjoy the rather unusual styling of the Rising Royals game. It certainly offers a change of pace from the usual Wilds and Free Spins bonuses you find on other slot games.

You can play Rising Royals slot at any the Mega Moolah casinos.