Badminton Hero

We never expected badminton could look so stylish, or so badass, but Microgaming continues to prove they can defy all expectations when they put their minds to the task. The developers have aimed their latest release towards the eastern Asian market – Japan, China and South Korea being the primary target. Still, that does not mean we cannot also enjoy in this brand new slot. With a 5×3 playing field and 243 ways to win, it has lots of potentials, but it is the bonuses which carry it forward into being something great.

We really like the graphics here. They are not the very best that Microgaming have ever put forward, but the art-style really makes it feel high impact. Certain symbols have impressive animations and we also like the rip effect that tears through the icons when they are part of the winning combination, and then disappear to make room for new symbols. The colours are also quite different. The dark red in the background is particularly striking. The user interface is still the familiar Microgaming one you have seen many times over, with minor differences. The colours were swapped, but the buttons are more square than rounded.

Badminton Hero also makes full use of the cascading reels mechanic. During normal gameplay, you can chain wins together and potentially get several pays for the price of a single spin if you are lucky. The 5×3 playing field gives the cascading reels plenty of room to work their magic. Rather than using standard paylines, the game has 243 ways to win and awards wins by collecting three or more identical symbols on adjacent reels, starting with the leftmost one. Unfortunately, we were not able to find any official information on this title’s volatility, but if we had to speculate, we would place it at medium.

You can wager between $0.50 up to $50 per spin, which is a decent bet spread for 243 ways. Casual players may find $0.50 to be too steep of an entry point, but at the same time, high rollers may feel locked down with only $50 as a maximum bet. Still, the promise of a 120,000 coin jackpot will win over a lot of people who might have skipped this slot. The RTP for Badminton Hero is 96.45%, which is average for Microgaming releases.

Symbols include a net, a drawing board, a pair of running shoes, a racquet, two scenes of the players facing off against each other, the coach and the two competitors that are fighting for that #1 spot. The game’s logo is used as Wild, while the cup they are fighting for represents Scatter.

Wild Smash is a bonus that activates randomly. It will turn two reels Wilds. The reels that can be targeted are the second, third or fourth reel.

Collecting 3, 4 or 5 Scatters rewards 15, 20 or 25 free spins, respectively. During free spins, a multiplier trail is added to the reels. This means consecutive wins will have increasing multipliers, up to 10x.