Mermaids: Slot Overview

Take a deep breath and plunge into NetEnt’s online slot Mermaids, a title that shimmers beneath the waves. Alongside its appeal to players who enjoy a touch of mermaid magic, it can also suit anyone who likes gathering items from the reels, as collecting them can set off not one but 3 separate bonus rounds with different strengths, purposes, and appeal—ranging from a pick-and-click style feature to a premium free-spin round with Random Wilds.

It’s curious how mermaids are almost always depicted as attractive—unless they’re deliberately designed to be frightening. Traditionally, they’re shown as beautiful women, often portrayed as willing to pass oxygen by mouth to stranded humans who need help underwater. The four main characters in Mermaids follow that familiar template, living in a fizzy realm of glowing light and sunken riches. NetEnt presents an inviting undersea setting for players to test their luck, although how much “help” these mermaids provide when your bankroll starts sinking is another question.

Mermaids plays out on a 5-reel grid, with 3 rows per reel and 40 paylines, where wins must begin from the leftmost reel. Lurking in its own dark, bubbling cave is a highly volatile math model, delivering a default RTP of 96.09%. To jump in and play, you’ll need to choose a stake from 10 c to $/€40 per spin.

The paytable uses 9 to A card royals as the low symbols, followed by 4 character symbols as the premiums. The two top-value character symbols pay when 2 or more land together, while all other symbols require at least 3 of a kind to award a payout. A full line of five matching royals returns 3 to 20 times the bet, rising to 30 to 100x for five identical mermaid symbols.

Mermaids: Slot Features

Mermaids can be a solid fit if you’re the kind of player who enjoys collecting mechanics. Here, you can gather three Progress Wilds, and once enough have been collected, they unlock 3 different bonus rounds.

Wild Symbols

There are 4 different wild symbols in Mermaids—3 are Progress Wilds and 1 regular wild that appears only via the Random Wilds feature. All wilds substitute for any regular pay symbol to help form winning lines. Each Progress Wild contributes toward the Progress Globe it corresponds to. Once a Progress Globe is filled, it activates its feature. These are the Picker Bonus, Wild Spins, and Mermaid Spins explained further below.

Picker Bonus

The game begins with 10 Purple Progress Globes collected, and once you reach 15, you receive 3 picks in the Picker Bonus. When the Picker Bonus starts, prizes are randomised, and you can uncover any of the following: 2x to 50x the bet, Mermaid Spins, and Wild Spins. Winnings are paid out after all picks are completed. If Mermaid Spins or Wild Spins are revealed, the feature triggers without changing the Progress Globes.

Wild Spins

The game starts with 10 Green Progress Globes collected. After reaching 30 Green Progress Globes, 10 free spins are awarded and the Random Wilds feature are activated. Green Progress Wild symbols cannot appear during Wild Spins. The Random Wilds feature places 2 to 6 regular wilds onto the reels.

Mermaid Spins

The game starts with 10 White Progress Globes collected. When you reach 60 White Progress Globes, 10 free spins begin with the Random Wild feature activate, and no royal symbols appear on the grid. As before, the Random Wilds feature adds 2 to 6 wild symbols to the reels. White Progress Wild symbols cannot appear during this feature.

Mermaids: Slot Verdict

Mermaids might be famous for rescuing people from perilous waters, but Mermaids the slot—ironically—could have used a bit more rescuing itself. What played out during the review felt merely average: the deep-sea atmosphere was decent, the mermaid cast was, well, full of character, and the collection mechanic kept things moving. Still, Mermaids is a fairly lightweight slot, and the collecting focus may not be for everyone. That’s less a complaint and more a warning, as some players will prefer a gentler underwater trip rather than the slot equivalent of being tossed into deep water and told to swim hard through rough seas.

Mermaids can also favour patient players, since its most desirable stage, Mermaid Spins, needs the highest number of Progress Wild symbols to activate. With 60 collected White Progress Wilds required, you probably shouldn’t hold your breath waiting for it—though you could get fortunate in the Picker Bonus and access it that way. Reels filled with Random Wilds and no royals may be the best chance to reach Mermaids’ peak potential, or at least come close. Even so, with a top win of 1,974.3x the bet, this isn’t exactly the kind of “lost treasure” that would send hunters worldwide combing the oceans with state-of-the-art gear. If anything, it’s the reverse.

That’s Mermaids. It’s a decent little game if you like the idea of exploring dim underwater scenery alongside mythical sea creatures. It also helps if the concept of collecting wilds sounds appealing. However, Mermaids likely won’t satisfy players who prioritise big, intense, nonstop gameplay with real punch.