Wed, Oct 10, 8:33am by Mia Chapman
Last Updated Thu, May 14, 3:03am
Twisted Circus is a pokie that points to the circuses of the past. It looks back to times when they were more ‘freak show’ than clowns and light entertainment. On the reels, you’ll meet a cast of dark characters. They include staples such as the bearded lady, the half-male – half-female, a strong man, Siamese twins and the dwarf ringmaster. Microgaming’s Twisted Circus has a dark feel to it, added to by a pair of bronze lion heads that overlook the reels.
This lively pokie uses the all-ways winning system, ensuring many more winning opportunities than a standard win-lines game. A sliding bet bar allows you to play for exactly the stakes you are comfortable with.
You’ll be striving to land the two bonus features. The first is a free spins bonus feature with an impressive multiplier applied to any win. Activate the ‘Circus Match’ bonus feature for a fun picks game with great rewards.
Playing a game for free can give the perfect ‘try before you buy’ chance. Fortunately, The Twisted Circus does have a free play option, ensuring you can get a real feel for the game before playing for real money. Check out the all-ways winning system and those bonus features in fun play mode and you’ll be all set to play for real cash.
Note that MicroGaming slots are not available for real money in Australia – and many casinos will limit access to the demo versions of too.
Before you first hit spin, you have one straightforward choice to make – the size of your stake. With the all-ways winning system in place, you have no worries about selecting win-lines. The cost of each spin is 30 credits, with the minimum stake being just 30c. Use the slider to increase your stake. At first, it rises by 30c as you move from stake to stake, but when you reach the higher stakes, the slider moves up in $6 denominations. The maximum stake per spin is $120.
The all-ways winning system means that you’ll win when landing matching symbols on 3, 4 or 5 reels consecutively from the left. The wild symbol shows the Twisted Circus logo of the pokie. This will substitute for any other symbol in the game, apart from the scatter and bonus. Land the wild on all five reels and you’ll win the biggest payout of 750 coins. The fire eater is the highest paying standard symbol, worth 250 coins when on all 5 reels.
There are a pair of bonus features in The Twisted Circus. The first is a free spins bonus feature and the second is an interesting picks game featuring some of the main characters from the freak show/circus.
Look out for the scatter symbol which features a pair of tickets to the circus. Land 2, 3, 4 or 5 of these scatters and you’ll bag an instant win of 1x, 2x, 10x or 100x your total stake. That 100x payout is the biggest single win you can land in the game. When three or more scatters hit, you’ll also enter the free spins bonus feature.
This feature sees you awarded a total of 13 free spins. This might be an unusual amount of spins, but it is completely fitting for the theme. Any time you land a win during the feature, the win amount will be multiplied by three. The good news is that the free spins can be retriggered at any time. Land three or more scatters during this feature and 15 more spins are added to your existing total.
This second bonus feature is activated when you land the ringmaster symbol on reels 3, 4 and 5. As with the scatter symbol, you’ll be awarded a win just by activating the feature, although this time it is a more modest 2x your total stake.
You’ll now be greeted with an entertaining picks game. You’ll start by seeing the ringleader stood next to the world’s tallest man before the latter will disappear to show a column featuring four of the game’s symbols, as well as the wild. Each of these displays a figure underneath and three empty markers alongside. The main part of the screen features a 4×4 grid of stars. You’ll pick each of these in turn, which will uncover one of the chosen symbols. You’ll win the amount underneath the symbol that you uncover three times first. A ‘wild’ pick will count as one pick for each of the symbols. Land three wilds first and you’ll win the total amount underneath each of the four symbols
There is no progressive jackpot available on The Twisted Circus. However, you can see from the paytable page that the maximum win is an incredible 83,200 coins. This is possible during the free spins bonus round, where those multipliers in conjunction with a series of wins could lead to that huge return.
This system makes it simpler to see when you’ve won. If the same symbol lands on reels 1, 2 and 3 you are guaranteed a win, irrespective of the position on the reel. Bigger wins will head your way when the symbol lands on reels 4, with the largest payouts coming when that symbol is on all five reels.
Having activated the free spins bonus, you’ll enjoy 13 free spins at the same bet level as the triggering spin. These literally are ‘free’ spins, as they come at no cost. Any win you land during the free spins also has the bonus of being multiplied by 3.
Yes, this popular pokie is available at most casinos featuring Microgaming titles. These are not currently available for real money in Australia.
