Lady Merlin Lightning Chase: Slot Overview

Running on Relax Gaming, Lady Merlin Lighting Chase is a magic-driven slot created by Boomerang. The game puts a twist on the Merlin myth, reimagining the well-known Arthurian wizard as a witch. Rather than bothering with Arthur and the round table, she’s far more focused on the mysterious craft of alchemy. For players, that translates into plenty of lightning action through prize collect symbols, free spins, and Boomerang’s Boom+ ante bet feature.

When Lady Merlin Lightning Chase appears, it gives off a bit of a Fantasma Games vibe. The muted colour scheme and slightly underworld-like mood echo what you see in several Fantasma titles, along with the strong fantasy theme. This one isn’t set underground, though—it takes place in a hidden forest, with the reels framed by a stone castle/wall-style structure. You can also spot connections to other Boomerang releases as the studio continues shaping its identity. Lady Merlin, for example, has the same big-eyed anime style Gems of Egypt featured, and the overall feel is reminiscent of Gargoyles Infinity Reels.

Gameplay runs on a 5-reel layout built in a 3-4-3-4-3 configuration, which creates 432 ways to win. Players can pick between two modes using the Boom+ ante up option. With it turned off, bets range from 25 p/c to $/€5 and volatile is set to medium. Switching Boom+ on lifts the stake range to 40 p/c to $/€8 and pushes volatile to medium-high. The upside is that wild symbols get a significant upgrade, and additional features are opened up. The RTP also changes slightly, moving from 95.69% without Boom+ to 95.95% with Boom+. It’s not a dramatic RTP jump, but the impact on potential is huge.

In Lady Merlin, payouts land when three matching symbols connect from left to right, beginning on reel 1. As is typical with many ante bet-style options, paying extra doesn’t boost base symbol payouts. The paytable starts with 4 J-A card ranks at the lower end, followed by 5 differently coloured potion symbols as the premium set, each kept in larger, more detailed bottles. In terms of returns, a five of a kind using premium symbols pays 3.6 to 10 times your stake.

Wilds gain the most from Boom+. With Boom+ disabled, wilds replace all symbols except the collect symbol. With Boom+ enabled, wilds can also substitute for the collect symbol and scatter. Whenever wilds help form a win, the payout is multiplied by their win multiplier. In the base game, that multiplier is x2, and it increases during free spins. Finally, wilds only appear on reels 2 and 4.

Lady Merlin Lightning Chase: Slot Features

To chase the bigger payouts, players need to collect lightning coil symbols or set off the free spins round. Lightning coils can show up anywhere, on any spin, and display a bet multiplier from 1 to 100 times the stake. If they appear alongside a collect symbol on reel 3 (or a wild when Boom+ is switched on), every value currently visible is paid out.

When 6 lightning coils land without a collect symbol, they become locked in place and 3 respins are granted. If more lightning symbols land during a respin, the respin count resets to 3 and the new symbols lock as well. If a collect tile lands, all prizes are paid, respins are rest to 3, and every position is respun.

With Boom+ enabled, landing 3 or more scatters (including wilds) awards 10 free spins. During free spins, any scatter or wild increases the wild multiplier by +1 and also grants +1 extra free spin. On top of that, free spins may also be awarded randomly in the base game, provided no respin triggers and the free spins feature isn’t won via scatters. To avoid any confusion, you can only trigger free spins when Boom+ is active.

Lady Merlin Lightning Chase: Slot Verdict

Boom+ is the standout idea in Lady Merlin, and it’s easy to feel torn about it. The main annoyance is that you genuinely have to pay extra to reach free spins and access the slot’s full upside. Once the ante bet is on, the difference from the enhanced wild is immediately noticeable too—more so than in some other games with similar mechanics. Boom+ clearly makes the game more fun, but it can also burn through a bankroll much quicker.

Still, Boom+ changes things so much that playing Lady Merlin Lightning Chase without it feels hard to justify—for a few key reasons. Since the wild can substitute for every symbol, you end up gathering far more lightning coils because you’re no longer dependent only on the hard-to-find collect symbol. To repeat the crucial point, Boom+ lets wilds substitute for the scatter and is the only way to trigger free spins. Notably, Boomerang’s math team has set the Boom+ cost so the RTP stays fairly close, meaning that over the long run, players should receive a similar overall return regardless of mode. Individually, though, Boom+ massively shifts maximum win potential. With Boom+ off, the top win is 3,808x the stake. With it on, the maximum jumps to 25,600x the bet, which makes the lower mode feel somewhat redundant.

In the end, Lady Merlin Lightning Chase is a noteworthy—but also irritating—entry in the Boomerang catalogue. There’s plenty to like: the visuals are appealing, the features connect smoothly, and the potential is strong. The question is whether that’s enough to offset the debate. Those strengths really shine only if you’re prepared to pay for the pricier mode, which some players may see as a bit of an insult.