5-Reel Circus

About

5 Reel Circus is a simple circus themed slot machine, the sort of game that has dated graphics, looking like it was created in the early days of the online slot industry. The theme is all about the circus though, so don’t expect to find anything annoying here, like poker cards. The circus theme has obviously been done a lot better by other developers, even in recent years, and so it’s up to the features to prove that the game is worthy of being played. You’re going to be able to play with at most 15 active lines, with a setup of 5x3 reels and with the promise of a top jackpot of $112,500. The slot manages to include quite a few fun features, including free spins with multipliers, scatter symbols and a wild.

Betting requirements

You may change the number of lines, the standard being the maximum of 15 that are used. You can go with fewer lines, and you can also change how many coins they get, the range being from 1 to 5. The coin value is going to get to a maximum value of $1, the minimum being $0.01. You may spend up to $5 per active line and up to $75 per spin.

Theme & Design

I can’t say that I’m amazed at the choice of theme, but it’s not the most common one that they could’ve went with either. That being said, there are a number of other circus themed games already on the market, and I’ve found that many of them do an excellent job with the design. In the case of 5 Reel Circus, the thing to appreciate is that all twelve symbols that were used have been inspired by the circus, by its animals or by its employees. There are no symbols that feel out of place in this game. As for the actual symbols, you start off with the big top symbol as a scatter, the tiger as a wild, and then you have cannons, ring masters, clowns, the bearded lady, wagons, acrobats, seals, elephants, bears and lions. It’s the design quality that actually fails in this case, the quality being lacking mostly due to the low resolution and the dated look that results from this. On the other hand, it’s a game that doesn’t use card suits or royals for its lower paying symbols, and I appreciate that about it.

Special Features

The slot’s features feel very basic, but that’s mainly because they’re so often used in other slot machines. I’m quite satisfied with what we’re offered in this game, starting with the wild and continuing with the scatters, the free spins and their multipliers. The wild symbol’s image is that of a roaring tiger. It’s a symbol which you mostly want to work towards creating its own combinations, as this can trigger the best rewards that this slot has to offer, of up to 7,500x, or 37,500 coins ($37,500 cash). More often than not though, it will be in use as a substitute, as long as it appears in a position that allows it to take on this role. As a wild symbol, it has to appear in the correct position, the same line needing matching regular symbols from left to right, to form a combo. You will not be able to use these wilds as replacements for scattered Big Top symbols. As for the symbol which shows us the big tent, the Big Top, it also shows us two clowns with orange hair dancing in front of it, so it’s a hard one to miss. Symbols that are considered scatters are no longer required to appear together on the same line. They’re just needed in two or more positions in order to get you a payout (1x to 100x the bet), or in three or more to trigger the free spins as well. If you happen to have those 3+ Big Tops present, you will get from the game 10 free spins. All wins obtained here will be tripled, the 3x multiplier working even with the top jackpot. You may retrigger the free spins as well, along the way.

Jackpot

We get a 7,500x jackpot in 5 Reel Circus, which can be turned into a base game reward of up to $37,500. Thanks to a generous 3x multiplier from the free spins, this amount can be improved, and taken up to $112,500, a very large amount to be winning with just a $5 bet per line. When it comes to the average RTP, we’re seeing a decent number here, apparently sitting at 95.60%, which I’d consider a decent one for the online slot industry.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a game with huge potential rewards, and you trust your luck, then 5 Reel Circus could be a very rewarding title. Overall though, with the theme it gives us, its graphics and even its regular features, it doesn’t manage to be better than most other titles from the same category.