RTP 96.16%
Min bet $0.10
Max bet $100
Max Win bet x 1000
Popularity Medium
Min bet $0.10
Max bet $100
Max Win bet x 1000
Gamble Feature Non standard reels, Colossal symbols, Volatility, Mobile version, Automatic play
Layout 5x4
Devices Support all devices
Configurable Winlines No
Volatility Medium
Progressive Jackpot No
There are two days of the year that can become a world of masks and folly for all of the revellers and participants: Hallow’s Eve and April’s Fools. I like both days and rumour has it that there was a person with a funny walk wearing a wig, a bathrobe and boxing gloves on that sunny day in April, who looked like me.
I have no idea what they are talking about, but I do love masquerades. Naturally so, the Red Tiger game had piqued my attention and I found it to be a rather entertaining reel adventure. As far as the potential payouts can go, I can’t say that I am too impressed, but if the random number generator treats me to anything near the 1,000x the bet maximum, I won’t say no to buying more masquerading paraphernalia.
I found it to be refreshing enough that the Masquerade slot comes with an irregularly-shaped reel set, usually described as ‘diamond’, that has a middle reel with four symbol positions and two adjacent reels on both sides that have three and two rows.
This kind of layout has its pluses and minuses. For starters, two reels on the first row narrow down the frequency of payouts as opposed to slot games that have three or more rows. On the other hand, I give Red Tiger a huge plus for finding an ingenious way of balancing this out by providing two extra features and decent symbol payouts.
There are two striking features in terms of the graphic design – one is the background that surrounds the reel set and the other is the mask symbol which is responsible for creating all of the mystery symbol possibilities.
The rest of the symbols are drawn quite well and come with an animated finish when part of a winning outcome, but it’s the golden mask that makes Masquerade lively and unique.
We have an exclusive ball setting for a premise and one where the attendees must arrive in their best dressed-to-impress mode. The sense of location that I got from playing the game reminds me in an indiscreet way of an infamous Hollywood movie that starts at a masquerade and ends with a lot of unanswered questions.
Sadly, the sound design isn’t what it should have been. You can hear music in the background, but only so faintly and it is a pity that the gameplay is dominated by two disproportionately loud sound effects.
The element of surprise is the driving mechanic of Masquerade’s gameplay and this is made possible by a single symbol – that of the golden mask. The symbol itself doesn’t pay but it can assume the shape of any of the standard paying symbols, thus creating multiple matching symbols across the diamond-shaped reel set.
I said that the diamond-shaped reel set is not the most conducive layout for frequent payouts unless it’s a low variance, low-paying game. In the case of Masquerade, the mathematical model is of medium volatility which is quite in line with a payout potential of 1000x your bet.
Red Tiger Gaming has found an ingenious way to make it all work. Most notable is the fact that the game can pay both left to right, right to left and through the middle portion of the reel set, as long as there are three or more matching symbols on adjacent reels.
I can’t find anything that I don’t like about the paytable. Sure, the royal cards and the ten-card symbols need four or five of a kind in order to return your wager or pay more than that, but the high-paying symbols are quite lucrative:
I’ve enjoyed the game and played it a number of times. Each time, just when I thought I’d seen enough of the mask, there comes the big one to cover the middle section of the diamond, which has resulted in a decent hit.
I can recommend Masquerade to anyone. You can play it with 20p just to try it out, but I can’t say that the gameplay doesn’t get a bit repetitive, because it does and that’s because both extra features are actually part of the base game and are related to the same symbol.
Somehow, you are kind of hoping for a sudden twist, a win multiplier perhaps or a free spins bonus. Nevertheless, Masquerade can provide you with a pleasant surprise.