Anyone with a slight interest in the mythology of Great Britain will be familiar with Excalibur, and even those of you uninterested in mythology have probably come across the word before. Excalibur is the legendary sword that was owned by King Arthur after receiving it at a mystical lake from the Lady of the Lake.
Of course, this isn’t the first slot machine to focus on the Excalibur sword and King Arthur, but just how does it stack up against the competition like the Avalon slot machine from Microgaming and the various others available?
Upon loading Excalibur I was impressed by the historical and medieval design, and especially liked how the ‘i’ in the logo is represented by the sword. Then you experience the sounds of a battle with the neigh of horses, the shouts and marching of fighters, and a whistling tune playing out but these are overpowered by the loud medieval tune that rings out when you land a winning combination – make sure your volume isn’t turned up full!
The setup of the Excalibur slot machine is much the same as the majority of their most popular slots, with 5 reels across 3 rows and 20 adjustable paylines featuring. The coin values on offer are 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, and £1 and with one to four coins allowed to be bet on each line this makes bankroll management flexible as it will suit both low and high limit players. Playing all of the paylines is highly recommended (as always) and results in a minimum stake of 20p while the maximum on offer is £80 for those seeking the thrill of a battlefield.
There have been no shortcuts taken by NetEnt in regards to the design of the symbols in the Excalibur slot machine, with all fourteen boasting intricate details for a true medieval experience.
As you’d expect, it’s the stunning mystical Excalibur sword that is of the highest value and it also acts as the Wild symbol. This sees it substitute for all other symbols except for the Scatter and the Golden Wild enabling you to land more winning combinations, plus any wins that it is involved in after substituting see a 2x win multiplier applied. The Golden Wild has the same appearance as the standard Wild except it’s covered in Gold along with the background. This can only fall on the third reel and the only symbol it cannot replace is the Scatter – which is the Holy Grail.
In addition to these special symbols there are action-packed symbols that really emphasise the medieval theme with various characters of the time period in mythology featuring. These symbols include King Arthur himself, Merlin, Lady of the Lake, Sir Lancelot, Guinevere, Morgan the evil witch, and Merlin. It’s the casino table games icons of Ace to 10 that complete the range of symbols, and as usual these have the lowest value of all.
Here is your opportunity to claim some King-sized wins, with one of the most rewarding free spins modes I’ve encountered from NetEnt. Firstly you’ll need to access the feature by landing three or more of the Holy Grail Scatter symbols in any position on the reels during the same spin, with the number of Scatters that land determining how many free spins you will enjoy.
Landing three rewards you with 10 free spins, landing four rewards you with 20 free spins, while the maximum of five Scatters see you rewarded with a whopping 30 free spins. This is value enough, but NetEnt decided to add even more value to them by slapping a 3x multiplier on wins achieved during the free spins mode – something which never fails to see you walk away claiming victory with a sack full of coins in toe!
Excalibur boasts a maximum win of 120,000 coins that could see you move into a castle of your very own but is it the best slot machine based on King Arthur and his legendary sword to date? Personally I found Avalon from Microgaming and its sequel to be much more rewarding with more exciting bonus features included, however Excalibur is certainly worth experiencing.
The overall design is fantastic providing the mystical medieval feel of mythology instantly, the sounds are incredible – though somewhat thunderous at times, and the free spins feature is reason enough to play it as there are up to 30 free spins with a 3x multiplier attached up for grabs!