Wizard of Oz Online Slot Review
- Wizard of Oz Slot
- Overall Score: 3.1 /5
- Graphics:
- Sounds:
- Engagement:
- Overall rating:
Ah, “The Wizard of Oz”! Who can forget the lovely 1939 movie which introduced audiences worldwide to a colourful world over the rainbow where dreams come true! It was among the first big-budget adaptations of books and was so well-received and beloved that to this day audiences are demanding more and more big-screen adaptations of their favourite books, comic books and stories. It earned over $3 million dollars in profits during its original run (about $50 million in today’s money, which is a ton considering movie tickets were cheap as dirt back then, nothing like the £10 per ticket we pay today) and won several Oscars while also being nominated for a bunch of others, including Best Picture. Its legacy does not remain unrecognized – the American Film Institute have placed in in the top 10 in all of its top 100 movies of all time lists, and its influence is felt even today as movies pay homage to it and utilize the techniques invented for it all the time. I know what you’re thinking – sounds like a prime candidate for a licensed slot, right? Well, let’s take a look and see if the slots over the rainbow are worth playing!
Basic Features
To start off, I have to say that “The Wizard of Oz” is one of the clumsiest, strangest, messiest slots I have ever played in my entire life. The slot itself is kind of generic – we’ll get to that in a bit. Most of the weirdness came even before I made a single spin. In theory, it’s supposed to be an online port of WMS’ physical slot of the same name (which, weirdly enough, comes equipped with its own chair that’s bolted to the slot’s stand – the first, but not last, the moment where I thought “What the hell were they thinking”), but as far as I could tell it has little to do with it.
| The Wizard of Oz Slot | ||||||
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Software: | WMS | Double option: | No | ||
| RTP: | 95.04% | Mobile version: | No | |||
| Progressive: | No | Coin value: | £0.01-£5 | |||
| Autoplay: | Yes | Bet value: | £0.01 – £150 | |||
| Quick spin: | No | Max. bet: | £150.00 | |||
| Reels: | 5 | Free spins: | Yes | |||
| Paylines: | 30 | Bonus round: | Yes | |||
It’s important to note that there are no less than three online versions of this slot – a regular one, Ruby Slippers and Wicked Riches. As far as I could tell all three versions are identical except for a change in graphics, out of which Ruby Slippers looked the best, which is why I decided to review that one. Of course, there’s no real way to know – while I spent time with all 3 of these slots, which is primarily what I’m basing my opinion on, the paytables weren’t particularly helpful, and reviews for this rather obscure slot aren’t exactly plentiful (the one you’re reading now is one of the very few – I feel so special!), so at the end of the day, it’s entirely possible that there might be a difference between versions or even entire features that I never managed to find, but that’s only because…
Paytable
The paytable is one of the worst ones I have EVER seen in my entire life. No, scratch that – it IS the worst one I’ve ever seen. It’s useless. There’s just nothing of value in it. Let’s take a look, shall we? There are four pages in total, all of which you can see below. Two of them show the values of the various symbols – alright, useful enough! I’ll accept it. A whole page is dedicated solely to the Scatter symbols – not to what they do, not how frequent they are, just the earnings you get from lining up a bunch of them, which is information that could have easily been included in the other slides. The fourth and last one shows the paylines, and that’s it.
“Well, alright”, you may be thinking, “That’s not too bad! Not every slot needs 9-10 slides on its paytable!” That’s awesome, but you know what was missing from it? Information about the bonus rounds, which exist. Information about the bonus features, which are also implemented. Advice on how to trigger said rounds and features. Any mention of WILDs whatsoever. List of differences between the various versions or, hell, even just a mention that there are at least 2 other versions of this slot that you can try. It is ridiculous! It deliberately keeps players in the dark and effectively doesn’t let me do my job as a reviewer by providing me with all the information I need upfront.
Bonus Rounds/Free Spins
As I mentioned above, there is at least one bonus game and one bonus feature. There might be more, but I didn’t manage to activate the others in about 250-300 spins, so I’m willing to assume that there isn’t anything else. The bonus feature, called the Ruby Slippers (it’s probably called something else in the other versions, but from what I gathered it works the same way) appears randomly and turns up to three rolls into huge Wilds for the next spin, giving you increased winnings. I managed to trigger it twice, and both times I got something like £10-15 for a 30p spin, which is really low for a bonus feature.
The bonus round, activated by, as always, collecting 3 Scatter symbols or more, takes you to the Witch’s castle and gives you a huge grid of discs that you can pick from. Underneath each disc is a symbol with the face of one of the characters from “The Wizard of Oz”, and each character gives you a certain amount of cash for picking them. You can take as many discs as you want, but the bonus round ends the moment you pick the Witch. You’ll have to choose one out of 5 or 6 symbols. Unlike the previous game, this time all but one of the symbols have the Witch. However, if you manage to get the one that depicts Dorothy and the gang, you’ll get a pretty good reward.
Experience of Playing the Slot and Other Recommended Games
“The Wizard of Oz” is not a slot that anyone asked for, and is certainly not a slot that anyone needs. The graphics are incredibly ugly, it offers nothing that we haven’t seen before and its paytable, or lack thereof, is a crime against humanity, which I take as a personal insult. And you know what the irony is here? This slot actually had the potential to be really good! Maybe not among the best, but I can definitely see a lot of potentials here for a really fun and creative slot machine. In the hands of a more experienced, or perhaps simply more capable developer, we could’ve gotten something special. All the elements are there, but they’re not used right. It’s like having fruit, cream, ice cream and chocolate, and instead of making a sundae you decide to bake a pizza (and then you burn it, too). Maybe the fourth online version of this slot will be good, or maybe not. Either way, as it is right now I don’t feel comfortable recommending it.