I remember coming across the Luck O’the Irish series of slot machines when they popped up on the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals that were hugely popular in bookmaker shops within the United Kingdom during the first decade or two of the 21st century. Unfortunately, the new regulation has kind of neutered the appeal of those machines today; as such, Blueprint had only two real choices – abandon the franchise entirely or transition it to the online market. The developer opted for the latter, which brings us to the topic of today’s review: Luck O’the Irish Mystery Ways: Fortune Play, a 243-way online slot with a 95% RTP and a top jackpot of 3,100x the players’ stake.
Blueprint’s usual preferred mechanics are ten-line games, so it’s interesting to see them try their hand at a 243-way slot – especially one with a notably unique feature set such as this. In addition to the tried-and-tested mystery symbol mechanic that has recently become a little over-used, we also get a ‘money spins’ feature, a three-spin bonus that requires only a single scatter to activate. The ‘Fortune Play’ part of the title refers to the ability to activate quadruple reel sets, much as we have seen in other Fortune Spins games by Blueprint, although its inclusion here is especially noteworthy given the other included features.
You’ll need a major league bankroll to make the best of this machine – at least if you want to play for real money. If you’re content just to have a little fun in free-play mode, then fill your boots! – our free demo slot of Luck O’the Irish Mystery ways: Fortune Spins is available to play below.
| Provider | Blueprint |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 6 |
| Paylines | 243 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 100 |
| Volatility | Medium |
| Max Win | 3,200x |
| Bonus Buy | No |
| RTP | 95.00% |
| Our Rating | 7.3 |
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Luck O’ The Irish Mystery Ways Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
All of the games in this franchise have had unique aspects to them of some kind – the first release would pay out wins for hitting three matching symbols on adjacent reels no matter where on the playfield they started – or finished. That feature was quickly dropped in the subsequent Luck O’ The Irish Big Bonus Slot update but was later re-instated in the suspiciously similar LOTI – Gold Spins Fortune Play which I remember reviewing personally late last year. That game was awarded a respectable rating of 8.0, and little has changed here as far as the visuals are concerned – it’s the ‘mystery ways’ mechanic which has been introduced to breathe some new life into the formula, along with the switch from 40 fixed paylines to 243 pay ways.
This, of course, has a profound effect on the size of the payouts listed on the game ‘win plan’ – that’s Blueprint parlance for a paytable, in case you didn’t know (like the other 99.9% of us) – with the highest-paying pot of gold symbol now only being worth 10x the total bet for a complete payway of five of a kind. The three coloured gem symbols are now worth 5x, 4x, and 4x, respectively, for five of the red, blue, and green stones, not too much more than the returns for the aces/kings and queens/jacks/tens, which are now worth 2x or 1x for each respective group.
The regular betting range begins at €0.10 per round and maxes out at €100.00, whilst enabling the Fortune Spins (quad reel set mode) bumps these numbers up significantly to €2.00 and €500, respectively.
Base Game & Modifiers
Every spin you take, every move you make, every leprechaun you mistake, as a payway takes shape (Luck O’the Irish Mystery Ways: Fortune Spins) will be watching you! or not, most likely, but it will feature between 243 and 16,807 payways, that’s for sure!
Wins are awarded when matching symbols appear anywhere in view on three or more adjacent reels – it doesn’t matter if they start from the left, right, or even the middle!
Mystery Symbols
The traditional Celtic knot is used as the mystery symbol in this game. All visible occurrences of this symbol will transform into one randomly selected symbol chosen from the paytable at the end of each spin.
Luck O’ The Irish Mystery Ways Slot Bonus Features
We don’t have the pleasure of any free spins in LOTI: Mystery Ways, but we do at least get the benefit of a money spins feature that requires just a single scatter symbol to activate.
Money Spins Feature
Money spin symbols take the appearance of casino chips decorated with four-leaved clovers. Whenever one of these appears, you’ll activate a three-spin feature that will continue indefinitely, provided neither of the two conditions is met:
- No further money symbols land for three consecutive spins.
- The entire playfield is filled with money symbols.
Fortune Play
Playing this game without the Fortune Play mode enabled is a little like using Tinder on a broken smartphone that doesn’t swipe right – you’re not going to be getting much action out of it!
When the Fortune Play mode is enabled, mystery symbols transfer to other reel sets – if you’re lucky, you could end up with a full playfield of mystery symbols by the time you reach the fourth playfield. All you have to hope, then, is that the symbols don’t transform into a whole bunch of tens – otherwise, you may as well have scrolled right on the chick/guy who said he’s just there to troll you!
Pros
- The unique payout mechanic allows you to win in the most unusual circumstances!
- Up to 16,807 pay ways per spin at no additional cost
Cons
- Fortune play mode costs 20x more than the base game – a hefty premium for what I struggle to believe is a 20x increase in potential payouts.
- Relatively low maximum jackpot cap of only 3,100x
Final Thoughts
A definite improvement on the last LOTI Fortune Spins game, but not sufficiently so to make it worthy of a solid recommendation. I do love the four-reel sets, but please give us a bigger jackpot. I’ve run the numbers myself and know it can be done – another 1.5% on that RTP is all it would take, Blueprint Gaming!
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