Goldwyn's Fairies

It’s always a fun thing when new slot makers join the ring. This time around it’s Just for The Win, a new developer that is publishing their first release under Microgaming’s umbrella. And what a great game it is shaping up to be. A myriad of different Wilds await you with the potential of scoring a big win on the special features, slightly ruined by what seems to be plaguing just about every Microgaming slot nowadays, and that is the paytable being a downright disappointment. But are Goldwyn’s Fairies good enough to spin despite the hostile odds? Let’s find out, shall we?

The game isn’t trying to push any graphical boundaries, but has a very enjoyable artstyle. The fairies keep the same base design while being given enough of a difference to show off their differences in looks and personality. Beyond that, our small, winged friends seem fond of jewelry, as it makes up the lower paying symbols, mixing nature wrapping around exquisite broches to give them a fun, unique look.

Meanwhile, gameplay ended up being a rather dull affair. A quick glance over the paytable and the bonuses gives you a quick confirmation that re-spins and free spins will likely be the few paying things that you can find that are worth your time. We had a few decent wins outside of special features, but those scored around 12x to 15x, which is decent, but far from great either if you were hoping for something with a bit higher volatility.

Goldwyn’s Fairies doesn’t have a progressive jackpot. Instead, the slot focuses all your wins in the bonuses it has on offer. These can be good, but are often reflections of the paytable, which is painfully low. With a rather impressive set of re-spins and Sticky Wilds that netted up what the game considered a big win, it ended up equalling about x50 increase, which is fine for players who aren’t looking for high volatility, but it needs to be brought up. Microgaming’s release looks to cater to all sides of the fence, both casual players and big gamblers, so you can try it out for $0.10 up to $250, which is a massive betting range that should appease most people. If only the paytable was as considerate!

We already praised the icons. They’re split into two tiers – the gemstones, and the fairies. However, it is a bit difficult to say one is lower paying while the other isn’t – for three of a kind wins, they’re all quite disappointing. But we already complained about the highest paying symbol giving out only 25x your wager for a five of a kind win, so we won’t repeat ourselves too much. They look pretty, even if they aren’t as valuable as we’d like them to be. The big draw in Goldwyn’s Fairies are the Wilds.

Beyond the ordinary Wilds that can just replace other symbols, you have Re-spin Wilds that appear on the third reel. They trigger a re-spin, and you can keep reactivating it, so long as more re-spin Wilds keep popping onto the playing field. The other special feature is the Scatter free spins, that appear on the first, third and fifth reel. When active, you get ten free spins and a chance for free spin Wilds to appear on the playing field. Finally, both free spins and re-spins have the Returning Wilds bonus active. The position of all Wilds that appear during these bonuses is recorded with a small, blue circle, and on the last free spin or re-spin, those Wilds return to those positions. This means that you’re usually guaranteed at least one big win if you had decent luck with Wilds.