Phantom of the Opera Link & Win

The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win: Slot Overview

The Phantom of the Opera is a hugely successful musical based on an early 20th-century French novel by Gaston Leroux. It tells the tale of a masked musical virtuoso living in a labyrinth beneath the Paris Opera House and his obsession with a soprano called Christine Daaé. The multi-award-winning musical opened in 1986 in London and became the longest-running show on Broadway after opening there in 1988. It has grossed billions of dollars worldwide and is one of the most successful forms of entertainment ever.

With all that success and dollars going around, it's no surprise several Phantom of the Opera-related slots have been released on the market. Here is another one to add to the list called The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win from Microgaming partners Triple Edge Studios. The team has located their game in a fabulous opera house, one of those grand, ornately decorated rooms in which to enjoy some high-brow entertainment. In the middle of the screen is a columned game grid, surrounded by things like four jackpot values and a possible Win Booster option. If the set-up looks familiar, it's because it was used before in a game titled Assassin Moon, another glam-looking slot from Triple Edge Studios based on secret agents rather than romance.

As well as looks, most of the features and numbers are the same between the two games, too. Default RTP, for one, comes in at 96.08%, or 96.33%, when using the Win Booster function. Regular bets can be selected from 10 p/c to $/€20 per spin, or stakes increase to 25 p/c to $/€50 when the Win Booster is activated which adds extra Link&Win symbols to the reels. Volatility is high, while total hit frequency weighs in at 30.33% or a little under 1 in 3 spins.

Played on a 5-reel, 3-row game grid, players get 25 paylines to land winning combinations of three to five of a kind across. The pay symbols begin with some sparkly J-A card ranks before moving on to higher value roses, candles, monkey music boxes and Viscount Raoul de Chagny. Landing a five of a kind winning line pays out 2-4x the bet when made up of royals, or 7.5 to 25x the bet for five premiums. Keep in mind activating the Win Booster does not increase symbol values. By far, the most valuable symbol in The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win is its wild symbol. It appears on all reels and can land stacked. Wilds substitute for any pay symbol and are worth 500x the bet for five of a kind.

The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win: Slot Features

Like Assassin Moon, The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win's main features are free spins and a Link&Win bonus round where it is possible to win one, maybe more, of the four jackpots.

Free Spins

Scatters appear on reels 2, 3, and 4 in the base game. Landing 3 of them awards 1x the bet and 10 free spins. In free spins, the middle three reels combine to create 3x3 sized Jumbo Blocks. Landing a scatter Jumbo Block awards +10 extra free spins, plus a payout of 1x the bet, and landing a Link&Win Jumbo Block equates to hitting 9 individual symbols.

Link&Win

The classic Phantom Mask image is displayed on the Link&Win symbols. When at least 6 of them are in view, the Link&Win feature is triggered. This is a streak respin style round which begins with 3 respins where triggering symbols are held on the reels. Only blank positions or Link&Win symbols appear on the reels during this bonus round. Link&Win symbols display values of 1.5-20x the bet or one of these jackpots – Mini, Minor, or Major, worth 50x, 150x, or 750x the bet, respectively. When a new Link&Win symbol hits, it is held in position, and the spin count is reset to 3. The round ends when spins run out or all positions on the grid are filled. In the latter situation, the Mega Jackpot of 5,000x the bet is awarded to the total prizes awarded from the Link&Win symbols.

The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win: Slot Verdict

Since Gaston Leroux's novel inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber to write his musical, it's kind of fitting Triple Edge Studios would use former material to craft The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win game. The look and atmosphere of The Phantom of the Opera lend themselves well to an online slot, and the studio has created a sumptuous-looking game to match. It's a little strange that Christine is missing, but the setting is grand and is stuffed with plenty of recognisable imagery from the show. It makes a fitting follow-on from Assassin Moon, both games offering a taste of high-class glamour, moving from Monte Carlo in the previous slot to an operatic outing this time around.

Aside from a theme change, the rest of The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win is practically the same. In part, this means waiting for enough Link&Win symbols to trigger the Link&Win bonus round for the chance to collect a jackpot or some secondary cash prizes. However, while it's possible to win 5,000x+ from the Link&Win, bigger paydays are possible from the high-value Phantom wild symbol. In theory, at least, since wilds can appear stacked, landing a full-screen of them would be worth 12,650x the bet.

The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win drops some of the fun of pretending to be a secret agent for a slot some may judge as more culturally sophisticated. There's nothing new going on features-wise or thematically, really, nor is there anything overly noteworthy to report back on. However, the Link&Win feature comes with solid enough prizes, and the full-screen wild winning potential adds interest to other sectors of the game. If the idea of mysterious masked characters or a night at the opera sounds appealing, then taking The Phantom of the Opera Link&Win for a spin or two is something to consider.