Shamrock Holmes Megaways slot review

Somewhere in Ireland, there are some nefarious goings on in woodland. Has someone stolen the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Has someone switched off the rain in Ireland? Has somebody turned all the Guinness into water? Who knows, but when that happens, the ideal person to call is the Leprechaun's own supersleuth Shamrock Holmes!

This intriguing slot from All41 Studios was released back in December but flew under the radar back then and indeed, in truth, I only noticed the slot just now (and given the dearth of reviews about the game, I am sure I am not the only one who saw this slot pass me by).

However, I decided to load up the game and take a closer look at what it had to offer and the first thing to note is that it is a Megaways slot, a rarity for a Microgaming title. So what does that mean and how does it affect the game? Read on to find out.

Overview

• Game: Shamrock Holmes: Megaways
• Developer: All41 Studios (for Microgaming)
• Reels: 6x7 (Megaways slot)
• Pay Lines: Up to 117,649
• Minimum Bet: 0.20
• Maximum Bet: 20.00
• Jackpot: 28,000x
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: Low to Medium

Presentation

It is pretty rare for a Microgaming company to incorporate into a slot something that another slot developer has used, but that is what has happened here with the Shamrock Holmes: Megaways slot. All41 Studios have opted to use the Megaways system on this large 6-reel slot. With Megaways, the number of ways to win is dependent on the size of the symbols across the reels, as well as the number of symbols on each reel. The total number of ways to win adds up as the reels come to a halt at the bottom of the screen.

The setting for the slot is a leafy glad in woodland, with dappled sunlight coming through the treetops. A gentle tune plays as you play, and it is all rather calming an enjoyable. The main controls are to the right of the reel. Your reel set will expand and contract with the number of symbols that appear on it though you begin with a reel set that is four symbols high.

There is an additional Extra Reel at the top of the reels which has four symbols on. This is where the Wild symbol can land, and these symbols can also be used with symbols on the main reel set in order to land wins. Overall, the slot looks and sounds excellent.

What is on the reels?

There are six lower value symbols on the reels and these are the six playing card symbols from the 9 through to the Ace. Wins start at just 1/10^th of your bet and increase up to 1.5 your bet for six of the Aces or Kings across the reels.

That sounds pretty low but it should be remembered that you can win across many different pay lines on the same spin as symbols can be stacked, which can radically increase the value of a single win, plus you can win repeatedly thanks to the Rolling Reels feature which again can bundle together consecutive wins to increase the value of a win too.

Higher value symbols include a blue flower, a Shamrock, a pit of gold being overlooked by a Fairy and of course Shamrock Holmes himself. These symbols offer wins of up to 50x your bet on a single pay line, which means that they can be very lucrative if you can hit them.

Alongside these symbols there are a couple of others that are linked in with the main bonus features of the slot as we will discover below.

Wild features

The Wild symbol appears on the Extra reel at the top of the main reel set only and it can substitute for all the symbols in the game apart from the Scatter symbols. The Wild is not particularly prevalent in this game, though it does appear in the base game and also Free Spins and when it lands, it can provide some very valuable wins, especially in the base game.

Free Spins features

To trigger the Free Spins bonus game you need to land four of the Scatter symbols, which are the gold coins, anywhere across the main reel set. For each additional Scatter you land above four, you will receive an additional two free spins added to your total.

During Free Spins, you start with a 2x multiplier in play on any win but when you trigger a win and the Rolling Reels feature kicks in, each Rolling Reels win will increase the multiplier by one. There is no upper limit on what the multiplier can climb to, so it is possible to put together a good run of wins to land a massive multiplier bonus win here.

Furthermore, if you land three Scatters on the reels during Free Spins, you will get three more Free Spins, while four more Scatters will award four additional Free Spins.

Another bonus feature is the Magic Forest Respin, which comes with a guaranteed Megaways win. This triggers when you land three-coin Scatters on the main reel set, as well as one of the two high value symbols on the extra reel at the top of the screen.

When this occurs, you land a re-spin of the reels which can then trigger a Megaways win, you then trigger additional respins each time you win until you land a spin that is not a winner. You can put together a number of wins consecutively to land some of the better value wins in the base game on this bonus.

Best feature of the Shamrock Holmes Megaways slot

There is no doubt that the Megaways feature does dominate this game somewhat but for me, I think the Rolling Reels feature in conjunction with that is what really makes this game appeal. The fact you can bundle together successive wins from a single spin makes this a powerful feature which can see you land some valuable big money wins in the base game.

Conclusion

Shamrock Holmes: Megaways is a fun and enjoyable slot that has been beautifully presented. It's rare to see a Megaways Microgamng slot but this one works well and the fact that Rolling Reels, plus a couple of high-quality bonus games are included in the game do mean that it is enjoyable. It's lower variance with some pretty low value wins for the main part, but you do hit those bigger wins often enough to make the game appealing.

You can play Shamrock Holmes Megaways slot at any of the Mega Moolah casinos.