Play Cats Royal for Free

Animals, safari, cats, royalty – the themes of this game are pretty self-explanatory. The question you really want answered is, how does it look? And more importantly, how does it play?

It looks great, that’s the first thing. The screen is bright, bathed in orange light, and in the background of the reels we can see a typical baking African savannah. Either side of the reels are numbers, connoting the number of pay-lines in play; you can choose to play one, five, ten, 15 or 20. Above the reels is the Cats Royal logo, while below it you have the usual menu, showing your bet-per-line, the mute button, an Information tab etc. On the 5x3 grid, symbols include the usual playing cards, although since the game is all about royalty, we only have the main cards: Queen, King and Ace. These are the game’s lowest paying symbols, paying five for three, 20 for four, or 100 for five-in-a-line.

Better paying symbols, as you might expect, include those of the cats themselves. The lioness and leopard pay 200 for five-in-a-row, but five of the panthers yields 400. Five of the Barbary lion or white tiger, meanwhile, pays 500 for five and 150 for four.

As demonstrated, there’s some nice loot to be won just by stringing together matching combinations of furry felines. The game also includes wilds and scatters, though. The scatter – which is represented by a Cats Royal logo against the backdrop of a tree – is scattered on the second, third and fourth reels. Simply land three of these bad boys to win 40 and a round of ten free spins. What’s more, the free spins come with a generous increasing multiplier attached. The free spins round can be re-triggered, but only once, and the multiplier can reach x20. During free spins, an alternate set of reels is used.

The wild symbol, which is that of a black, clawed paw, can substitute for cats and playing card symbols to help you form winning combinations. It cannot, however, replace the Cats Royal scatter or the Wild Multiply sign (which, imaginatively enough, is a symbol containing the words WILD MULTIPLY). The regular wild can, however, grant you some mega paydays. For just three-in-a-line it pays 100, but the stipend rises to 500 for four and a whopping 1,000 jackpot for five.

What about that wild multiply symbol, though? Well, it appears on the fifth reel in the base game only, so you’re unlikely to be seeing too much of it. What it does is substitute for all other symbols except the Cats Royal Scatter. It will also randomly multiply the total game win by up to x20.

There’s a lot to be said for Cats Royal. It’s dynamic, well put together and fast-playing; its payouts are generous; and its bonus features are welcomingly varied. It also gives you the ubiquitous ‘guess the card’ gamble, should you want to have a crack at doubling your money. Ultimately, this is a game well worth purring about.

Has the tiger got you by the tail? There’s plenty of other great ‘big cat’ themed slots here on VSO. Look no further (purr-ther?) than IGT’s Siberian Storm for snow-filled gameplay with the majestic Siberian white tiger at the forefront.