There’s millions of pages online dedicated to the life and work of Michael Jackson, some good, some bad, but here’s an impartial look at the Michael Jackson King of Pop pokie from Bally Technologies that outlines what players can expect when they open it up at their favourite online or land-based casinos.
Fans of Jackson will be instantly attracted to these reels, especially when they find out that a selection of his top tunes can be played out while the game is in progress. Presented over 5 reels and with 25 paylines across them, it’s a game filled with images of the man himself, along with the tools of his trade like a hat, the famous sequined white glove and sunglasses.
It’s also filled with bonus features such as wild substitutions, special wilds, and a wheel of fortune that can lead to 2 free spins games, so let’s moonwalk over to this pokie and take a look at how it all comes together.
Designed with the care and attention to detail that Bally Technologies are known for, Michael Jackson King Of Pop plays out against an atmospheric backdrop of falling rain backlit by stage lights. That looks like a guaranteed way of ruining a concert, but in a dry casino it looks very nice, while the actual reels are surrounded by twinkling lights for an added effect.
Along with the unique picture symbols, Bally have included the playing card icons 9, 10, J, Q, K and A which will line up for the lower-value and therefore more frequent wins, although each of them has been made over with extra sparkle to add to the overall theme.
Prizes are awarded whenever players see 3, 4 or 5 of the same symbol type on adjacent reels running from the left side, with each needing to be across one of the paylines.
A big sparkly wild symbol will help them to achieve these combinations, as it can act as all others, with the exception of the scatter symbol, if it’s then possible to complete a line, and as the reels spin, players will notice several bonus symbols appearing, each of which will lead to some further rewards.
There’s a second Moonwalk wild that will double the value of any line it completes, and between 2 and 5 of these will turn up when Jocko does his signature backwards walking trick across the reels. Another in-play feature are the stacked wilds that can randomly turn 2 reels fully wild for the potential of multiple wins in a single spin.
With either of these, if there are jackpot or bonus symbols on the reels, these will act as further wilds, so there’s bound to be some nice prizes in these quick, but rewarding features.
That’s not the end of the bonuses though, as Michael Jackson has a couple more treats up his sequined sleeves, triggered when the bonus symbol appears on the middle reel. This takes players to a wheel of fortune type set -up and they get a single spin of the wheel, winning the prizes featured on the section that stops against a pointer.
Along with instant cash payouts, there are also a couple of free spins rounds to be won. The Beat It spins sees 10 free games playing out and any time a wild symbols lands on reels 2, 3 or 4, it will stay locked in place for the rest of them. This can lead to lots of wilds being in effect towards the end of the round, for some multiple wins.
The other free spins game is the Smooth Criminal round, where just 5 will be awarded, but during these 2 reels are fully wild in the following pattern. The first spin sees reel 5 wild, the second has reels 4 and 5 wild, followed by the third spin where it’s the turn of reels 3 and 4. On the fourth spin, reels 2 and 3 will be wild and on the last, it’s reels 1 and 2, which guarantees that winning combinations will occur whatever is on reel 3.
Fans of Michael Jackson will love everything this pokie has to offer, but those who are less keen on him and his music should still take a look, as there’s quite a lot of potential wins to enjoy.
Even the base game can be enhanced by the random wild features that get added from time to time, but it’s the bonus rounds that are the real stars of the show, as any free spins game with sticky wilds and guaranteed wins is going to be a No.1 hit with pokie players worldwide.