Ariana Slot

Ariana Slot Review

– Welcome to the Ariana slot! This is a 5 reel, 3 row Microgaming slot machine with 25 pay-lines, a maximum win of 240x your stake and a Return to Player (RTP) of 95.48%.

– This online slot machine was launched in May 2015 and features Expanding Symbols, a Free Spins round (win up to 30,000 coins), Scatters (the Starfish symbol), Expanding Symbols, and Wilds.

– The theme is Mermaids (Ariana is one, she’s called the Heroine of the High Seas), so you’ll see plenty of underwater stuff like starfish, sunken treasure and so on. Plus all of the usual card symbols of course. This is a Medium Variance game.

Some people call this game the newer Mermaids Millions. It’s certainly got an underwater theme, and it uses later technology on the graphics and sound effects. 

We still love the original Mermaids Millions game (we love a retro game), but once you’ve played this new mermaid slot from Microgaming (the people behind the Lucky Leprechaun slot), you’ll see just how far the games have moved on.

Many of the later games in the Microgaming slots range are 243 Ways to Win (like the Bust the Bank slot for example, not to mention the ever popular Thunderstruck slot – the newer one, not the original) – Ariana is a 25 pay-line game which is refreshingly easy and simple to understand- at the same time it does have some pretty neat and innovative features that you might not have seen elsewhere.

Ariana Slot: How to Play It.

The first thing you’ll notice about this newer mermaids slot from Microgaming, is that it’s a 25 line game (Mermaids Millions is a 15 line game). And the second thing you’ll notice, is that the graphics have got a lot more sophisticated! This really feels like a smooth, Las Vegas style slot with all the bells and whistles.

Unlike their original Mermaids slot, you can’t select the amount of lines you want to play- this is fixed on 25 (we’d always recommend you play the maximum amount of lines anyway, as it boosts your chances if and when you get into the free spins round which generally plays to the same amount of pay-lines as the game that you played that triggered the bonus).

But no need to worry on that front on the Ariana slot, as you will always be playing 25 lines.

On this slot, in line with Microgaming’s policy of simplifying things, you just need to select your overall bet level. Just remember though, if you are playing £/$/€25 in total, that equal to  £/$/€1 per line- it’ll help you understand the pay table better.

If you click the Pay Table button, you’ll notice that the payout amounts will change if you change the bet level. Very straight forward and easy to understand, but if you are an Old Skool slots player who is used to thinking in multiples of pay-line bets, it can take some adjusting to.

Pros and Cons

Expanding Symbols

One of the cool innovations in the Ariana slot machine is the Expanding Symbols concept. Reel 1 can fill up with a stacked symbol that fills the whole reel- and this also expand any other matching symbol on the other reels- not only is this exciting to watch, but it also boosts your winning chances! The symbols only expand when they make up a winning combination, so when this feature kicks in, you know your bankroll is going to start ticking up and away.

You can also see this in the free spins bonus game, but it’s even better. Any full expanding symbol on reel one will expand matching high symbols PLUS wilds on the other reels.

All the picture symbols can expand- so the Mermaid Ariana (who looks like she’s just had a bit of a hair do), the sunken branch, the treasure chest and the coral garden symbols. They can all stack on reel 1.

Screenshot

Free Spins

So how do you get in to the free spins round? Well, there’s nothing too unusual here- you’ll need 3,4 or 5 scatter symbols which are the starfish symbols like the one on the left.

Here’s the cool bit- just like Mermaids Millions, free spins can be retriggered from within the free spins bonus. That just happens to be one of our favourite features on a slot game, you won’t see it everywhere.

Wild Symbol

The Ariana logo is wild and will stand in for other symbols to make up wins. It won’t substitute for scatters though.

Summary

We were quite cynical when we first tested the Ariana slot game as Mermaids Millions is one of those classic games that we enjoy from time to time, and I guess we were just being loyal (can you be loyal to a slot game?)

But we ended up really enjoying it- especially the Expanding Symbols. Also, between you and me, our favourite feature on a slot is when you can retrigger free spins from within the bonus round, as we love it when you hit a run  and the free spins pile up.

And the Ariana Slot delivers on that front!

Features

FAQs