Magic Ian Slot Machine
Do you believe in magic? Whether the answer is yes or no, most people can at least get a little enjoyment out of the mesmerizing tricks of a great stage magician. Their sleight of hand and misdirection skills are unbelievable to see in person. Even the most astute audiences are often left baffled when trying to figure out how each trick was done – if not starting to believe that the illusionist on stage might actually have some mystical powers.
That’s the kind of show you’ll be treated to on Magic Ian by Blueprint Gaming, one of the newest games from the online casino software provider. The basic gameplay is filled with the kinds of icons and imagery you’d expect from the theme, which is certainly fun enough. But the real excitement comes in the bonus rounds, where Ian himself will cast a number of beneficial spells that can give you way more chances to win and a number of lucrative features.
A Magician Never Reveals His Secrets
The Magic Ian video slot is named as sort of a pun: after all, spell the name out at one word, and you get “magician.” But that’s hardly surprising, as the magician is the key figure in this game, with his animated presence always hanging just above the reels, ready to lend a helping hand at any time. The game features an elegant theatre as the backdrop, while the reels are a nice red pattern with gold trim. Symbols aren’t drawn in a particularly impressive style, but they are brightly-colored, interesting, and clear, making this a very attractive online slot.
This is a machine that was clearly designed to be mobile-optimized, with a design that looks perfect on iPhones and Android smartphones. There’s no download needed to play, either, making this compatible with a wide range of operating systems. This is also a game that offers a lot of betting options that are suitable for both high rollers and low limit gamblers. However, there is a play for free option available if you want to test this machine before deciding on real money play.
Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat
The Magic Ian video slot is a five reel machine that offers 25 paylines over the standard 3x5 layout. AS with most machines, the object of the game if to match identical symbols from left to right across your lines, with at least three in a row necessary to score a win in all cases. The lowest payouts come from the playing card suits, with hearts and diamonds paying a little bit more than spades and clubs.
Bigger wins come from a variety of more thematic icons. These include many things you might see in a magician’s show: a bouquet of flowers, playing cards, a trunk, or a hat and wand. The large rewards come from matching the machine’s logos, which can pay as much as 400x your line bet if you manage to find five in a row on the same payline.
Casting Spells
One of the more interesting features in this game is the potential for Ian to cast spells that will help the player at random on any given spin. There are several different effects that he can create, each of which is potentially beneficial. The possibilities that can come from this game feature include:
- Expanding Reels: The reels can grow as large as 8 positions high, increasing the number of paylines up to a maximum of 50.
- Levitation Spins: Floating symbols will appear on the screen, which will randomly be added to the results.
- Teleport Spins: A second set of reels will appear on the screen.
- Mirrored Reels: Two or more columns will display exactly the same set of icons.
- Chest of Wonder: A magic chest will appear below one reel, with a chance to turn that column wild.
- Symbol of Surprise: Ian will reveal a mystery symbol, which will then expand to cover each reel a matching icon appears on.
- Magical Streak: A lock and chain will appear, triggering re-spins for the player.
- Shuffling Symbols: After a losing spin, the icons might be reshuffled to create a win.
- Bonus Boost: Extra bonus symbols are added to the reels.
- Super Bonus Spin: If you’ve already hit two bonus icons, you might get a chance to hit a third by watching the reels expand, potentially revealing a third.
Complete the Circle
If you ever find three bonus symbols anywhere on screen on the same spin, you’ll enter the Circle of Magic bonus game. When this occurs, the game will take you to a second screen where you’ll see a wheel filled with potential features you can trigger, as well as some instant cash prizes. First, you’ll be asked to pick a card, which will improve the wheel in some way: it might add more feature positions, upgrade the features available, or increase the multipliers on the cash rewards.
You will keep picking cards until you reveal one that says “spin,” at which point the wheel will be set in motion. If you land on a coins prize, you’ll collect it immediately. Otherwise, you might trigger one of a number of different special bonus rounds, some of which are based on spells from the main game. These include:
- Magic Rope Spins: These free spins will start on the regular layout, but the reels will grow larger each time you hit one of the magic rope wild symbols.
- Teleport Spins: A second set of reels will appear. There will also be a special teleport wild that will ensure that any wilds that appear on one play area will also show up on the other.
- Levitation Spins: Wild symbols will randomly levitate up from the bottom of the screen, taking up random positions on the reels.
- Metamorph Spins: A special wild will appear on the center three reels. Land any of these, and the reels will expand by one more position, you’ll get an extra free spin, and the substitute will remain in place as a sticky wild for the rest of the feature.
- One interesting aspect of this bonus round is that players have the option of taking a gamble feature. This could cause the player to upgrade their cash or other feature to a more lucrative round; however, it could also leave the player with a smaller cash rewards instead.
The Final Act
With a unique bonus structure that is designed to keep players on their toes at all times, Magic Ian is one that should really appeal to those who enjoy slots that feel more like games than simply a means to gamble. The potential for a surprise extra is there on every single spin, and even the true bonus round has a few things we don’t often see, such as the feature gamble option. We think this is an excellent and entertaining machine, but if this review hasn’t entirely convinced you, we’d recommend checking out a free Magic Ian slot at your favorite online casino.
