Spellmaster: Slot Overview

Calling all fans of the arcane—want to “Cast your way to victory?” Then you’ve landed in the right place, as that line comes straight from the tagline for Pragmatic Play’s slot Spellmaster, a title built around sorcery, enchantments, and illusion. It also comes with a hefty max win, although the route to potential profits isn’t Pragmatic Play’s most imaginative, leaning on a rather plain hold ’n’ win-style respins round where up to three modifiers can be in play.

Visually, Spellmaster looks much like you’d anticipate from the name. In the base game, braziers glow inside a refined circular chamber filled with books and other mysterious odds and ends. Above the reels, three portals to the respins feature—known as stashes—sparkle and crackle, and once the bonus kicks in, the swirling background changes depending on which modifiers launched the feature. The soundtrack feels a touch mismatched—more Egyptian/Arabic in vibe than magical—but it’s not a major issue.

As per the developer, Spellmaster is rated ‘very high‘ for volatility, and among the three RTP options, 96.5% is the most attractive. Most of the time, players will be spinning on a 5×3 gaming area with 50 paylines packed in, although the layout expands during respins when the Golden Orb is involved. Stakes run from 10c to a maximum of $/€250 per spin.

The paytable contains ten symbols: 10-A card ranks, sceptres, bottles, books, and owls. Landing 5 matching royals pays 1x the bet, while 5-of-a-kind premium combinations return 2x-4x the bet. The wild symbol features a wizard and can land on every reel except the leftmost. Wilds substitute for any standard paying symbol and are only available in the base game.

Spellmaster: Slot Features

Spellmaster’s headline mechanic is its respins round, activated by landing Bonus Orbs. There are three types of Bonus Orbs that may show up on the reels.

• Golden Orb – gets collected by the Jackpots stash on top of the reels. When collected, it can randomly trigger the respins feature. Respins with the Golden Orb active are played on a 5×6 grid, where landed Golden Bonus Orbs reveal a random Jackpot name. Collect 3 of the same Jackpot names to win an award. Possible awards are the 12.5x Mini, 30x Minor, 125x Major, 1,000x Mega, or the 1,875x Grand.
• Red Orb – gets collected by the Multiply stash, and can randomly trigger the respins feature when collected. Respins with the Multiply active randomly award a multiplier for up to 10 Money symbols when a Red Orb hits. For the first 9 Money symbols, the multiplier is x2, while for the 10th symbol, it can be x2 to x10. The same Money symbols can be multiplied up to 4 times per respin round.
• Blue Orb – gets collected by the Charge stash above the reels, and may trigger respins. When respins are active with the Charge modifier active, every Blue Orb that hits randomly selects a Money symbol on screen to increase its value with random amounts on every respin. Possible incremental values range from 0.3x to 25x the bet.

Orb collection happens after the spin finishes and can randomly grant one, two, or three modifiers. The respins that follow are then played with every modifier awarded.

Respins Feature

Money symbols only appear in the respins round and hold values of 0.3x to 25x the bet. Once respins begin, regular symbols disappear, leaving only blanks, Bonus Orbs, or Money symbols to land. In addition to any modifiers awarded at the start, modifiers that weren’t initially given can be activated when their related Bonus Orbs are collected. The feature starts with 3 respins, and every time a Money symbol or Bonus Orb lands, the respin counter resets to three. Money symbols lock in position until the round is over. If the respins end or the grid fills completely, the feature stops and the appropriate payout is awarded. Filling every position awards 40,000x the bet.

Feature Buy

Players can also start the respins round instantly by purchasing it for 50x the bet. When respins are bought, the triggering spin will award one, two, or three modifiers.

Spellmaster: Slot Verdict

Is it just us, or are slots featuring collection meters that can launch a bonus with different modifiers—depending on what’s been gathered (plus a dose of randomness)—spreading faster than ever? Games Global studios have used the approach for some time, Push Gaming rolled out comparable ideas with 3 Magic Pots and Wild Swarm Triple Hive, and prior to this Pragmatic Play delivered Gem Trio and Lucky’s Wild Pub. Spellmaster now joins that growing pile.

In the base game, landing Bonus Orbs was easily the most engaging part. Even with plenty of paylines on a 5×3 setup, big standard line wins didn’t seem to show up all that often. Still, the base game isn’t really the main attraction—respins are where the attention goes, since that’s where the standout max exposure becomes a technical possibility. That’s especially true with a feature buy cost that’s fairly modest compared to many modern releases. Triggering respins with the Jackpot modifier is a bit of a mixed blessing. On the plus side, you get a larger play area to potentially drop more Money symbols or Golden Orbs, though the Jackpot amounts aren’t particularly impressive. On the downside, because the 40,000x win cap is achievable by filling the grid in respins, it raises the question: in some respects, might a smaller reel set actually offer better odds?

If that enormous max win number wasn’t looming in the background like Big Brother’s watchful eye, Spellmaster would lose a lot of its appeal; as it is, a quiet base game is paired with a fairly unremarkable bonus round that offers very little that feels fresh or genuinely exciting.