The Twisted Circus Slots
The Twisted Circus is a visually impressive online Poker machine from Microgaming that features a couple of nice bonus rounds and the 243 Ways to Win layout that can bring in lots of winning combinations.
Set in a freak show, populated by characters like a contortionist, conjoined twins, bearded lady and so on, this is a distinctly weird looking game and a nice change from the multitude of pokies that look designed for kids, even when everyone playing them needs to be over 18. This one certainly isn't, and it's all a bit dark and, well, twisted.
The backdrop consists of a bright red curtain draped across the top of the reels and some gold coloured lion heads as a bit of added decoration. Circus music, which players may want to mute pretty quickly, plays in the background, although I suppose it adds to the atmosphere, it’s just not for me.
The Twisted Circus
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How To Play The Twisted Circus
Although it has the standard 5 reel layout, The Twisted Circus is one of several Microgaming pokies that does away with paylines and awards a payout whenever 3 or more identical symbols line up on adjacent reels, starting from the left hand side. Obviously, the more reels that have the same symbol on them, the bigger the subsequent wins will be, while all payouts except Scatter wins are a multiple of the coins bet.
With the 243 Ways to Win layout, it’s not possible to choose just a single line, as players would then have to wager 243 coins at minimum to cover all possible outcomes, so the game is set up with a smallest stake of just 0.30 and players just choose to bet between 1 and 20 coins per spin for a maximum of 60.00 a go.
Moving on to the symbols, there are eight basic characters, all very well presented, and thankfully there are no clowns as they are just weird. The Monkey is the lowest value one, paying out 5 to 70 coins when between 3 and 5 land on adjacent reels, with the Fire-Breather being the richest one, rewarding players with anything from 40 to 250 coins.
One of the symbols that isn’t a character is the Twisted Circus logo Wild, that can create multiple wins when it substitutes for others to match up any of the same kind of symbols, animating the ones in the winning combination and tripling the base value that the symbol on its own would have been worth.
The Scatter Ticket symbol pays multiples of the total bet, with anything from 30 to 3000x to be claimed. Any 3 or more Scatters will also start off 13 free spins. Why 13? Because it’s twisted, that’s why.
Tripled payouts during the free spins are definitely not twisted however, and the biggest possible prize of 416,000 coins can be won in this round.
A nice second bonus game starts off when the Ringmaster turns up on reels 3, 4 and 5 at the same time. Players are taken through to a second screen whereupon they will see a grid of 16 spots and the aim is to click on them in turn to reveal 3 identical symbols for a prize. Once 3 matches have been found, the round ends. Not all symbols are featured here, making it easier to get matches, and a special Wild symbol helps even further, substituting for any and letting players carry on picking for multiple prizes. So if the Wild is revealed and completes a set of 3 symbols, the round can be played again.
A Nice Twist, Or A Predictable Pokie?
The Twisted Circus is a genuinely entertaining Poker machine that’s visually impressive and has a theme that will appeal to many people. Microgaming’s 243 Ways to Win system has proved very popular with players, leading to frequent smaller wins rather than occasional bigger ones, although I found the bonus rounds get triggered less often than I would have liked. It may have just been my typical luck, and others may hit them over and over.
When they do start however, the bonus game and free spins are quite rewarding, making this an essential game to try out at online casinos that carry the trusted Micogaming range,