There are a little fizz and some bang in this Hocus Pocus Deluxe slot by Merkur Gaming, but very little magic.
Let’s be clear; we do not love the theme of this Hocus Pocus Deluxe mobile slot. Most of the symbols are simple triangles, squares, circles and pyramids. And because they are the low paying symbols, they dominate the board.
It’s a little boring and doesn’t really reflect the magical theme. The hat, the book and the wand help a little bit, but they show up so rarely you wouldn’t know this was a Wizard slot by looking at it.
The Wizard is the highest paid symbol, which is the only one that matters, next to the wild and the scatter. Other than that, this is even more boring a theme than the Tricky Trio slot game.
If that sounds as boring as it was for us to write, then congratulations! You’re getting the general gist of this Hocus Pocus Deluxe slot game.
To be fair, it looks boring, but the wins are decent on the high paying symbol, which is all that matters.
More importantly, this has a high RTP of 97.50% which means the wins come easy and often, as do the wilds and the scatters. And the scatters are what really matter.
That right there is why this Hocus Pocus Deluxe slot review has 2 stars. The fact that the high paying symbols pay both ways during the free spins gives you lots of opportunities for wins.
The fact that it only pays both ways for the high paying symbols is also why it only gets 2 stars. Why couldn’t they stretch so all symbols were involved?
And it’s not about the 40 paylines – The Temple of Luxor slot game has 100 paylines and pays both ways for all symbol during the bonus.
So really, it feels like you are being cheated no matter which way you look at it. That is until you get a few nice wins and you remember that Merkur slots generally pay out well enough.
Mobile Slot released | April 2019 |
Slot type | Video Slot |
Software | Merkur |
Slot reels / paylines | 5 Reels / 40 Paylines |
House edge / RTP | 2.5% / 97.5% |
Slot volatility | Low/Medium |
Min/Max bet | 0.40 / 20 |
Max win | 100,000 |
Free spins | 6 Free Spins / Pay Both Way Reels |
Bonus rounds | Wild, Scatter, Free Spins, Pay Both Ways |
Slot Themes | Halloween |
Wild: The Hand symbol is the wild symbol and can be used to replace any other symbol to create a win on a payline. It will not replace the scatter symbols.
Scatter and Free Spins: The Magic Sphere is the scatter symbol and 3 or more will trigger 6 free games. You now have an extra scatter in the dice and 3 of those during the bonus games will give you +2 to +4 extra free games. 4 scatters add 4 to 10 spins and 5 scatters give you 6 to 15 extra games.
During the free spins the three high paying symbols Hat, book and scroll now pay left to right and right to left.
Sometimes, simple is better, but this is so simple as to be a little bit boring. The fact that you have mostly geometric shapes on the reels doesn't help build the magic.
But this Merkur game has some elements of fun. The free spin bonus comes around often, and having the high paying symbols pay both ways is a nice touch.
Not as nice as letting all the symbols pay both ways, but nice enough that you enjoy all 40 of these paylines. It's better than the Book of Aztec by Amatic but not quite as good as the Indian Ruby slot, which isn't high praise, if we are honest.
The Hocus Pocus is a 5x3 reel slot machine with 40 paylines, wilds, scatters and free spin with pay both way reels in the bonus games. The RTP is a high 97.50% and the minimum bet is 0.40.
Review by Lucky Mobile Slots, last updated: October 6, 2021 - Rating