Joker's Jewels Wild Slot Review

Joker's Jewels Wild's extra features are kept really basic; akin to a retro slot game. This makes them less dazzling, but it also makes them simple to understand and places the emphasis on the simple joy of spinning the reels. They comprise two kinds of scatters—star scatter and crown scatter—as well as growing wilds; each of which is examined more closely below:

Scatters

Unusually, the game includes two scatter symbols, but neither operates in the traditional way. Firstly there is the crown scatter which has the word ‘bonus’ below it. You might think as it is named such, this scatter will trigger a bonus feature such as free spins, but this is not the case. Instead, this symbol appears on all reels and awards a straightforward payout with 3, 4, or 5 earning 3x, 20x, or 100x the bet, accordingly.

The star scatter also does not trigger a bonus feature. This symbol can only land on reels 1, 3, and 5, and 3 of a kind (in any position on eligible reels) will award payouts of 40x.

Expanding Wilds

To assist players in creating all-important winning combos, the wild symbol in Joker's Jewels Wild can substitute any other symbol except the scatter and special scatter symbols. When it shows on reels 2, 3, and 4, it grows to span the whole reel vertically which is how the largest payouts of the slot can be achieved.

It feels as though through the Joker’s Jewels Wild slot, Pragmatic Play wants to present the humble and simple joy of classic slot machines to a modern audience. Do I think this has been successful? Yes and no. The overall presentation of the slot is great, and I love the use of a soundscape to draw on the immersive quality seen in modern video slots. The higher prize payouts place the slot somewhere between retro slots and modern slots but do not swing enough in either direction to be particularly noticeable. The math model of the game is great - so long as you play with the most optimal RTP, and it is great to see a low volatility slot in a market currently dominated by high-volatility titles. This makes the Joker’s Jewels Wild slot a perfect introductory slot for new players.

Where this slot falls short is the bonus features. I am particularly vexed by the ‘bonus’ crown scatter; as it triggers no bonus at all! So, why the team included the word in the symbols design leads me either to suspect this was the lazy application of a preexisting asset, or, that more features had been planned for the game, only to be cut. While it is nice to have a second scatter, as both symbols do exactly the same thing, the extra feels arbitrary - a sticky or mystery symbol would have been a far better fit. The expanding wild is a good feature, but it feels as though it needs to be backed up by a respin feature to give the game a little pizazz.

Overall, while perfect for new players and retro-slot purists, I can see the Joker’s Jewels Wild only being entertaining for a handful of spins, and unlikely to be anyone's favourite. For these reasons, I rate the Joker’s Jewels Wild slot at 5/10.

Rating: 5.1