Game of Thrones Review

Game of Thrones is a video slot from one of the world’s leading online gambling developers — Microgaming.

The slot was released back in the days when Microgaming developed its own slot machines.

Today, they largely outsource new slots to smaller, less-experienced game studios, and this has led to a drop in quality for the most part.

Game of Thrones, however, remains one of the software provider’s most iconic releases, and its highly volatile math model and big win potential have secured the slot’s place in iGaming history as one of the world’s most popular slots.

In terms of its build, Game of Thrones conforms to a 5-reel, 3-row format. As you’ll see in just a moment, there are no paylines in the slot, as it uses a 243 ways to win mechanic.

Let’s kick off this Game of Thrones slot review with a closer look at the Game of Thrones series — and why it’s so popular!

The most successful TV show in history?

Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series that holds the record for being one of the most successful series in history.

The series is an adaptation of a fantasy novel called A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of novels of the fantasy genre by an author called George R. R. Martin. The novels were later adapted into the TV show, which spread over eight seasons and had a total of 73 episodes.

Game of Thrones proved to be a phenomenal success for HBO and received critical acclaim from critics spanning all corners of the industry.

The show won a number of awards, and a large number of publications and critics have gone on to name the show the best of all time. Well, with that back story out of the way, let’s crack on with our Game of Thrones review!

Betting and Game Options

Game of Thrones has a relatively low min bet, and you’ll find yourself able to stake as little as $0.30 per spin.

This should suit those on a lower budget, and what’s great is that the Game of Thrones slot can produce massive wins, even at this low stake!

When it comes to the max bet, however, Game of Thrones has a very low limit, with Microgaming choosing to cap the slot’s maximum bet at just $6! This is largely due to the significant win potential found within the free spins bonus. Still, we should point out that the Game of Thrones slot can also produce some really healthy-sized wins in the base game too.

Like most Microgaming slots, Game of Thrones offers an autoplay function. This allows you to set up 1,000 spins to play out automatically, saving you from manually pressing the spin button between spins.

Some versions of the game also have a fast-play mode built-in, which allows you to speed up the game. With the quickspin mode activated, it’s estimated that you can play roughly double the number of rounds per hour.

A payline-free game

Head to any online casino today, and you’ll find a plethora of slots that use a 243 ways to win mechanic. Some have even evolved to use a 1024 ways to win mechanic, and, more recently, we’ve seen a number of ways to win slots — Megaways being a good example — where the number of ways to win increases even more.

However, it wasn’t always this way, and while Game of Thrones wasn’t the first slot machine to use a 243 ways to win mechanic, it was definitely one of the first slots to truly go mainstream. It’s left a legacy that can still be found at many online casinos today.

The 243 ways to win mechanic means that you don’t need to worry about lining up symbols on individual paylines.

Instead, simply landing three or more symbols on adjacent reels will secure a win from left to right. Plus, with all the symbols stacked — including the wild symbol — it’s possible to hit some monster wins during the base game and the free spins bonus.

From the day it was released, Game of Thrones attracted a reputation for being a highly volatile slot. This Microgaming slot, when you play the game, is capable of being incredibly brutal on your balance, something that, surprisingly, many players like due to the large wins that the machine is capable of dishing out.

With a max win of 20,500X your stake on a single spin, the Game of Thrones game offers some phenomenal win potential.

Don’t forget; this slot machine was released before most of the hugely volatile slots we see released today. So, it was quite a bit ahead of its time, offering players the chance to win enormous amounts of money.

Unfortunately, the only thing that truly lets the game down (aside from the lack of a progressive jackpot) is that the RTP is on the lower end of the scale. While the return to player percentage is “fixed,” meaning different online casinos can’t choose to offer a different version of the slot, it is quite low, coming in at exactly 95.0%.

This RTP is a little lower than we’d like to see, and it’s not immediately clear why the software Microgaming has built revolves around such a low RTP math mode. Although, in the short term, it doesn’t affect the video slot a huge deal, and big wins can still be formed with some degree of frequency.

Microgaming has chosen to build their Game of Thrones online slot around a fairly familiar mechanic in terms of symbols; the low-paying ones are represented by playing card values, including a 10, J, Q, K, and A.

The high-value symbols show the four different Houses from the Game of Thrones series, including the Targaryen Dragon, the Stark Wolf, the Lannister Lion, and the Baratheon stag.

The wild symbol is the game’s logo, and it appears stacked across all five reels. It’s possible to land a full screen of the wild symbols, and it’s here that much of the base game win potential can be found. Landing even a few wilds on matching reels can award you with monstrous wins.

The biggest attraction of playing Microgaming’s Game of Thrones slot is arguably the free spins bonus. It’s this free spins bonus that is capable of dishing out some of the biggest wins we’ve ever seen from a Microgaming slot.

In fact, the Game of Thrones slot free spins feature is famed, as you’ll be given the chance of picking from four different free spins bonus rounds. The bonus is triggered by landing three or more of the Iron Throne scatter symbols anywhere in view.

By the way, landing two Iron Throne scatters offers you a random cash payout of up to 50X your stake, while landing three or more Iron Throne scatters awards the free spins feature. You are then awarded one of the following Game of Thrones 243 ways to win free spins bonuses:

Baratheon Free Spins

The Baratheon free spins bonus is the most volatile of the free spins bonuses, and it awards you eight free spins. During these eight free spins, the Baratheon House Sigil is stacked across all of the five reels.

All wins have a 5X multiplier attached, too. So it’s the best of the bonus features if you’re looking to maximize your win potential within the Game of Thrones slot free spins feature.

Lannister Free Spins

The Lannister free spins feature is also pretty volatile, and here, you’ll be awarded ten free spins. During these ten free spins, the Lannister House sigil symbol becomes stacked across all of the reels, and during these free spins, there’s a 4X multiplier attached to all your wins.

This is likely the most popular of the free spins feature rounds. Online casinos often report that this is the most common one of the four bonuses chosen by players.

Stark Free Spins

If you choose the Stark free spins bonus, you’ll be awarded 14 free spins. During these 14 free spins, the Stark House Sigil symbol is stacked across all five reels, and there’s a 3X multiplier that is applied against any wins you manage to form within the bonus game.

Targaryen Free Spins

The final free spins bonus in Game of Thrones 243 ways is the Targaryen free spins bonus, and this is the least volatile of all the bonuses within the game.

Here, you’ll be awarded 18 free spins, and during these 18 free spins, the House of Targaryen Sigil is stacked on all five reels, with a 2X multiplier applied against any wins.

We should also point out that during all of the Game of Thrones online slot bonuses, you can retrigger more free spins, and this is achieved by landing another three scatter symbols anywhere in view.

Landing two of the scatter symbols will trigger the scatter bonus, and the scatter bonuses’ wins are multiplied by the multiplier. You can win up to 250X your stake from this bonus alone.

While it’s not overly easy to trigger the free spins round in Game of Thrones, it’s worth doing so, as the 243 ways to win format can result in massive wins thanks to the stacked wilds.

If you’re playing Game of Thrones slots for yourself, we’d recommend giving the game a good number of spins to increase your chances of triggering the free spins bonus.

The start of an era?

Microgaming’s Game of Thrones slot was an industry-leading release for Microgaming. While the 15 paylines version of the game did somewhat well, it was the Game of Thrones 243 to win format that really attracted players to get involved.

Why? Because with 15 paylines, there’s simply not as much win potential on offer; with 15 paylines, you’re also keeping a lookout for matching combos. That’s something you don’t need to worry about in the 243 ways to win version of the slot game.

The Game of Thrones 243 ways to win version also seemed to kick-start a revolution of sorts in the online gambling industry, paving the way for the popularity of 243-ways-to-win slots to really become popular.

Since its release, we’ve seen many game developers following the slot’s format, including the payline format and the bonus features found inside.

Microgaming’s Game of Thrones slot has gone down in history as being one of the most successful video slot releases ever.

The Game of Thrones 243 ways to win version of the game has proven itself to be one of the software provider’s most popular slot game releases ever. It still gets played thousands of times a day, almost a decade after its initial release.

The Game of Thrones 243 ways to win slot offers some insane win potential, much of which is found within the bonus features. We also really like how the base game offers significant win potential.

Thanks to the Game of Thrones logo wilds, landing just a few of the Game of Thrones logo wilds can equate to massive wins. When you play the slot for yourself, you’ll notice they’re stacked on all five reels, offering significant potential.

We should point out that if you choose to play Microgaming’s Game of Thrones slots for yourself, you will likely experience long periods of “dead spins” or dry spells. These are simply due to the high variance nature of the Game of Thrones slot game.

Because of this, if you choose to play Game of Thrones for real money, we’d recommend dropping your stake a little bit; you don’t need to wager that much when you play Game of Thrones, as, even on the minimum bet, you can win thousands of times your stake.

We like that you can choose from four bonus round features, with each bonus round offering something a bit different.

Big wins can also be found in the scatter bonus, which sees you awarded up to 50X for landing two scatter symbol icons anywhere in view. A cash prize is then awarded, and during the bonus feature, this cash prize is multiplied by the current multiplier in play.

The 5X multiplier can multiply the cash prize bonus feature and award a win of up to 250X your stake!

Whether you choose Lannister, Stark, Baratheon, or Targaryen, all four houses offer decent win potential. Be sure to keep an eye out for the wild; remember, the game’s logo is the wild symbol in the game.

Finally, we should also point out that some versions of the Game of Thrones slot may contain a gamble feature where you can try and increase the amount of money you’ve won per spin.