Moon Princess Trinity: Slot Overview

I considered opening this review by rattling off a few memorable moments from 2017, but after skimming a couple of lists, most of it felt pretty bleak. Thankfully, that was also the year software developer Play’n GO released Moon Princess, an anime-inspired slot that quickly won over a huge number of online players. Since then, the original’s popularity has led to several follow-ups, including Moon Princess 100 and Moon princess Christmas Kingdom. Now the series comes full circle again with another entry called Moon Princess Trinity.

Moon Princess Trinity doesn’t come across as a title designed to replace the first game. There are some tweaks, but nothing that radically changes the overall experience. Players are welcomed by a familiar scene, with the three princesses positioned beside the grid to show which Girl Power might activate. Beyond that, it largely sticks to the established template; if you’re after an anime-style slot, the Moon Princess lineup remains one of the best-known choices around.

The action plays out on a 5-reels by 5-rows grid, where the aim is to land winning combinations of at least three symbols in length. Wins can start from any spot and connect horizontally or vertically, and a single symbol can count in more than one combination. Built on a highly volatile math model, the game offers a top return to player of 96.2%, although with five RTP configurations, it may be set lower. Stakes run from 10 p/c to $/€100, and Moon Princess’ return is available on any device.

Along with influencing the reels through modifiers, the three princesses also feature as the three premium pay symbols, paying 3x the bet for a pure five-of-a-kind or 2x the bet for a mixed princess symbol five-of-a-kind. Beneath them on the paytable are four lower-paying items, which award 1 times the bet for a five symbol winning line. Those wins can then set off a range of features, covered below.

Moon Princess Trinity: Slot Features

Rather than introducing something wildly different in Moon Princess Trinity, the features from earlier versions have been adjusted and rearranged, so they behave in a similar way but with a slightly different feel. This is how it works. When winning combinations land, they are removed, and the remaining symbols drop down to close the spaces – new symbols don’t fall in from above like they typically would in a cascade. Instead, winning combos leave a wild symbol behind. Wilds substitute for any pay symbol, and winning wild lines pay up to 5 times the bet for a five-of-a-kind.

Win Multiplier

On top of that, you’ll notice subtle blue lines framing random positions on the grid. Any win that hits a highlighted area increases the win multiplier by +1. The win multiplier resets between paid spins.

Girl Power

Moon Princess Trinity’s three ladies serve a purpose beyond the visuals. Each one has a reel modifying power. On non-winning spins, there’s a chance the currently shown lady activates one of these powers:

• Love – changes a group of symbols.
• Star – places 1 or 2 wild symbols onto the grid.
• Storm – clears two groups of symbols.

Trinity

Next to the reels is a golden meter split into three segments. Hitting a 3, 4, or 5-of-a-kind princess symbol win fills 1, 2, or 3 segments, respectively. Filling the meter fully activates a Trinity game round. Trinity is one free game round where Love, Star, and Storm each perform their modifier. If the grid is cleared during Trinity, the feature is triggered again, and the win multiplier is not reset.

Clear Grid

Finally, clearing the game grid on a standard non-Trinity spin pays 50 times the bet. FYI, if wild symbols are the only symbols in view on the grid, they will be removed.

Moon Princess Trinity: Slot Verdict

Moon Princess Trinity left me with a few competing reactions, each trying to become the final takeaway. On the one hand, Moon Princess is a long-standing Play’n GO favourite that has entertained players for years and has produced multiple sequels like Moon Princess 100, Moon Princess Christmas Kingdom, plus theme-adjacent spin-offs such as Rise of Olympus 100 and Sisters of the Sun. In short, the formula has clearly worked for Play’n GO, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Moon Princess Trinity isn’t the last time we see it.

Because the core gameplay can still be as compelling as ever, releasing more versions of Moon Princess isn’t exactly a disaster for online slots, even if it’s not the most inventive move. A lot of Moon Princess Trinity does feel very familiar. Still, removing free spins shifts much of the attention onto the Trinity spin, which explains the title, although there’s no longer the option to choose a favourite princess, which may annoy some players. Another adjustment is the value of winning combinations, which has been reduced quite a bit. For example, a 5 OAK princess win pays 3x the bet compared with 10x the bet in Moon Princess. That may have been done to balance out the rising multiplier, but it also means Moon Princess Trinity offers lower overall potential – 4,000x versus the 5,000x in the original.

A max win figure isn’t everything in an online slot, but sequels that come in lower can feel a bit strange. Even so, most players won’t ever hit a game’s maximum, and from that perspective, Moon Princess Trinity is roughly as fun as Moon Princess was—perhaps slightly less, but not by a huge margin. It’s worth trying if the first game, or the many releases since, appealed to you, though there’s still a sense that Moon Princess Trinity reinforces the idea that ‘you can’t beat the original.’