Tiara Slot
You can guarantee that a brand like Merkur will pull you in with an alluring title and then surprise you with the plot twist of this classic real money slot. That’s right, folks, you’re about to play yet another 5 reels and 10 paylines of a vintage inspired game from the developers. How you feel about that is up to you, but we’re feeling a tad apprehensive.
The reason for our uncertainty? Merkur have many similar slots to Tiara, and while all of them are good in their own rights, the sameness they offer can’t be ignored. Consequently, repetition is a definite guest during your playthroughs, with only newbies to the brand free from that mind numbing experience.
But before we do Tiara some injustice, let’s take a look at the variance of the paytable and see whether it has any surprises in store for us… And that would be a firm no. Although there are several icons at play here, hardly any of them offer anything other than cash prizes. Great for simplicity, but not so great if you crave something more.
On the Cheap
Many of you might want to stop where you are and find another outlet, but for those that want to give Tiara the benefit of the doubt, there’s a positive in among the negatives, and that’s its betting system. It’s very low. Users can play from just 0.10 credits and as much 20, neither of which are too steep for most pockets.
As always, you’ll find that the more you bet here the better, for Merkur love to reward players that go the distance rather than those who pay lip service. To show you what we mean, take a look at these figures:
As you can see from the examples above, the highest you can hope to win from any one tile alters dramatically depending on what you bet. In truth, a payout of 15 credits for a punt of 0.10 is a steal, and more than enough to satisfy casual gamers, but for those high rollers out there, nothing but the best will do. And the best comes at the initial wager of 20 coins.
Gone Wild
The wild symbol is your only hope of excitement in Tiara; it’ll perform its normal function of substituting other symbols, but in doing so it’ll expand to fill an entire reel. As a result, you can expect greater returns. What is more, when this happens a free spin will be awarded to you.
Sadly though, this has little appeal in the face of other retro slots that have free spins not just one spin, followed by multipliers, and even sometimes bonus rounds; Merkur have made a limited game. No matter how you slice it, this game is lacking some serious entertainment value, and as a result it fails to hold your interest for a long period of time.
What it Pays
Seeing as there’s not a lot else to look at, let’s investigate the paytable, for that’s your only means of walking away with a victory under your belt. As is customary for a slot of this size and design, the red 7 is the highest paying of all the symbols, available in a match of between three and five. What is more, the cherries are the lowest valued on the entire grid, coming in at as little as 0.10. In an unexpected twist, the lemon symbol is also valued the same.
From there on out, the table slowly increases its monetary amounts, but users will find the wins never garner any excitement until the maximum bet is activated. This will present countless problems to many players, for a lot of us want the promise of greatness, not a slap in the face with reality.
A Fallen Crown
The title Tiara doesn’t fit this slot machine one bit – there’s nothing royal about the reels, in fact, they’re downright shocking. Merkur have created some fine games in the past, but this game won’t be added to that list, as I’m sure many of you will come to agree.
