Megaways Jack and The Magic Beans

Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans: Slot Overview

Jack's back, folks, in an online slot from casino game maker Iron Dog Studio going by the name of Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans. If you've been following the team, you'll know this isn't the first time Iron Dog Studio has turned to the famous fairy tale for thematic purposes. Back in the day, the team dropped Megaways Jack, its second online slot to operate on Big Time Gaming's popular game engine. For whatever reason, the thought of Jack dashing up a giant beanstalk to nab the golden egg-laying goose appealed, and players have the chance to relive once again the magical tale, while having a punt.

Artistically, Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans feels like a progression over the previous Jack slot. The symbols are more delightful to behold, while the background graphics depict a rural wonderland fitting for a popular fairy tale that has been passed down for many a year. Equally pleasant is Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans' fantasy music, wafting around, dipping and soaring, like the sonic representation of a giant beanstalk, growing at an extraordinary rate into the clouds. Will players find gold if they climb it or end up battered by a giant?

It could go either way since Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans is a highly volatile slot producing a variety of RTPs depending on how the game is played. In the default mode, pounding away at 10 p/c to $/€20 per spin, the theoretical return to player value is 96.14%, possibly perking up to 96.5% when buying free spins. The action itself is carried out on a 6-reel Megaways grid with up to 117,649 ways to win. Whenever a winning way is formed, the symbols part of it are removed by the tumble mechanic and replaced with new ones. If another win is created after the new symbols appear, the tumble sequence continues to play until no new win appears.

Wins take place when matching symbols land left to right from the first column onwards across adjacent reels. Some fancy-looking 10-A card royals take the place of the low-pay symbols, paying 0.6 to 1 times the bet for a six-of-a-kind hit, while six high-pay cows, geese, Jack's mums, giants, or Jacks, pay 2 to 25 times the stake. Lastly, wilds are able to lend a hand in forming wins, as these golden egg-covered symbols can substitute for any normal paying symbol.

Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans: Slot Features

Along with the visual spruce up, Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans comes with a different set of features than Megaways Jack had. These are Special Harp Symbols, free spins, and a bonus buy.

Special Harp Symbol

The Special Harp Symbol can trigger a feature when it lands in either the base game or in free spins. In the base game, it guarantees a win made up of highest-paid symbols, lowest-paid symbols, or wilds. In free spins, it can trigger one random Harp modifier. These are:

• Award additional free spins.
• Award an additional multiplier
• Award an additional locked reel.
• Award an extra reel for Special Harp Symbols to land on, from left to right, on reels 2-5.
• Award high pay symbol onto the reels.
• Award high pay symbol in place of low pay symbols.

After the feature has been awarded, if the Special Harp Symbol is still on the reels, it turns into a wild symbol.

Free Spins

Hitting 4 scatter symbols in the base game triggers the free spins round. Scatters appear on reels 2-5 and only once per reel. When the round begins, the number of free spins, the starting win multiplier, the amount of locked reels, and the Harp frequency are randomly determined. During free spins, hitting 4 consecutive tumbles awards an extra +2 free spins. Lastly, each winning tumble increases the win multiplier by +1, which does not reset until the round ends.

Buy Free Spins

When buying entry to the bonus round, players have access to three choices. First, 100x the bet buys a random amount of spins, multipliers, locked reels, and harp frequency. Second, 160x the bet buys at least 8 free spins, with random multipliers, locked reels, and harp frequency. Finally, 200x the bet gets at least 8 free spins, at least an x4 multiplier, plus random locked reels and harp frequency.

Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans: Slot Verdict

In some ways, the Jack and the Beanstalk story sends out a few mixed messages. For one, how prudent is it yoloing the family cow, which Jack was meant to sell to get some dough, on a stranger in exchange for magic beans, which could have easily been duds? They weren't, but then Jack scurried up the stalk and pinched someone else's golden egg-laying goose. The giant is often presented as not being a particularly nice chap, but Jack did enter his property unasked and steal something rather valuable. Strange, anyway, it's a story that has been justified in a number of ways, so let's not delve too deep or too long on the moral side of things.

Instead, let's sit back to enjoy Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans, which was actually quite an enjoyable game to play. Iron Dog Studio has pushed the audio-visuals along from the first one and tinkered with the rules, though Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans' gameplay isn't massively evolved. It basically relies on the Special Golden Harp working its magic, somewhat limitedly in the base game, but with greater variety in free spins - where the progressive multiplier may help increase the thrills. It was a little bit like Santa's Big Bash Megaways, as the Special Golden Harp mirrors the Rudolph feature to an extent. Max win is the same, too, at 25,000x the bet, though when buying into the bonus round, there is a chance this figure might be increased to 30,000x the bet.

After scurrying up and down the beanstalk for a while, Megaways Jack and the Magic Beans ended up providing an agreeable play-through. Iron Dog Studio has crafted a charming world to host the action, stuffing it with a set of charming, and at times potent features.