On this page
- Why Merlin earns a place on your list
- Building a GH₵2 spin
- What the reels do on an ordinary spin
- Paytable worked out at GH₵0.20 a line
- The orb that wears two hats
- The bonus round and its symbol draw
- Four bonus outcomes in cedis
- Return builds, risk level and close cousins
- The double-or-quadruple card gamble
- Before you stake real cedis
- Rise of Merlin free demo
- Questions from players in Ghana
Why Merlin earns a place on your list
The slot arrived on 17 June 2019, and it stands out among the many book-style slots for two reasons. The first is the look. Instead of dusty tombs, you get a young wizard, a tower of bubbling potions, an owl, a red dragon and a glowing crystal orb, all drawn in soft pastel colours. The second is the bonus rule. When the free spins retrigger, the game hands you another expanding symbol on top of the one you already have, so a lucky round grows richer as it goes on.
The frame is simple: a 5x3 grid carrying a maximum of ten paylines paying from left to right. A single special icon, the Magical Orb, covers both wild and scatter duty. The official rules sheet gives the slot a volatility rating of 10 and calls it very high, and a 500,000 exposure limit on the biggest bet of 100 puts the cap at 5,000x your stake.
Building a GH₵2 spin
Your total bet is made of three dials: active lines, from one to ten; coins on each line, from one to five; and a coin value somewhere between 0.01 and 2.00. Multiply them together and you get the stake, which on the rules sheet runs from 0.01 to 100 per spin. Your operator may set its own limits, so look at the bet panel in cedis before you start.
For every example on this page we use a GH₵2 spin built as 10 lines, 1 coin per line and a coin value of GH₵0.20. Each line therefore carries 20 pesewas. Lines switch on in numerical order, and this matters later: the bonus symbol only pays on active lines. If GH₵2 feels too heavy, drop the coin value to GH₵0.10 and keep all ten lines rather than cutting lines.
What the reels do on an ordinary spin
- You press spin and the five reels settle into a 5x3 window.
- Each active line is read from the leftmost reel. Matching symbols must sit on adjacent reels starting at reel one.
- Premium symbols start paying at two in a row; the card ranks need three.
- The pay for a line is multiplied by your coins per line. Each line pays only its best combination, and separate lines are totalled.
- Any symbol can be replaced by the Magical Orb, so it can complete or lengthen a line.
- Land three orbs or more in any positions for a scatter prize and the bonus.
- Base game wins can be banked or carry it into the optional gamble.
Paytable worked out at GH₵0.20 a line
The rules sheet lists ten regular tiers plus the wild, with values in coins per line. With one coin per line, those values are multiples of your line bet, so at 20 pesewas a line the cedi amounts are easy to read off. The wizard, his owl and the dragon feature in the top four tiers, but Play'n GO does not say which picture belongs to which premium tier, so the table uses tier labels.
| Symbol tier | Five on a line | Four | Three | Two |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magical Orb (wild) | GH₵1,000 | GH₵200 | GH₵20 | GH₵2 |
| Premium 4, the top tier | GH₵1,000 | GH₵200 | GH₵20 | GH₵2 |
| Premium 3 | GH₵320 | GH₵60 | GH₵6 | GH₵1 |
| Premium 2 and Premium 1 | GH₵120 | GH₵16 | GH₵4 | GH₵1 |
| Two higher card ranks | GH₵24 | GH₵6 | GH₵1 | no pay |
| Three lower card ranks | GH₵16 | GH₵4 | GH₵1 | no pay |
The jump between tiers is huge. Five top premiums on one line are worth 5,000 line bets; five Premium 3 icons fetch 1,600. On a GH₵2 spin that is GH₵1,000 against GH₵320 for a single line. The scatter award for three or more orbs is not printed in the rules sheet; you will find it in the paytable inside the game.
The orb that wears two hats
Because one icon handles wild and scatter duty, every orb on the reels is doing two jobs at once. On a payline it replaces anything. Anywhere on the screen it counts toward the bonus. Picture orbs on reels one, three and five: they can pay the scatter, help line wins as wilds and start the feature on one spin.
Two details are worth knowing. Five orbs on a line pay as much as five top premiums, which makes them valuable in the base game. Yet in the free spins the orbs themselves never expand. Only the special symbol drawn for the round grows across its reels.
The bonus round and its symbol draw
Three or more orbs give you 8 free spins using the same lines and stake as the triggering spin. Ahead of spin one, the game draws one regular symbol at random and makes it the special expanding symbol.
- If a premium is drawn, it expands whenever two or more of it land.
- Draw a card rank and you need at least three copies before it grows.
- Payment order: regular line wins settle before anything else. After that, the special symbol fills each reel it touches and pays again across every active line. The reels do not have to be side by side, so reels one, three and five count just as well as one, two and three.
- Retrigger: three or more orbs inside the round add 8 more spins and draw a second special symbol. Another retrigger adds a third, and the pattern continues.
That last rule is where the slot gets interesting. With two or three special symbols in play, each spin has better odds of one of them showing up in sufficient numbers, and more than one can expand on the same spin.
Four bonus outcomes in cedis
All four use the same GH₵2 spin: ten lines at GH₵0.20 each.
- Premium 3 drawn, lands on reels 2, 3 and 5. It covers three reels, and all ten lines now show three of it at 30 times the line bet: 30 x GH₵0.20 x 10 = GH₵60, plus any ordinary line win from that spin.
- Premium 2 drawn, appears on four reels. The per-line value becomes 80, so the expansion pays 80 x GH₵0.20 x 10 = GH₵160.
- A lower card rank drawn, lands on three reels. 5 x GH₵0.20 x 10 = GH₵10. Card ranks expand often but stay cheap unless they spread to four or five reels, where the same maths gives GH₵40 and GH₵160.
- Top premium across all five reels. 5,000 x GH₵0.20 x 10 = GH₵10,000, which is exactly 5,000 times the GH₵2 stake and the ceiling of the game.
These figures show how much rides on the draw at the start of the bonus. A premium needs fewer copies to grow and earns much more per reel. Low ranks need more and pays modestly unless it covers the screen. A retrigger is valuable mainly because it gives you a second draw, and that second chance can be worth more than the 8 extra spins themselves.
Return builds, risk level and close cousins
Play'n GO ships the slot with a default RTP of 96.58%, which is what the live help shows in regulated markets. The alternatives an operator can switch on are 94.51%, 91.51%, 87.56% or 84.55%, although Malta-licensed sites cannot take the three lowest. Same art, same rules, yet the return can be 12 percentage points lower depending on where you load the game.
The volatility rating of 10 sits at the top of the provider's scale, and the design explains why. Most of the payout potential hides in a feature that demands three orbs on a narrow three-row screen, and the biggest pays need a premium expanding across four or five reels.
If the format feels familiar, that is because Play'n GO uses it elsewhere. Legacy of Dead shares the same paytable values, 8 starting spins and the extra-symbol retrigger in an Egyptian theme. Book of Dead opens with 10 spins and a 96.21% default RTP but keeps a single expanding symbol per bonus. All three stop at 5,000x.
The double-or-quadruple card gamble
After any win in the base game you can risk it on a hidden card. Call the colour correctly and the win doubles, a one-in-two chance. Name the suit instead for four times the win at one-in-four odds. A maximum of five gambles in a row is allowed, and according to the rules the gamble leaves the game's overall RTP unchanged, and the button disappears during autoplay. It adds swing without adding value, so only gamble amounts you would happily lose, like the change from a kenkey run rather than your rent.
Before you stake real cedis
The free demo here is Play'n GO's own practice version. Use it to count how many spins pass between bonuses over a few hundred spins and note which symbol each bonus draws. You will quickly see how uneven a very high volatility slot can be.
At your operator, open the help screen and check three points: the RTP line, which should say 96.58% on the default build; the bet range offered in cedis; and the orb scatter values in the paytable. Then size your stake so that at least 200 spins fit inside the session budget, since a short session often ends before a bonus shows up.
In Ghana, online casino games are licensed by the Gaming Commission of Ghana under the Gaming Act 2006 (Act 721). You must be 18 or older, and licensed operators verify players with the Ghana Card. Our page on online casinos in Ghana covers the practical side, including MoMo deposits.
Where to play Rise of Merlin with cedis
Questions from players in Ghana
Which payout percentage applies to this slot?
On the default build you get 96.58%. Four lower settings exist, namely 94.51%, 91.51%, 87.56% and 84.55%, and the site chooses which one runs. Open the help screen in the game to see the figure where you play.
What starts the free spins in Rise of Merlin?
You need three Magical Orbs or more, in any reel positions. That gives 8 free spins with one randomly drawn special symbol. Land three or more orbs again during the round and you receive 8 more spins and an extra special symbol.
How does the special symbol expand?
A premium needs at least two copies and a card rank at least three. After regular wins are settled it covers its reels and pays a second time across your active lines, even when those reels are not next to each other.
How much can I win on a GH₵2 spin?
Winnings stop at 5,000x, which on a GH₵2 bet means GH₵10,000. Only a screen filled with the best premium icon in the bonus gets there, a very rare result.
Should I expect big swings in Rise of Merlin?
Very high. Play'n GO's rules sheet scores it 10, the top of its own scale. Most of the return sits in the free spins, so long stretches without a big win are normal and your budget should allow for them.
Is a bonus buy available?
No. There is no bonus buy, so landing the orbs is the only route into the feature. Your one optional add-on is the card gamble that appears after base game wins.
Is there a free version to try first?
Yes. You can load Play'n GO's practice build right here with play money; its rules and paytable match the cash game, so you can study the bonus without spending your cedis.
New