Mystery Mice

Mystery Mice: Slot Overview

Isn't it amazing how the cartoonisation process can make just about anything seem cute? Take mice, for example. In real life, mice can be an extremely irritating pest, leaving droppings around the house, nibbling food, getting into the walls, and causing mayhem. However, convert mice to the cartoon world, give them a hat and a magnifying glass, and they're about the most adorable thing ever. This Pragmatic Play has done for the online slot Mystery Mice, a slot where mice have replaced people, a mystery needs to be solved, and where the game is afoot (as Sherlock Holmes used to say).

Only using that literary reference because a mousy Sherlock Holmes-type detective character stands to the right-hand side of Mystery Mice's screen, rocking up and down, magnifying glass in hand. He's sporting a big toothy grin, so the mystery in question probably doesn't involve gratuitous amounts of violence. Maybe a big cheese heist has occurred or something equally silly. Despite some arguably olden timey touches, like the detectives getup, it would appear the game is set in the modern era due to some of the music and the policeman symbol being up-to-date. Computer equipment on a desk in free spins is also a compelling clue.

Mystery Mice is a cluster paying slot held on a 6x6 gaming grid, forming winning combinations when at least 5 identical symbols are connected to each other - up, down, left or right. Players may pick a stake of 20 c to $/€240 and are able to use the feature bet to get straight into the bonus round. Highly volatile, Mystery Mice's top RTP is 96.49%, with lower return models available.

Cluster wins, and tumbles go together like mice traps and cheese, and Mystery Mice has one. It removes winning symbols from the screen after they have paid, replacing them by tumbling symbols down from the top of the grid. Tumble wins continue to award cash until no new cluster is formed. Eight pay symbols populate Mystery Mice's paytable. They are Q, K, A, a pipe, a hat, a policeman, a suspect, and a detective. Clusters made up of 5 matching symbols award 0.2 to 1 times the bet, while the biggest clusters of 15+ symbols pay 20 to 150 times the bet.

Mystery Mice: Slot Features

To help solve the mystery, players receive a tumble feature, Power Wilds, free spins, a Power Up symbol, and a feature buy.

Power Wilds

Poster symbols are wild, so they substitute for any of the pay symbols. When a wild lands, it has a clearance level number of 1 to 10. Every time the wild is involved in a win, the clearance level number goes down by 1. As long as the wild has a number, it does not explode as part of a tumble but instead drops to the lowest position on its reel. However, wilds explode if the clearance level number is 1, and they are part of a win.

Free Spins

Hitting 3 or more scatter symbols triggers 8 free spins. In addition, each triggering scatter pays 1x the bet. During the bonus round, wild symbols remain on the screen between free spins. Power Up symbols may appear during free spins, adding 1, 2, or 3 randomly to the clearance level number of all visible wilds symbols when it hits. Should 2 or more scatter symbols land, players win extra free spins.

Buy Free Spins

For 100 times the total bet, players may buy the free spins round. When doing so, the highest possible RTP is 96.5%.

Mystery Mice: Slot Verdict

One mark of an exciting cluster pays/tumble game is sparking lengthy repeat win runs where cluster after cluster forms up, pays, vanishes, then forms another win after the drop. Mystery Mice is capable of knocking together sick runs of repeat wins. Better than was first suspected after playing through the base game and not being especially wowed by the gameplay. It was okay. Power Wilds occasionally hit, linking some winning cluster action together, sticking around through repeat wins while their clearance level numbers diminished. Eh, good, not great. Something was missing.

That something is injected during the free spins round. Holding Power Wilds on the screen between spins was a game changer, working hand in hand with the way wilds drop downwards during tumbles. Combine these two effects and it is possible to get a sizable block of Power Wilds crowding the lower part of the gaming grid, triggering win after win to an almost dizzying degree at times. Power Up symbols were surprisingly useful as well at recharging Power Wild clearance level numbers to keep them sticking around. What's nice is Power Up symbols power up all wilds in view, not just a certain number of them, like, say, adjacent wilds only or a random number of them.

Not every bonus round is going to lead to waves upon waves of mega wins, but Mystery Mice has the components to be able to be quite a thrill ride when those Power Wilds are stacking up on the grid going haywire with its cluster win, tumble feature combo. Just to nitpick, the game's 5,000x the bet win cap could have been higher, but this gives Prag the space to increase the number for a part 2 while peppering it with extra add-ons (should there be a sequel or something related).