Wheel of Wishes slot: Game concept and game features explained

With whispers of an imminent release there is no doubt that one of this year's biggest and best games is going to be Alchemy Gaming's new Wheel of Wishes slot.

The release, which is part of a deal that the company have struck with Microgaming, will see a brand-new progressive jackpot slot game released as part of the Microgaming Progressive Network.

This is the second such release in the space of a few months, following on from the smash hit success of the Mega Vault Millionaire progressive, the Mega Moolah-powered slot game that was released exclusively in Casino Rewards casinos back in November 2019.

However, unlike that slot, the Wheel of Wishes game has redefined what is possible from a Microgaming progressive jackpot slot, with the eye-watering news that its top progressive jackpot prize, called the WowPot, will be seeded at an incredible £2 million. That is double the current seed amount of the Mega Moolah slot.

This news has understandably got the slot playing community very excited, but it is important to note that Microgaming and Alchemy Gaming have not simply used the hugely successful Mega Moolah game structure as a prototype and simply upped the value of the largest progressive jackpot prize. The Wheel of Wishes slot is very different to Mega Moolah on many levels and in particular in term of how the game is structured, its overall concept and the features that it utilises within the game.

In this article, we are going to explore a little more about these concepts and features to get beneath the skin of what is likely to be one of the biggest slot releases not just of 2020, but of the decade going forward.

So, let's begin by taking a look at the basic concept behind the Wheel of Wishes slot, starting with what the game is about.

The Wheel of Wishes slot concept

The concept for the Wheel of Wishes slot was to create a different kind of progressive jackpot game to what Microgaming already had available. The company runs a massively successful stable of progressives, led by the incomparable Mega Moolah slot, and it has paid out over a billion in prize money to various winners over the years.

However, Alchemy Gaming and Microgaming wanted a game to add to that collection that offered something a little different and this is how the concept of the Wheel of Wishes slot started.

The theme of the slot is an Arabian Nights theme, with the Genie in a Bottle playing a central role. The backdrop of the slot is a sandy Arabian desert and the higher value symbols on the reels are all linked into that theme. This is further enhanced by an Arabian-sounding soundtrack which plays when you hit the spin button.

It seems clear that Microgaming wanted to keep the four-progressive structure for the new games and that is the case here, with the Mini, Minor and Major jackpots alongside the massive WowPot jackpot. While the seed amounts for the Mini and Minor jackpot prizes are on a par with those for the Mega Moolah slot (10 and 100), both the Major and WowPot jackpots are seeded at larger amounts (50,000 and 2 million respectively).

Therefore, it looks very much like the thinking behind the Wheel of Wishes slot was to produce a game that would offer a similar experience to Mega Moolah in terms of how the game looks and the number of jackpots available, but which also offered larger jackpot prizes for the top two jackpots in particular, as well as very different game mechanics that lead up to the triggering of these jackpot features.

To get a better understanding of exactly how Alchemy Gaming have done this, we need to explore some of the main features of the slot and how the game combines the progressive jackpot element of the slot, with the main base game and key features.

The Wheel of Wishes slot base game and key features

At first glance, when you see the 5x3 reel set up of the Wheel of Wishes slot, it is tempting to think you have a Mega Moolah clone, but the truth is that the Wheel of Wishes slot is very different to Microgaming's timeless classic progressive as underneath the bonnet, it is a very different game, with different features, and a different methodology behind how these features interact to create the overall slot experience.

Sure, you have a 5x3 reel slot, but in Wheel of Wishes there are just 10 pay lines in play and spins can start at just 0.10 per game. That is a small amount for a progressive jackpot game, and it does mean that Wheel of Wishes is a progressive that can now appeal to those smaller stakes players who didn't want to spend a great deal per spin to play for a progressive jackpot prize.

What else is also immediately discernible is that in the base game on the Wheel of Wishes slot, you do win relatively frequently, although the amounts you win are not particularly large. As such, this means that the Wheel of Wishes base game moves away from the typically higher variance end of the spectrum, more into a mid-variance game.

The wins in the base game are not as large as you can find on some other progressives, but they are more aimed at keeping a player's bankroll going, rather than offering a sizeable alternative win to the progressive jackpot.

The Wild symbol is useful in the base game and can lead to some important and valuable additional wins, but it is the Power Spin Scatter that is the key to unlocking potentially the more lucrative aspects of the slot.

If you play the game as standard, then each time you land two of the Power Spin symbols on the reels, you will trigger the Power Spin bonus feature, which is active for just one additional (free) spin. However, what is nice is that you can elect to click the Power Spin feature on before a spin. This will increase the size of your standard bet by 10x the standard amount (so if you were playing a minimum bet of 0.10 per spin, your Power Spin bet would be 1.00) but it would mean that every spin of the reels you make is a Power Spin.

This is key as the Power Spin you play is the only way you can access a chance to land one of the progressive jackpot prizes in the game.

On a Power Spin, the first and fifth reels on the slot will all randomly turn into a single stack of the same symbol, selected at random from those on the reels. The middle three reels then merge into a single large reel and on that reel are large 3x3 symbols of the standard symbols on the reels.

If you can match the large symbol and the stacked symbols on the first and fifth reels, you can win across multiple lines and land a much larger win than you can get in the base game.

However, if you can land the Power Spin Scatter in full on that single middle reel (in full means completely on the reel, with no part of the large symbol not displayed) then you trigger the Wheel of Wishes Progressive Jackpot Bonus game.

In this game, you get to spin the Wheel of Wishes to win one of the four progressive jackpot prizes. Of course, your chances of landing the Mini or Minor progressive jackpots are higher than the Major or the Wowpot, but if you can trigger either of these jackpot prizes then you could be pocketing a massive amount of money.

These are the only features on the Wheel of Wishes slot and it is key to know that unlike the Mega Moolah slot, where every spin could trigger a shot at the progressive jackpots available, you need to trigger the Power Spin bonus and then a shot at the Wheel of Wishes Progressive Jackpot Bonus game in order to land a progressive prize.

There's no doubt that Wheel of Wishes will be one of the most eagerly anticipated and played slots of 2020. It is going to be interesting to see just how often that massive jackpot prize is awarded and who the first ever lucky winner of a £2 million-seeded jackpot prize will be!

You can follow all the latest Wheel of Wishes news right here on MegaMoolah.com!

Where to play the Wheel of Wishes slot?

You can play the Wheel of Wishes slot at any of the MegaMoolah.com casinos!