Arabian Charms Slot
Bright and bold, this slot is one of a long list of games over the years themed on the Genie in the lamp and ancient Arabia. This has the feel of a live slot, which has been adapted for online play – with an emphasis on the solid game-play. There is a break out feature, which can win you up to 500x your total bet, and also a random feature which can add some significant wins inside the reels.
Visually, this slot is a multi-coloured treat. There is an ancient Persian city around the frame with blues and purples, los of coloured pots and gold coins below the reels and bright symbols on a black background on the reels themselves. These are dominated by playing card symbols and some logos. There is a snake in a basket and an Aladdin in non-logo form. You’ll see fireworks flying from the top of the reels. There is a very strange tune playing, like a toe-tapping elevator music track – with some ancient Arabic string occasionally woven in. Like with all Barcrest slots, this only plays while the reels are actually spinning – which is a bit of a relief.
The main break out bonus has a path to climb and a spinning reel. The graphics here contrast with the main game in being a lot more detailed and ‘3D’. The on-reel feature involves a lot of extra wilds or replacement symbols.
Setup and Play for Arabian Charms
You’ll have a fixed 20 win lines for this game, though you can change your stake per line to suit your bankroll. The smallest is 1c per line, or 20c overall. The highest spin is $500, which is $25 per line. Auto play lets you choose up to 25 spins at a time.
The wild symbol and the ‘Arabian Charms’ logo have identical prizes, though only the wild substitutes for other symbols (not the bonus). These pay a generous 250x for 5 of a kind, 200x for just 4 and 50x for 3. Next comes Aladdin and the snake in a basket, which both pay out 200x for the full 5 on a line. Playing cards ace, king and queen pay 100x for 5.
Bonus symbols do not have any prizes of their own; instead these trigger the ‘Golden Trail’ bonus game. Bonus symbols only appear on reels 2, 3 and 4.
There is an in-reel feature which can occur at any time. The mystery win bonus sees fireworks coming from the logo on top of the reels. These land on the squares and turn them into symbols which complete wins. Once I got snakes covering approximately half of the spots, another time this was a bunch of wild symbols. I like the fact that this is random and can add wins at any time.
Arabian Charms Bonus Game
Graphics get a lot better for the break out bonus game. First there is an explosion of light (maybe a firework). When this clears you’ll see a curved path with different multipliers on it. There is a wheel at the bottom left and a Genie sits above this in very detailed 3D. You spin the reel by clicking a button and start to move up the path. Your multiplier increases each time you move up, with 30x in the middle of the trail and 500x at the top.
In addition to numbers showing how many steps to move, the wheel has two special symbols. The first is green and will upgrade your path (get 3 of these and you are guaranteed 500x). The second is the one you do not want to see – a collect symbol which ends your bonus round.
Arabian Charms – Conclusion
Only the music stops me giving this slot a good score. It is bad enough anyway; the fact that this really does not fit the theme just makes things worse on that front! Other than that this is a colourful, bright and very playable slot.
The random extra symbols certainly help to break up those little runs of not hitting much with the occasional big windfall. This can be especially good those times you are lucky enough to hit a bunch of extra wilds. The break out feature is rarer, though worth waiting for in terms of your win potential – especially if you manage to upgrade a better path one or more times.
All-in-all this is a solid slot. While I am not sure this will be an all-time favourite for many players, it is certainly the type of game that is good for the occasional session.
