Masked balls and Venetian aristocracy are the themes of Royal Masquerade, an online video slot from developer Play ‘n Go. Masquerades were popular among aristocrats and royals a few centuries ago, and the residents of Venice particularly enjoyed donning extravagant masks to obscure their identities while attending the events. This pastime led to the historic tradition of the mask festival in Venice, which is still held on an annual basis to this day.
Royal Masquerade plays out over 5 reels and up to 10 paylines, and offers a free spins feature as its main bonus game. An initial 5 free spins is on offer should players trigger the feature, as well as guaranteed winnings and the chance to earn more during the game. A gamble feature is also included in this slot.
Graphics, Themes and Game Play
The reels of the Royal Masquerade are set against a romantic evening scene of Venice, with tall apartments, canals and gondolas visible behind the reels and lanterns illuminating the setting. The reels themselves are translucent, and each of the reel symbols on them is surrounded by an ornate Venetian gold frame and accessorised with delicate patterns and clusters of ribbons.
The pay table buttons are also decorated with a similar elaborate golden trim, which further contributes to the regal air of the design of this Play ‘n Go slot, as do the use of rich colours and detailed animation of the game’s background and icons.
Royal Masquerade Reel Symbols
The Royal Masquerade online slot contains 5 main reel symbols, each of which is an intricately designed masked character in red, green, purple, orange or blue. Also featured as the game’s lower valued symbols are the playing card symbols 10, J, Q, K and A, which are portrayed in a sloping italic script.
Wild and Scatter Symbols
The wild symbol in Royal Masquerade is depicted by a pale blue and white Venetian mask with a long beak. This wild symbol has the ability to substitute any of the game’s other symbols to complete winning combinations, with the exception of the scatter symbol.
The glowing golden mask icon serves as this slot’s scatter symbol, and landing 3 or more of these scatters anywhere in view will trigger the game’s main bonus feature.
Royal Masquerade Free Spins Feature
Once the free spins feature has been activated with 3 or more golden mask scatters, players will be awarded 5 free spins with which to play. Each of these spins will provide a guaranteed win, and every time another scatter symbol lands during the feature players will be awarded an extra 2 free spins with which to play. The maximum number of additional free spins on offer is 20.
Gamble Feature
The Royal Masquerade online slot from Play ‘n Go also offers a gamble feature, which allows players at Canadian casinos to try and double or quadruple their most recent win by gambling it using this option. To quadruple their bets, players will need to correctly guess the suit of a hidden playing card, and guessing the colour of this card will pay out twice the original stake.