Charms & Clovers slot review

Charms and Clovers are part of the inventory in every Leprechaun's fortune-conjuring toolbox. But, you can also find these aplenty in a slot game that goes by that name. Betsoft puts you on the Emerald Isle where different charms can dance on the reel set and bring some potentially hefty prizes.

Right off the bat, the thing I like about Charms and Clovers is that it comes with three instant jackpots and a layout of reels and rows that steps outside the standard 3x5. The game has six reels, four rows and 40 paylines, which in my experience translates to fun-loving gameplay.

Initially, I thought that the sixth reel is just another piece of the reel set and not contributing much to the overall dynamic, but was I wrong. The game comes with four bonus features and these can trigger only from the sixth reel. In other words, none of the four different bonus symbols clutters the first five reels, leaving more room for the Wilds and the 12 standard paying symbols.

In terms of the payout potential, Charms and Clovers has a Colossal jackpot that can ring up a prize of 500x your bet. The base game can get eventful too and trigger payouts of up to 350,000 coins. But, to make a gain from your wager you’d need four or more symbols for half of those on the paytable.

With this in mind, I approached the game more conservatively to see how often (or not) the mathematical model responds favourably by stepping outside the low-paying symbol norm.

Theme and Design

Betsoft's designers have given the game its due Irish treatment. The entirety of the screen is steeped in green colour and there is the inevitable forest setting which is home to a smiling leprechaun. The fellow springs to life to celebrate your winning outcomes, bringing an extra tinge of fun to your visual field.

Another detail that I like is the musical theme. It’s peppy, optimistic and definitely compensates for the usual set of Irish-themed symbols, like horseshoes, pints of beer, clovers, rainbows, kettles, etc. If you don’t mind the same symbols being part of virtually every single game that has the Irish countryside as its premise, you may even come to truly enjoy the game design.

Extra Features

As I said, Charms and Clovers has four features that can liven up your gaming experience on any spin. Two of these features are different Free Spins modes with a kicker that can give a solid boost to the odds of landing a better win. A standard Wild makes itself imminent in the base game but also acts in the capacity of a high-paying symbol.

• Money Wheel

This is a simple 'Wheel of Fortune' type of bonus where you can win a multiplier of up to 15x your bet. One of the ten fields is plated in gold and takes you to the Super Wheel where you can win one of the instant jackpots. There is one caveat to this, however, and that is you have to bet the maximum of 5x your payline bet to enable the Super Wheel mode.

• Mega Symbol

The leprechaun is one of the highest-paying symbols on the paytable. This makes it the perfect one for the Mega Symbol Free Spins feature. If the respective bonus trigger lands on the sixth reel, you win eight spins with a high chance of treating you to one or more 3x3 leprechaun symbols. These can interact with other symbols of the same kind and result in a potentially hefty winning outcome.

• Pots'o'Gold

The second Free Spins feature also rewards you eight spins. Each round has a chance to land between one and three Wilds anywhere on the reels. While I like the above feature better compared to this one, one probability that I'm fond of seeing is when two Wilds land on the first three reels. As by unwritten rule, this kind of an outcome tends to result in a nice payout.

• Golden Bonus

If the corresponding bonus symbol (a pot with gold coins and a rainbow) lands on the sixth reel, you get to choose one of five pots and reveal a mixed bag of prizes of up to 20x your bet.

• Summary of the Extra Features

I’m left with a positive impression that the game isn’t stingy with the bonus features. You can enjoy the base game without having to endure long spells without one triggering. In terms of their potential, I find the Free Spins bonus with a colossal symbol to be potentially lucrative. This is my favourite bonus of Charms and Clovers but it is also the one that comes about at a lesser frequency.

Bets and Payouts

There are five betting levels per payline and a coin value ranging from one penny to one pound per line. As you can guess, the range of bets is quite wide but with the smallest bet of 40p per spin, Charms and Clovers isn't quite cheap to try.

If you are betting two pennies per payline, to the effect of 80p per spin, the potential prizes expressed in pounds are as follows:

• Low-paying symbols

Jack: 0.10, 0.20, 0.50, 1.00

Queen: 0.10, 0.20, 0.50, 1.00

King: 0.20, 0.50, 1.00, 2.00

Ace: 0.40, 0.80, 1.60, 8.00

BAR: 0.50, 1.00, 2.00, 4.00

• Medium-paying symbols

Pint of beer: 0.60, 1.50, 3.00, 6.00

Horseshoe: 0.80, 2.00, 4.00, 8.00

Pot of gold: 1.00, 3.00, 6.00, 12.00

Clover: 1.50, 4.00, 8.00, 16.00

• High-paying symbols

Golden seven: 2.00, 5.00, 10.00, 20.00

Rainbow: 5.00, 10.00, 20.00, 40.00

Leprechaun: 10.00, 20.00, 40.00, 100.00

Wild: 3.00, 6.00, 12.00, 200.00

A quick glance at the paytable makes it obvious that payouts for the low symbols will throw your balance off-balance. The medium and high symbols are actually decent. But, the odds of getting matching combinations of these across the reel set are understandably smaller.

Conclusion

Most of the winning outcomes on Charms and Clovers consist of low-paying symbols and there is really not much in it for you. I got the occasional win across multiple paylines but not as often enough as I would have hoped. I was also disappointed that the Wild symbol is virtually missing in action.

All of this puts the focus on the extra features. I can freely say that the features provide a decent chance to compensate for the eventual losses in the base game. But, at the same time they create room for a possible big win during one of the Free Spins bonuses.

I enjoyed the game but I wouldn’t return for another go ever, simply because it costs at least £2.00 per spin if you want to unlock the possibility of winning one of the not-so-great jackpot prizes.