Avalon II Slot - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

The legend of King Arthur, his Knights of the Round Table and his search for the Holy Grail has been an extremely popular theme or inspiration for films, TV shows and also slots games. With thrills, adventure, a mighty quest and forbidden love, the stories of King Arthur and his knights have everything to make a compelling story and a gripping slots experience. Avalon II from Microgaming, or to use its full title of Avalon II - The Quest for The Grail, is the sequel to the company’s incredibly successful slots game called Avalon, which featured crowns and goblets and other symbols relevant to the Arthurian legend.

In this outing from Microgaming, players are again taken on a wild and legendary journey to retrieve the Holy Grail and collect some incredible prizes for themselves along the way. The imaginative team at Microgaming have really set a high standard with Avalon II, as it combines beautifully rendered graphics, delightful animation, some fantastic bonus games and many ways in which players can win and reap rich rewards.

From the very beginning Avalon II is an impressive game. When you open the game you get a quick glimpse of some of its enticing features to come as some of the bonus games are displayed. Before you see them, the screen is blank and then a grey mist sweeps in to fill in the serene and gorgeous landscape of Avalon. When this has been fully fleshed out in understated pearly hues, panels appear to entice players with the game’s bonus features. They have evocative titles such as Misty Vale and Hall of Shadows and Isle of Avalon and are accompanied by dreamy illustrations in a colour palette of ethereal blues and greys and pinks. Just looking at this, the player knows that they are in for a real treat from Microgaming with Avalon II. Best of all, this is a treat and a legend that can be enjoyed wherever you are as long as you have an internet connection and an appropriate device. Avalon II is a flexible game that can be enjoyed on desktop PC, mobile and tablet.

When you finally reach the setting for the base game, the vibrant symbols are set against a backdrop that hints of Avalon itself, with a lake and rocks and some grasses. To each side of the screen are two columns that also look a little like trees, and there is ivy climbing up them. Plus there is a mysterious hooded person emerging from an intriguing doorway, and the hooded person is carrying a platter on which some unknown substance is forming clouds of vapour that rise from the platter and then tumble gently towards the ground. It all helps set the scene for a mystical journey to find that Grail, unlock the game’s bonus features and win plenty of wonderful rewards.

How to Play

When you look at the base game of Avalon II, you will see that it is a slots game with five reels, three rows and 243 enchanting ways to win. It is a pretty far departure from the original Avalon slot, which features just 20 paylines.

The Magic Avalon Sunrise

The symbol of the game itself, Avalon II, is a real work of art. When it appears on the reels, you could be astounded by its beauty - the serene lake, the rosy blush of the sunrise lighting up the hills, the splendid grey lettering of Avalon and the glow with the backlighting from the rising sun. When this symbol is involved in a win, and you will see this often, Avalon and the gold columns behind it move forward and pulse out of the screen so that the hilltop and its castle can also rush forward for everything to then disappear in a burst of light. It is an impressive animated sequence that players will want to watch again and again.

You will be even more pleased to see the Avalon II symbol because it is also a kind of Wild. It will help you to create more winning combinations by substituting for all symbols except the Lady of the Lake and the chalice.

The Magic of the Holy Grail

We are all after the Holy Grail, and in this game it is more important than ever. You need to find the Holy Grail - well, actually at least three of them - to access the bonus features of Avalon II. You will notice when a Chalice does appear on the reels, as the Chalice spins, moves forward and is surrounded by glowing blue light. The glowing and the spinning certainly make you pay attention. The whole game gets exciting when a Chalice appears, as when there is a Chalice on the first and second reels, the rest of the reels speed up and change their spinning rhythm to make sure that you know that a chance to play a bonus game may be on the way.

While three Chalices will trigger the bonus features, the symbol is valuable in its own right too. Land two Chalices and you can receive a payout of 30 times your total wager. If you land three Chalices on the reels, then not only will you playing one of the exciting bonus games, but you will also receive a tempting payout of 150 times your total bet. Even King Arthur would be impressed by that. But it gets better. When you land four of those glowing Chalices on the reels, then you get to play the bonus features, and you will receive an amazing 600 times payout on your total bet. Now landing five Chalices really is the Holy Grail of Holy Grails, as you get access to those fabulous bonus games, and you receive a payout that is worthy of several kings, being a 3000 times multiplication of your total bet for the spin.

When do you land those three or more Chalices that launch the bonus features, the Chalices will pulse and the words Grail Bonus will appear on them. When that happens, a new screen will load with the bonus game on it. When playing Avalon II, it really does become a quest for the Holy Grail for both you and King Arthur, because everything just becomes more intriguing when those Chalices are part of the action.

The Magic of Merlin

Merlin is another key figure in the Arthurian tales. Merlin was a wizard, and he is involved in Arthur’s story from the beginning, helping to set the whole legend in motion. He is a figure of magic and intrigue and mystery. Sometimes he is a mentor and advisor to the king and his knights; sometimes he is a dark force to be reckoned with, especially after he is imprisoned by the Lady of the Lake. Merlin has many stories swirling about him, as he has been a figure in countless books, films and TV series. In this game he is a slightly sinister hooded figure wearing a cloak and holding a staff.

However, players of Avalon II will be pleased to see Merlin, as Microgaming has made Merlin a force for good - at least in this slots universe. Merlin can appear at any time, and he may wander on to the base of the screen, where he may stand and assess the situation. Then he may stamp his staff, which will glow with blue light, and the wizard will extract a ball of blue light from the staff and cast it at the panel where wins are displayed. This ball of blue light will have a magical effect on you and your winnings, as the tally will rise for as long as Merlin’s magic holds out.

Another good reason to welcome Merlin’s appearance is that he may decide to hand out a multiplier when he is visiting your game, which of course will also have a magically uplifting effect on your winnings. If Merlin decides to give you a multiplier, he will twirl his glowing staff around above his head, and when he is satisfied that he has conjured up enough multiplier magic, he will thump his staff on the ground and throw out a multiplier which will appear on the reels and immediately works its magic on your winnings. Merlin is extremely clever and can also conjure up a multiplier out of pretty much nothing. He may appear, wiggle his finger around and create a few symbols and then toss that at the reels to create a multiplier. This kind of magic is good stuff, and players will not mind if Merlin appears for every win to drum up a little multiplication enchantment.

The Lady of the Lake may appear too, but she is not trying to capture Merlin. Rather she is trying to help players win even more rewards by being an Expanding Wild. She’s a rather ephemeral-looking symbol, being a woman in pale shades of blues and greens who definitely looks like she has been submerged in water. Still, she has that glow about her that looks like she could be up to something, and when she lands on reel three, she will swim into action. First of all, she can land anywhere on reel three, and she substitutes for all other symbols except the Chalice. When she lands on reel three, she will expand to fill it, and by doing this she will be using her magical powers to bring lots more rewards your way. When she expands she will fill the reel, with her translucent robes flowing in a spooky way. At the same time, you will see that she was holding something, and this turns out to the sword Excalibur, which will rise and move forward to be more prominent.

Magical Bonus Features

Microgaming really used all their imagination and innovation to create this game, as while some slots offer just one bonus feature, Avalon II offers eight. Each one of them is different, so you could play this game over and over again and never become bored with it. The bonus games are all part of the quest that you go through the kingdom to find the Holy Grail, or in this case win incredibly generous prizes while having a ton of fun and enjoying the impressive graphics, the creative animation and the atmospheric sound track. First of all, you choose your path, and that path will take you to different games and parts of the quest. The ultimate aim, apart from winning a lot, is to find the Holy Grail while journeying through the kingdom and return it to Avalon.

If you play the Lake of Legend bonus game, then your task is to re-forge the legendary sword of Excalibur. During the feature you will be rolling the dice to win some random multipliers. You will be given 10 rolls of the dice, and the multiplier you get will be the same as the value on the dice. In total there are six pieces of sword that must be put back together, and each of these fragments is linked to a value on the dice. If you roll the dice and the value matches the value of one of the sword fragments, then the fragment will be moved into the forge. If you manage to complete the task and get the sword re-forged, then you will win big with a multiplier of 15 times your total wager. In addition, you will also receive a multiplier of six for each of your dice rolls that are still remaining.

Then there is the Misty Vale bonus feature, which is also lots of fun to play and gives you lots of chances to boost your winnings. In the Misty Vale bonus you will be awarded 15 free spins, along with the chance to choose one of the characters to be an extra Wild symbol during the feature. For even bigger prizes, if the extra Wild you choose is also part of a winning combination on a payline, then your rewards are doubled.

A helm is a medieval metal helmet and very useful for a knight in the Middle Ages if someone is trying to cleave your head in two with a sword or poke a hole in it with a jousting pole. In the bonus game called Dusky Moors your quest is to match two helms to receive a payout worthy of a noble knight. When the game has loaded, there will be two rows of cards, all of which are hiding the pictures of different helms. In the background is a scene from a medieval battle, with a field and tents bearing standards pitched at the side. At the bottom of the screen the different helms are depicted with their values. At the top of the screen is a small panel with a number of multipliers in it - 2x, 3x, 4x, 6x and 8x. The idea is to take as long as possible to match the helms, and the more cards you uncover, the more multipliers you get. After a few cards are uncovered, the 2x multiplier is activated, and it will burst into flames. When more cards are uncovered, the 4x multiplier bursts into flames and then the 6x multiplier, and finally, if all is going well, the 8x multiplier. At the same time, the pictures of the helms you have been uncovering will be lighting up as well, so that eventually a whole row of helms is illuminated at the bottom of the screen. When you get to this point, you want to choose carefully because of course you want to match the helm that is the most valuable, and then have the value multiplied by eight to tally up a very substantial bonus prize indeed. At the end of the game, you will be congratulated and the total of your winnings will be displayed. To the right of the screen there is a button with ‘i’ on it, and you can click on this at any time to bring up a panel that explains the rules of that particular bonus feature. At the end, there is another button with Return To Game on it, and clicking this will take you back to the base game so you can land more chalices and play more bonus features.

The Hall of Shadows is another action-packed bonus feature where the Holy Grail must be protected from the evil of the Black Knight also known as Mordred. During this bonus game you will have to take on the Black Knight and defeat him in order to return the Holy Grail to its rightful place. The Black Knight is quite a hulk of a fellow and rather scary too in his dark matte armour, and he means business when he swings his sword around, so you don’t want to take any chances dealing with him. Each strike against him will mean another prize for you, and successful strikes will mean even richer rewards. Multipliers may also be involved to ensure that your gains from playing this bonus round are more than enough to compensate for the courage needed to deal with the Black Knight.

When Whispering Woods is your bonus game, you will be enmeshed in a delightful feature where the Mystical White Knight will have five shields and you will get to choose one of them. The Mystical White Knight may present a shield to you, but you don’t have to choose that one if you are drawn to another. You will get two chances to make a decision about which shield you want to keep. Eventually, the secret of the shield will be revealed and you will receive your prize, which could be multipliers or cash.

In the Forest Falls bonus, players are awarded 20 enchanting free spins, and these will be made even more lucrative with the addition of Trailing Wilds. The Trailing Wilds are the Avalon symbol, and when they appear on the reels they will slide their way down the reels, leaving a collection of Trailing Wilds behind them to make sure even more prizes go into your pot.

When you enter the Isle of Avalon to play this bonus feature, then you may end up spinning the Wheels of Avalon in order to reveal your prize. When you stop on the gold ‘O’ during the third spin, this could be an incredibly important and rewarding moment. Doing this could be the key to unlocking the Bonus Wheel that could mean further exciting play and even more incredibly lucrative prizes. To make it even more exciting, multipliers will be involved, and these will be derived from the spins that you take, as these numbers will taken from the numbers that you have won.

Morgan’s Keep is another thrilling instalment of the quest for Holy Grail during Avalon II from Microgaming. When you enter this area of the game, you will be going into a territory where the rewards can be massive. For a start, you will be awarded 20 incredibly generous free spins of the reels. For greater excitement and rewards, these free spins will also be accompanied by a special feature known as Rolling Reels, which is something rather different from Microgaming. This added extra has even been trademarked! You will be really pleased to play a bonus game with Rolling Reels, as they just keep on rolling to keep awarding you win after win after win. There is no slots player on Earth or in Avalon who will not enjoy it when Rolling Reels get into a lucrative and rewarding rhythm and just keep rolling more prizes your way.

But there’s even more to enjoy when you are in Morgan’s Keep, because those Rolling Reels and all the consecutive winning action that they bring you will have an effect on multipliers. Yes, there are multipliers in this round as well, just to boost those prizes even higher. And when you are being rewarded with more consecutive wins, these will have an effect on the multipliers you receive and make sure that they are even more generous. You will start off with a relatively modest 2x multiplier, but then more consecutive wins will see to it that you are moved up to the level of a 3x multiplier.

No one will ever say no to a 3x multiplier, but this bonus game gets even better. More consecutive wins later, and you will be moved up to a 4x multiplier. This is great, but it can get greater. Yes, you can accumulate even more consecutive wins courtesy of those Rolling Reels and get moved up to the 5x multiplier. While this might be enough to make players on any other game unbelievably happy, Microgaming want players of Avalon II to be totally ecstatic, so when there are even more consecutive wins thanks to those buy Rolling Reels, then you will move up to the level of having a 6x multiplier on your winnings in this round. You only receive one session of free spins and they will not be retriggered, but there are so many opportunities to win huge prizes in this game that you will be more than satisfied.

Playing each bonus game step of the quest for the Holy Grail is loads of fun and allows you to make choices and decisions about what will happen next and along the way deliver a rich bounty of amazing prizes that will make playing Avalon II and its bonus features totally unforgettable. Now you know what is in store, you will be even more eager to see those stunning blue- lit Chalices land on the reels.

How to Play

When you look at the base game of Avalon II, you will see that it is a slots game with five reels, three rows and 243 endless interesting ways to win. Microgaming have put a lot of energy and creativity into making this game really rewarding to play, and the player can see that from the moment they begin.

The aim of the game is to line up matching symbols on winning paylines in order to collect lots of great prizes. However, thanks to the ingenuity of Microgaming, playing this game has so many other dimensions. You will want to play again and again to land those silver Chalices and unlock the exciting bonus features where the animation and the rich prizes combine for a sensational slots experience.

When you look at the screen for Avalon II, you will see that most of the tools you need for exploring this unique kingdom and slots experience are ranged along the bottom of the screen. At the far left of the screen at the bottom is a gorgeous red lozenge that is the button that sets the game in motion and it is labelled Spin. To the right of Spin is a small panel simply labelled Win, and this is where your all important winnings tallies will be displayed.

In the middle is a panel that is labelled Bet, and this is where your bet per round is displayed and where you have easy access to tools where you can adjust this bet. At either side of the Bet panel are small arrows that you can click on to adjust the bet up or down. The maximum bet per spin is 30 coins or credits. If you click on the word Bet, a small panel appears that offers coin size and number of coins, and these both have arrows either side of them for adjusting the value or down to give you even more and easier control over the wagers that you are making. The minimum number of coins you can wager is 1, and the maximum number of coins you can wager is 5. The coin size starts at 0.01 and increases with clicks of the up arrow to a maximum of 0.2. When you are playing with 5 coins at a maximum value of 0.2, then you can place the maximum bet of 30 credits. When the coin size and the number of coins are set at their maximums, then adjusting the bet from the bottom tier will increase it in increments of 6, starting at 6, then going up to 12, then 18 and 24 before finally reaching the maximum of 30. But of course you can pick your combinations and choose whatever wager you wish to place for each spin.

To the left of the Bet panel is the Auto Play function, which is incredibly useful when you want to play a super-fast game and have spin after spin just take place without having to do anything to make it happen. When you click on Auto Play, this will generate a panel with a number of options on it. There is a button for 10 spins, for 25 spins, for 50 spins and 100 spins. You can set the game to keep spinning until you tell it to stop, or you can pick your own number via the Custom setting. When you click on Custom or any of the other choices, another panel appears. In this panel you can choose a number of spins up to a hundred, or it is set according to what you chose yourself, and there are other settings for stopping if your credits reach a certain level or stopping the game if a win exceeds a certain level. With all these settings you can really set the game up to proceed just the way you want it to.

To left of Auto Play is the tab where your credits are displayed, and to the left of this are the words View Pays. Clicking on these of course will take you to the pay table and more information about the bonus features and what each of the symbols is worth. When you click on View Pays a large panel appears with lots of info about the game and bonus features, and there are a number of pages to scroll through. Arrows to go backwards or forwards through the pay table are at the base of the screen, with Back to Game written above them, and you can click on this when you have seen enough and want to continue playing.

The Magic of Great Graphics

Beautiful design plays a large role in what a treat it is to play Avalon II. The symbols with the lowest values are taken from the card deck, but even these have some visual flair with bold colours and regal flourishes. The most valuable of these symbols is the Ace, and if you land five of these on a winning payline, then you could be rewarded with a substantial payout that is 100 times your total wager. That may not be quite enough to buy your own castle, but it would definitely merit a tankard of mead.

The picture symbols are where things start to look great and pay out even better. The Black Knight is suitably fierce-looking, and he becomes animated when he is part of a winning payline. He can also help to bring some decent wins your way, as four of him in a winning combination on a payline will bring you a payout of 60 times your total wager, and if you summon five of his dark presence in a matching combination on a payline, then you will be rewarded with a payout of 200 times your total wager. Sometimes evil does pay after all.

Queen Guinevere is the woman that King Arthur and Sir Lancelot both pined for and was part of one of the world’s most famous love triangles. In this game she is quite lovely, with her long blonde hair and delicate features. It’s hard to tell what her personality was like, but as far as appearances go, she definitely looks like a queenly beauty that could be fought over by two accomplished men. Queen Guinevere will also accomplish good things for players when she appears on the reels. Four Queen Guineveres will mean a payout of 80 times your total wager when they are matched up on a payline. Land five of this radiant queen on a payline and you will be rewarded with a very generous payout that is 600 times your total stake, which is probably enough to buy yourself a gold crown like the one that Guinevere is wearing.

Merlin is also a picture symbol that appears on the reels. He is not hooded and waving his staff round, as he is when he visits the reels to bestow multipliers. As a symbol he looks quite gentle and reflective, or maybe he is just wondering where he put his socks. In any case, his pensive glance will be welcome in multiples on the reels because enough Merlins add up to quite a decent prize. Four Merlins in a winning combo on a payline will yield a payout that is 100 times your total stake, and if you manage to land five of Merlin gazing off on a winning payline, then you will be rewarded with a simply wizard payout that is 800 times your total wager. With that kind of payout you could invest in some magic lessons and beat Merlin at his own game. At any rate, that kind of win will definitely call for some kind of celebratory potion.

King Arthur is basically the main man in the story of Avalon, and he looks suitably commanding on the reels of Avalon II, being dressed for battle and wearing a helm, with some manly facial hair and his citadel behind him. He looks extremely purposeful. But more than his determination or his manscaping, you will be very interested to know what a valuable symbol King Arthur is. In fact, you will be delighted when he drops onto the reels to say hello, because he can do battle to bring some excellent prizes your way. Line up four King Arthurs in a matching combo on a payline for a 150 times payout on your total wager. But if you line up five of King Arthur in a matching combination on a winning payline, then you could win a payout that is a thousand times your total stake. That’s a prize that can keep anyone in jewels and tournaments and royal banquets for some time.

The last picture symbol is the Avalon II symbol, which you will already know something about and be aware of its mesmerising animation. What you also need to know is how valuable a symbol this one is. If you land four in a matching combo on a payline, then the reward will be a glowing 500 times your total wager for the game. If you are lucky enough to collect five of this symbol in a matching arrangement on a payline, then your reward will be a stunning 2,000 times your total wager for the spin. That is a prize no king, queen or wizard would sniff at.

Avalon II is a slots game that exhibits lots of imagination, creativity and flair to provide an exquisite playing experience, lots of variety and many chances to win lots of prizes. This is one slots game that anyone who enjoys slots should really make a point of sampling.

Disclaimer: Avalon II trademark / license is owned by Microgaming. This site is not endorsed by Microgaming.