Water Reel Deluxe - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Introduction

From the tiny northern offshore UK territory of the Isle of Man, Skywind have built a huge portfolio of games playable in many jurisdictions. Their free play slots exactly mirror the gambling versions, which makes a Skywind free play slot an ideal training ground if you plan to move on to playing with real money. They make a point of mixing up different features, so while a game like Skywind's Royal Rings slot leads heavily with its progressive jackpot offer, a similar feature is present in Water Reel Deluxe.

Water Reel Deluxe has a 5-reel, 4-column grid with 30 fixed paylines. The minimum bet value is 0.50 and the maximum is 2,500. There are 9 regular symbols: a water nymph, hats, koi carp, bonsai tree and the top five playing cards. The wild is a water dragon, and the scatter is a yin and yang symbol. There is also an orb symbol.

Theme, graphics and soundtrack

A deep blue underwater backdrop sits behind a grid with a bright gold frame and dark blue reels. The imagery is fairly rudimentary and the animation is limited. As is so often the case with multiple jackpots, the screen has to accommodate a lot of words and numbers, which makes it seem cluttered. There’s not much to the soundtrack, apart from the sound effects of the reels and an oddly jaunty, distinctly non-Asian jingle when you land a win. 

Water Reel Deluxe RTP and variance

The Return to Player is 94.22 per cent, and the volatility, or variance, is high.

How to play Water Reel Deluxe

1. Water Reel Deluxe is a 30-fixed-payline slot.
2. Click the plus and minus arrows to either side of the coin value indicator to adjust the bet settings. The coin value is automatically multiplied by 50 as the cost of each spin.
3. Click Auto to turn on the automatic spin mode. You do not have the facility to choose a number of spins; auto mode begins once you turn it on. Click it off to exit auto mode. Auto mode will automatically end whenever a feature is triggered.
4. Switch on turbo to enter fast spin mode.
5. Press the Play button or the space bar to spin the reels with the current bet. Press it again to stop. 
6. Click on the I icon to call up the reference page, which describes the different game components.
7. Your balance is displayed in the bottom left corner of the black bar. The mute button and game history button are on the right.
8. The wild substitutes for all symbols except orb and yin & yang.
9. Only the highest win per line will pay. Winning combinations pay left to right only, except for scatters, which pay either way. All wins are multiplied by the coin bet, except progressives, which pay as shown.
10. Wins will show at the bottom centre of the screen.
11. Always gamble responsibly and make sure you stay within the limits of what you can afford to lose. Keep in mind that you can lose just as easily as you can win. When it stops being fun, please stop playing.

Bet sizes and paytable wins

The bet size ranges from 0.50 to 2,500.

The paytable values range from 3x to 5x. The highest multiplier values are as follows:

Water Nymph

5 = 200

Hats

5 = 150

Koi

5 = 125

Bonsai

5 = 100

Ace

5 = 75

King, Queen

5 = 60

Jack, 10

5 = 2500

Scatter

5 = 500

Max-win 2,500x

Volatility High

Top RTP 94.22%

Water Reel Deluxe bonus features

Money Reel

If you land 6 or more scattered orbs, you win 5 orb spins. All orbs are held while other positions respin. Any additional orb prizes are held. 1 additional spin is awarded for each additional orb prize. All orb prizes are paid at the end of orb spins. Prizes are several multipliers of the coin bet, up to 5000x, or the Money Reel. The Money Reel spins to reveal a prize of the highest available multipliers.

Jackpot Reel

15 orbs with prizes will win the jackpot reel feature. This will give one spin of jackpot mega, jackpot major or jackpot bonus reels. The chance of the mega reel appearing increases with the bet level. Four jackpots are available: mega, major, minor and mini.

Free Games

If you land 3 or more Yin & Yang symbols, you win 8 free spins. A gold circle symbol reveals one out of the orb or top-value icons. The free games feature can be retriggered. Free games are played at the same bet value as the triggering game. During free games, the wild can appear on any reel.

Water Reel Deluxe review: our verdict

Despite the multiple jackpots and various extras, this feels a little disappointing. Somehow, the game play fails to generate much excitement, and it is not the most attractive slot we’ve come across. The RTP is rather poor, and the high variance means that you can wait a long time for anything interesting to happen, even at that low RTP level. It's not a favourite.
 

Disclaimer: Water Reel Deluxe trademark / license is owned by Skywind. This site is not endorsed by Skywind.