Magic Charms Pokie Machine
Pokies usually feature some type of theme, and some of the most popular are mysticism, magic, and Irish culture. Magic Charms, from Microgaming, manages to squeeze all of this into a single game, which ends up kind of confused, but still looks good and comes complete with several bonus features to compensate for the mixed-up subject matters.
Glossing over this, what we have here is a colourful pokie with 5 reels and the popular 243 Ways to Win format. Players will see their bankrolls boosted with a couple of free spins rounds, stacked wilds, bonus payouts and even a potentially rewarding (or risky), gamble game.
Working Its’ Charm
Bright purple reels covered in big, bold symbols take up most of the screen, with a background image of a magical forest of giant mushrooms and trees peeking out from behind them. The game title is above, while below the reels we find the control buttons that are used to actually play the game with.
The 243 Ways to Win system means that any time matching symbols land on adjacent reels, starting from the one on the left, players will win a prize. There are no conventional paylines, so it doesn’t matter where on the reel they land, and all possible combinations are automatically covered.
This means that players simply have to decide their stake and click to spin the reels, either manually for each spin, or by setting up the Autoplay function which will run for a number of rounds or stop when pre-determined win/lose limits are reached.
The minimum wager per spin is 0.25 and they can adjust up to a maximum of 50.00, which should be enough to suit the majority of players except those with the smallest and biggest of budgets.
The View Pays button opens up a payout schedule that lists potential wins and details how each bonus feature works. Microgaming have decided to use the universal 9, 10, J, Q, K and A symbols for the lower values, while higher-paying ones consist of images some fairly random, but no less attractive symbols.
So we have a red rose, pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and a diamond ring, none of which seem related to each other, but never mind we will let that pass and skip on to the bonus features next.
Magic Charms
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Magical Bonuses?
This game comes with 3 wild symbols, each confined to just a single reel, with the frog prince hopping onto reel number 2 and the princess gracing reel 4. They will each substitute for other symbols to help make up winning combinations and if they both land at the same time they magically turn into expanding wilds, covering all their respective reels and in the case of the frog, turning into a handsome prince.
There’s one more reward for landing this combination, as both expanded wilds will stay in place as 3 free spins play out, which may not be many spins, but players stand a good chance of getting a win or two from them.
The magic wand is the third wild symbol, and although it only appears on the middle reel, it will double the value of any winning line that it completes.
There’s a further bonus round that’s unlocked when the treasure chest lands on the left side reel and the key on the right one at the same time. It’s a simple matter of the chest opening up to reveal a bonus prize, with no input from the players needed.
Lots of Microgaming pokies, this one included, have a double-up gamble game which players can choose to try out after a winning spin. To double the triggering bet they need to correctly guess the colour of a playing card and to quadruple it, the need to pick the right suit. If they are right, they can either collect the new win or go again, but if they get it wrong at any point, the round ends and they lose the bet.
Magic or Tragic?
As long as players are not put off by the confused theme(s) to this pokie, they should find it a fun and potentially rewarding game to play. The multiple wild symbols can help to bring in quite a few extra wins, while there’s the nice bonus of free spins when the frog and princess decide to drop in together.
The treasure chest bonus is just a quick extra round, but can pay out some decent prizes so it’s well worth waiting for, but as always, players should treat the double-up gamble round with care, as successfully multiplying a bet over and over is tricky to say the least.