You can just imagine the sheer horror at the offices of the longest-running company producing online slots and table games when a date was finally set for the Adobe Flash platform to be retired. The decision was long overdue – no matter how frustrating Microsoft’s regular “patch Tuesday” might be, the fact that security holes were still being found monthly in a simple piece of software designed to allow better animation and interactivity on the web was nothing short of a joke. Newer developers such a Thunderkick and Play’N’Go had been using HTML5 ever since the spec was first ratified. Microgaming, on the other hand, had a back catalogue of hundreds of games such as Ariana that would need to be upgraded. Ariana Slot is one of Microgaming’s oldest slots, with a modest maximum win of 240x from a single spin, 25 pay lines, an RTP of 95.50%.
Ariana’s main hook is its expanding symbol modifier, which activates when either a full height symbol or a stack of matching symbols fills up the first reel. All other matching symbols on other reels will also expand to fill the reel. There is also a free spins bonus, where this feature is enhanced by also expanding any wild symbols to full reel height when the expanding symbol modifier activates
Ariana was upgraded to HTML5 way back in 2015, with Microgaming also taking the time to add better support for mobile and tablet devices at the same time. Fans of Ariana are lucky – some games could not be upgraded as Microgaming were unable to locate all of the assets to rebuild the game in HTML5. This game lost its music in translation, as you’ll notice if you try our free demo slot of Ariana on this page:
| Provider | Microgaming |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 25 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.25 - 250 |
| Volatility | High |
| RTP | 95.50% |
| Our Rating | 8.0 |
Ariana Slot Casino Bonuses
Ariana Slot Free Play
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Ariana Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Do a search for Ariana and you’ll be pointed towards endless pages talking about the popular singer Ariana Grande. Dig a little deeper though, and you’ll discover that Ariana was actually the name of a general location in the Middle East which included a fertile river basin. This area was critical to food production in the Middle East in ancient times, and Ariana was at one point believed to be a goddess who provided the inhabitants with this land. The graphics of the game reflect this legend, most notably by means of the stacked Ariana symbols which are present on all reels. The missing music is instantly noticeable, especially because the reels make a kind of droning sound as they spin in this slot. This is one you’ll probably prefer to play with the sound switched off.
The paytable promises you can win up to 60,000 coins, but divide that number by the maximum allowed bet size of €250 per spin(!) and you will get 240 – the maximum pay out for a single spin in this game. The scatter symbol is the jellyfish, which pays 100x your stake if you land all five. Two scatters returns your wager, which is a small but appreciated touch on the part of the developers. A full line of wilds returns 10x your stake, which brings about small discrepancy – there are 25 paylines. Shouldn’t that mean it is possible to win 250x your stake, not 240? We can only speculate on this one, Other high paying symbols are the goddess Ariana at 8x your stake, who is stacked on all reels, whilst the remaining picture symbols are stacked only on reel one – but can activate the expanding symbol feature, making them appear stacked on other reels – and pay out 7x, 6x, and 5x your stake for a full line of five-of-a-kind.
The minimum bet on the Ariana video slot is €0.25 per spin, and the demo version tops out at €250 per spin as previously mentioned. That’s a huge spread of 1,000x, but bearing in mind the low volatility and low maximum win from a single spin, many casinos are likely to offer this full range – if you are crazy (or rich) enough to be betting €250 a time!
Base Game & Modifiers
Base gameplay in Microgaming’s Ariana online slot revolves around that expanding reel feature – I always appreciate it when a game offers plenty of potential in the base game, and the bonus round is used to increase that potential rather than being the only place you can find it. That being said, a single modifier isn’t much to write home about, and does highlight just how old Ariana really is – the current published release date in 2015 is for the HTML5 version earlier. The original game was released over a decade earlier, and even the higher resolution that the symbols have been rendered at cannot hide the fact that Ariana uses a slot engine that is now two decades old.
Expanding Symbols Feature
Look out for the princess Ariana symbol dropping in its full 3×1 configuration in the first reel – if you have enough princess symbols on the remaining reels, it is possible to hit a full screen even during the base game. The other picture symbols do have a decent amount of potential as well, and it doesn’t even matter that those other symbols are not stacked on reels 2-4.
Ariana Slot Free Spins Feature
When three or more starfish scatters hit, you will be rewarded with 15 free spins. If Microgaming had added a multiplier to this feature, Ariana would have been a truly exciting game to play. As it stands, hitting the free spins is still great – if you are betting at a reasonably high bet size and hit this feature, you will definitely be on the edge of your seat.
Enhanced Expanding Symbols Feature
All the excitement of landing a full stack on the first reel is carried over into the bonus round, but the added twist of wild symbols being included in the expansion process makes it much easier to hit a full screen of the Ariana symbols. I even hit one myself during testing, and confirmed my theory that you can actually win 250x your stake from a single spin. Some players have reported hitting two or more full screens during a single bonus round, so it seems possible that wins in the region of 1,000x your stake are possible in this bonus round.
Ariana Slot Review Final Thoughts
I never played Ariana prior to it’s conversion to HTM5, so I can only take other peoples opinions that the game lost a lot of its atmosphere when the music was removed. As it stands though, the Ariana slot game available to plau today is still a lot of fun, and much more exciting than competing low variance slots such as NetEnt’s Starburst. The conversion to HTML5 has no doubt introduced Ariana to a whole new set of players, and in my opinion the game still holds up extremely well years after its release.
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