This is the first game I can recall reviewing from Playstar, yet it somehow looks incredibly familiar. Looking at the design of Mahjong Ways 3 side-by-side with any of the games from Pocket Games Soft might give you a clue as to why – I suspect that Playstar could be a trading name of PG Soft, as even the company logos seem eerily similar. As you may be aware from playing on our site, the first two Mahjong Ways games were released by PG Soft, so I guess that’s suspicion confirmed! The third instalment in the series offers a 96.92% RTP, a cluster-pays payout mechanic, and a maximum jackpot prize of 1,000x the player’s stake.
One strange feature of Mahjong Ways 3 is its sound effects – the game continuously plays vocal announcements in Chinese! I have no idea what the various announcers are saying – let’s hope they are being polite! The main bonus round is a free spin feature that will award 12, 15, or 20 spins for 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols, respectively, and this can be re-triggered up to a maximum of 200 free spins.
I remember playing some Mahjong games years ago and never really understanding it entirely, but somehow finding it quite fun and addictive all the same. Our free demo slot of Mahjong Ways 3 is undoubtedly a lot easier to understand than the full tile-based games – give it a try yourself below.
| Reels | 6 |
| Rows | 5 |
| Paylines | Cluster Pays |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 1 - 6 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 1,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.92% |
| Our Rating | 6.6 |
Mahjong Ways 3 Slot Casino Bonuses
Mahjong Ways 3 Slot Free Play
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Mahjong Ways 3 Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
As far as I can tell, there are quite a few Mahjong-themed online slots, but many of them don’t get translated for the English-speaking market. The ones that have been localised include the original Mahjong Ways and its sequel, along with a Pragmatic Play release titled Mahjong Panda. All three games look pretty similar regarding the symbols on the reels, but I guess that is to be expected – what else would they use except for Mahjong tiles?! Unfortunately, Mahjong Ways 3 doesn’t improve much on its predecessors in terms of graphics or presentation, and the maximum win appears to have taken a significant step down as well.
The paytable is quite confusing – I think that ‘strange’ is becoming a little bit of a theme by this point! For example, the tile with the green symbol states that it has a payout of between 2x and 1,000x the total bet for just one symbol, whilst the second-placed red tile drops straight down to just 1.5x. The rest of the tiles have payouts ranging between 0.02x and 1x the total bet, again for just one tile, so what exactly is going on? It’s actually not so complicated – you need to land at least four different tiles on adjacent spots of the playfield to score a win, and the value of each tile is then summed and paid as a winning cluster. The only part I’m unsure about is what determines the value of that single highest-paying tile – the paytable is relatively sparse on detail, and it just seems to pay whatever it wants, as far as I can tell!
At least the wager selection setup is easy enough to understand! You can choose a bet size, bet level, and base cost, which gives a good amount of flexibility over the total bet per spin. The minimum bet does seem a little high at €1.00 per spin, whilst the upper limit of €600.00 is an absolutely crazy amount to bet on a low variance slot such as this!
Base Game & Modifiers
The basic gameplay of Mahjong Ways 3 feels quite unlike any other online slot, perhaps excluding its predecessors. There are six columns on the playfield, the first and last of which have four rows, whilst the centremost four have five rows instead. This gives a total of 28 unique symbol positions, which you would think should make it possible to win much more than the stated jackpot of 1,000x the total bet.
Wins are awarded in an unusual manner – any symbol can be a winning symbol, but at least four of them have to land on adjacent positions for a win to be counted. I believe that the way this is all set up is intended to mirror some aspect of the real Mahjong game, but unfortunately, my knowledge of this isn’t sufficient to say for sure.
Mahjong Ways 3 Slot Bonus Features
The main free spins bonus is triggered by hitting four, five, or six scatter symbols and awards 12, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively.
Free Spins
As far as I could tell, there is no real difference between this mode and the base game – it’s literally just free spins and not much else. If you want to increase your chances of triggering this mode, you can select the Lucky Strike option in the base game. This costs 30x the bet and gives you a 50% possibility of activating the free spins.
Pros
- If you like tile-based Mahjong games, I’m sure this slot will appeal to you.
- Unique gameplay
Cons
- It all feels slightly confusing, and the strange Chinese vocal announcements don’t help with this for somebody who doesn’t understand the language!
- The low maximum jackpot of just 1,000x the total bet
Final Thoughts
I suspect this game will probably seem much more fun to those who understand Mahjong better than I do! As a slots player, the gameplay feels unusual – this is interesting, but the low maximum jackpot tempered that interest pretty quickly. If you’re a fan of Mahjong, then definitely give this game a try – for everybody else, it may be worth checking out just out of curiosity!
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