On this page
- A wizard's tower on five reels
- How the R5 spin is put together
- From spin button to payout
- Coin values in rand at R0.50 a line
- Why the Magical Orb matters twice
- The free spins draw and the symbols that grow
- Bonus outcomes worked out in rand
- Colour or suit in the gamble
- Return settings, risk and the Dead cousins
- Before real money: demo, rules screen and the law
- Rise of Merlin demo for free
- Questions from South African readers
A wizard's tower on five reels
The release date was 17 June 2019. In place of the dusty tombs that most expanding symbol slots lean on, Play'n GO gives you a young Merlin in a potion-filled tower, joined by an owl plus a red dragon and a shining crystal ball known as the Magical Orb. The palette is soft and almost dreamy, which makes it easy on the eyes during a long session on a phone, and the card ranks fill the low end of the paytable.
Underneath the artwork is a familiar engine. The 5x3 window carries up to ten paylines that pay from the left. The orb covers for other symbols on lines and is also the key to the bonus. In that bonus, a randomly chosen symbol can expand to cover whole reels and pay on every active line without the reels needing to touch. If that sounds like Book of Dead, it should; the twist is what happens when the round retriggers, which we cover below.
The official rules sheet scores volatility at 10, the highest step on Play'n GO's scale, with the label very high. Its maximum exposure figure, 500,000 at the provider's top bet of 100, translates into a cap of 5,000 times your stake.
How the R5 spin is put together
Three dials set the price of a spin: the line count (1 to 10, activated in order from line 1), a coin count of 1 to 5 on each line, and a coin value that runs from 0.01 to 2.00 in the provider's base setup. A full spin can therefore cost anything from 0.01 to 100 units; the rand range on a given platform is listed in the rules screen.
Our worked figures all use ten lines, one coin and a coin value of R0.50. One spin costs R5 and each line carries R0.50. That is low enough to give the game the several hundred spins it needs to show its character without blowing a weekend budget. If you want to go lower, cut the coin value, not the lines. The bonus symbol pays only on active lines, so switching lines off quietly removes part of what the feature can return.
From spin button to payout
- All five reels spin and land on three rows.
- Each active line is read starting from reel 1. A win needs identical symbols on touching reels from the left edge.
- Premium symbols pay from two in a row; card ranks need at least three.
- The orb fills in for any symbol on a line, so it can create a win or stretch one.
- The best combination per line is paid and multiplied by your coins per line, then every line is summed.
- Three or more orbs in any position pay a scatter prize and open the free spins.
- Following a base game win, you choose between banking it and taking it to the gamble.
Coin values in rand at R0.50 a line
The rules sheet prices symbols in coins per line. At our setting each figure converts as follows. Play'n GO keeps the link between artwork and premium tier unpublished, so the rows go by rank, with Merlin, the owl and the dragon somewhere among the four premiums.
| Symbol tier | Two | Three | Four | Five |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magical Orb as wild | R5 | R50 | R500 | R2,500 |
| Top premium | R5 | R50 | R500 | R2,500 |
| Third premium | R2.50 | R15 | R150 | R800 |
| First and second premiums | R2.50 | R10 | R40 | R300 |
| Higher two card ranks | no pay | R2.50 | R15 | R60 |
| Lower three card ranks | no pay | R2.50 | R10 | R40 |
The gap between the top premium and the rest is wide: five of the top symbol pay R2,500 on one line, more than three times the third premium's R800. The orb's scatter pays for three, four and five are shown in the in-game paytable but are missing from the rules sheet, so look them up there.
Why the Magical Orb matters twice
On a line the orb is a stand-in for anything, and a line of five orbs pays as much as five top premiums. Off the lines it counts toward the bonus from any position. So one spin with orbs on reels 1, 3 and 5 can complete line wins as wilds, pay a scatter prize and start the feature at the same moment.
One limit is worth knowing. Orbs do not grow in the bonus. Only the special symbol chosen for the round expands; the orb keeps its usual size and job.
The free spins draw and the symbols that grow
Three or more orbs give 8 free spins at the lines and stake of the triggering spin. Before the first of them, one regular symbol is picked at random and becomes the special expanding symbol.
- A premium draw grows once two or more copies are on the reels.
- A card rank draw needs three or more copies.
- The spin settles its ordinary line wins before anything grows. Only then does the special symbol fill each reel it sits on and pays again across all active lines, gaps between reels allowed.
- Landing three or more orbs inside the round brings 8 extra spins along with a second special symbol, and every later retrigger adds one more.
This stacking rule is what sets the game apart. With one special symbol you depend on a single draw. With two or three in play, a spin has more ways to produce an expansion, and two of them can grow on the same spin.
Bonus outcomes worked out in rand
Keep R5 a spin and R0.50 per line in mind.
- Second premium drawn, landing on reels 1, 2 and 4. Those reels fill, so every one of the ten lines carries a three-symbol win worth R10. The expansion pays R100, twenty times your spin, in addition to any normal win.
- The same symbol over four reels. R40 per line, R400 for the spin.
- Third premium over four reels. R150 per line, R1,500 from one free spin.
- A lower card rank over three reels. R2.50 per line, only R25. Over all five reels it climbs to R400.
- Two special symbols at once. After a retrigger, say the first premium lands on reels 2 and 5 while a lower card rank lands on reels 1, 3 and 4. Both expand: the premium pays R2.50 on ten lines for R25, the card rank adds another R25, so the spin brings R50 from expansions alone.
- The ceiling. The top premium across all five reels pays R2,500 on each of ten lines, R25,000 in total, which is 5,000 times R5 and the maximum the game allows.
The draw decides a great deal. A premium grows from a pair and is worth much more per reel, while a card rank can grow often and still leave you with little. That is why a retrigger, with its fresh draw, frequently adds more value than the 8 extra spins themselves.
Colour or suit in the gamble
Any base game win can go into a card gamble. Call the colour correctly and the amount doubles, a 1 in 2 chance. Call the suit and it quadruples, a 1 in 4 chance. You may keep going for up to five rounds. A R40 win would become R80 on a correct colour or R160 on a correct suit, and nothing on a miss. The rules state that the gamble leaves the overall RTP unchanged, and it is not available during autoplay. It raises the swing of a session without adding value, so many players simply collect.
Return settings, risk and the Dead cousins
The default RTP is 96.58%, the figure the live help shows for regulated markets. Operators may instead pick 94.51%, 91.51%, 87.56% or 84.55%; the bottom three settings are kept away from Malta-licensed operators. Over R1,000 of total spins, the default build returns about R965.80 on average and keeps about R34.20; the lowest returns about R845.50 and keeps about R154.50. That is the same game at four and a half times the long-run cost.
That volatility score of 10 is no surprise once you see the layout. Most of the return is locked in a bonus that only three orbs on a fifteen-position screen can open, and the big payouts depend on a premium growing over four or five reels. A few hundred spins can therefore land well away from the average in either direction.
| Feature | Book of Dead | Rise of Merlin | Legacy of Dead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default return | 96.21% | 96.58% | 96.58% |
| Opening free spins | 10 | 8 | 8 |
| New special symbol per retrigger | no | yes | yes |
| Win cap | 5,000x | 5,000x | 5,000x |
Legacy of Dead shares the paytable values and the stacking retrigger rule in an Egyptian setting. Book of Dead opens with two more spins but keeps one special symbol for the whole round.
Before real money: demo, rules screen and the law
Our demo loads Play'n GO's practice build, played with play credits. A good test is to count the spins between bonus triggers over three or four hundred spins and note which symbol each round draws; you will quickly see how uneven the outcomes are. After that, the help screen tells you three things worth writing down: the RTP setting, the permitted bet range and the orb's scatter pays.
On the legal side, South Africa's National Gambling Act 2004 does not authorise online casino games; the online form of betting that is legal is sports betting with bookmakers licensed by a province. We do not encourage anyone to go against local law, and we never point readers to VPNs or ways around blocks. Everything on this page is aimed at readers over 18.
Wherever you play legally, size the stake so a session covers at least two hundred spins, decide in advance when you will stop, and treat any money spent on a slot as entertainment money rather than a plan for the month.
Where Rise of Merlin is offered
Questions from South African readers
Which RTP does Rise of Merlin run at?
The default build pays back 96.58%. Lower versions exist too, at 94.51%, 91.51%, 87.56% and 84.55%, with the choice left to the operator. The help screen of the game you open states which one is running.
What do I need to trigger the bonus?
At least three Magical Orbs in any position. They award 8 free spins and a randomly drawn special symbol that can expand. A later trio of orbs inside the feature brings 8 extra spins together with an additional special symbol.
How many copies does the special symbol need to expand?
A premium symbol grows once two copies are on the reels, and a card rank needs three. After normal wins are paid, the grown reels pay on every active line, with gaps between them allowed.
How much can Rise of Merlin pay at R5 a spin?
Payouts top out at 5,000 times the stake, or R25,000 at R5. Reaching it takes the top premium as the special symbol expanding across all five reels with ten lines active.
How does the gamble work?
After a base game win you can guess the colour of a hidden card to double the amount or its suit to quadruple it. You can repeat up to five times, and a wrong guess loses the win.
Can you buy the Rise of Merlin feature?
Not in this game. Free spins open only when three or more orbs land. Apart from that, the single optional element is the card gamble you may take after a base game win, and autoplay disables it.
Does the demo play the same as the real game?
It runs the provider's own practice build with the same reels, paytable and bonus rules, but on play credits. The RTP setting and bet range of a real-money version are chosen by the operator, so read them in that game's help screen.
