Under their platform Quickfire, Microgaming now releases so many exclusive slots to all their casinos by so many different studios… it’s hard to keep up with all the new releases.
However, there are technically three new releases in January to keep a lookout, but which is going to be the best?
- 09 January 2019: The Great Albini slot by Foxium
- 23rd January 2019: Lucky Firecracker by Microgaming comes to mobile casinos
- 30th January 2019: Cabaret Royal slot by 2by2 Gaming
Which one will we be playing? All three? None of them? Strolling Staxx by NetEnt? Let’s take a look.
What we know about the Great Albini slot game
You may not be familiar with Foxium gaming and that’s ok. In total, they have 8 games under their belt, and almost all are exclusively released under the Quickfire Microgaming platform.
Some have been fantastic, their latest Astro Legends slot was beautiful and inventive, while some of their past games like Vampire The Masquerade slot… could do with a little work.
So we are curious about what they will bring to this Great Albini game, which as far as we can tell has beautiful graphics based around a magician entertainment, up to all kind of wondrous tricks.
A quick look at the slot features:
- 5 reels 3 row video slot with 25 paylines
- Bet limits: 0.25 – 50.00
- RTP: 96.66%
- Hit rate: 25.30%
- Medium variance
- Find giant 3×3 Free Spin bonus symbol appears on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th reels.
- Free spins give you an extended slot machine with 6 rows and 50 paylines and the expanded wild on reel 3 will give you a 2x multiplier
- The mystery bonus respins will allow you to catch stacks of mystery symbols to create bigger wins.
- You can buy free spins at 100 times, 125 times and 150 times your starting bet.
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Conclusion: This is interesting. The graphics certainly pop, even if it’s clear that the free spins are where you’ll find all the action.
What we know about the Lucky Firecracker mobile slot
We know a lot. Technically this is the only original Microgaming slot coming in January 2019 and it’s the least exciting.
Why? Well, because it’s not technically an original release. The Lucky Firecracker online slot is alive and well at online casinos around the country.
But because Chinese New Year falls on February 5th 2019, Microgaming almost always have a release to celebrate one of the biggest events in the Chinese calendar.
And, we guess, because they don’t have the time or the will, we get Lucky Firecracker mobile slot for Android and iOS devices.
A quick look at the slot features:
- 5 reel, 3 rows, 243 ways to wins
- Bet limits: 0.25 – 250.00
- RTP: 96.19%
- Medium variance game
- Hit rate: 27.22%
- You’ll find free spins, multipliers, scatters and wilds symbols.
In short, this Lucky Firecracker a classic Microgaming 243 ways to win slot machine that so many people love.
It’s got free spins with multipliers, scatters to trigger the bonus and wild symbols to add a little pizzazz to the base game.
A good casino game, but nothing that will blow our mind in 2019, what with this being a well-established online real money slot already.
Play Lucky Firecracker at Guts »
What we know about Cabaret Royal slot by 2by2 Gaming
We know the least about this Cabaret Royal slot than all the others, mainly because we’re not sure if 2by2 Gaming has actually finished this slot.
We know it’s got 1920s art-deco vibes that is meant to rival the Great Albini slot, but somehow looks flat in comparison to the rich graphics by Foxium.
To be fair, this game isn’t due out until the 30th of January so they have some time to try and improve on the concept. We hope.
Because if the first images are anything to go by, we’re not sure we will even notice this new 2019 slot, much less review it.
A quick look at the slot features:
- 5 reel video slot with 60 paylines
- Min/max bet: 0.40 – 80.00
- RTP: 96.029%
- High variance mobile slot
- Hit rate: 27.80%
- You’ll find free spins, wilds, expanding symbols, stacked symbols and wild reels
So the graphics may not be anything to look at, but the statistic behind this game certainly looks interesting. For one it’s the one with the highest volatility, so it may have the biggest payout.
For two, the combination of wilds reels and stacked symbols always makes for an interesting mix, especially over 60 paylines. You need them to get the symbols to pay anything good over that many lines.
All in all, we are 50/50 on this 2by2 game until we get more details further down the line.
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Which of the three new 2019 slots will we be playing?
The safe bet is the Great Albini game by Foxium. They have a decent track record where even the so-so slots are simply that; average but still playable.
Lucky Firecracker is a generic cash grab by Microgaming, anyone celebrating the Chinese New Year will see it under ‘new mobile slots’ when they load their favourite casino.
But the dark horse in this race is the Cabaret Royal game.
What makes us worry is that 2by2 don’t have a good track record. Most of the mobile slot games reviewed have not been great. We hated the Honeymooners slot, Giant Riches was over complicated and the Gunsmoke slot is a dated as the TV series it’s based on.
Our only hope is that their last video slot, Fire n Fortune was… good. Solid. Not mind-blowing, but certainly fun enough to take a couple of spins.
Could Cabaret Royal see them rise from the ashes into art deco glamour and glory?
We will simply have to wait till January 2019 to find out.
