Playson’s Solar Queen, released in July 2019, was a hit when it landed in the slots games world. Having only recently acquired the Megaways™ licence from Big Time Gaming, Playson has been re-releasing some of their more popular titles with the added Megaways™ magic. Explore the riches of ancient Egypt, with the impeccably-designed Solar Queen Megaways™ from Playson. A Megaways™ remake of the original Solar Queen, the game comes with 7,776 ways to win. Let’s take a look at some of its features and specs, and get the full rundown!
Playson hasn’t diverted very much from their original Solar Queen game with this Megaways™ title. Deciding to keep most of the design elements consistent, the game is positioned as a nearly identical twin to the original, just with thousands more ways to win!
Let’s take a look at a few more details on this ancient-Egyptian-themed slot.
The game is excellently designed, with glossy iconography and silky smooth animations. Front and centre, as with most slots, you’ll find the reels themselves. There are 5 reels showing up to 6 symbols each. This makes for a total of 7,776 ways to win.
In the background you can see an ancient Egyptian nightscape, complete with pyramids and a full-blown oasis in the foreground.
When it comes to the sounds design on the game, you’re treated to the sort of music we’re used to when movies and TV shows portray ancient Egypt. It’s pleasing to listen to, and completely undistracting. The sound effects are well thought-out too, with solid thunks when your reels land at their positions, as well as impressive sounding chants when you land some wins! They definitely add to the ambience to the game.
Just like with the game’s general design, Playson did not deviate much when it comes to the symbols for the game.
The low-paying symbols for this game are the 10 to Ace Royals. Funnily enough, Playson did not even bother assigning them different payout amounts, with all of them paying out a maximum of 0.5× your stake for 5 of a kind.
The high-paying symbols are different animals, the gods Anubis and Horus, and finally the Solar Queen herself! The highest-paying symbol, the Solar Queen, pays out 2× for 5 of a kind.
We can only guess that the game is actually referring to Nefertiti with the moniker of ‘Sun Queen’. She was responsible for a religious revolution in Egypt towards worshipping a singular sun god. But enough history! Onto the game’s special symbols:
The scatter symbol is what activates the free spins section available for this game. Appearing on reel 1, 3, and 5, landing 3 of these symbols will net you 10 free spins!
The sun symbols are an interesting and fitting addition to Solar Queen Megaways™. When they land on your reels, they’ll create a flaming border around the symbol space. This will then turn into the wild symbol after a couple of spins, which in turn acts as a substitute for all symbols except the scatter symbol.
We’re sure you’re wondering what kind of features this game brings to the table, especially compared to the excellent variety of Megaways™ games available to play. Well, there are a few interesting additions to this title, along with some classic features. Let’s take a look:
Sadly, the Cascading Reels feature common to so many of the best Megaways™ games is missing from Solar Queen Megaways™. The concept with cascading reels is that any symbols making up a winning combination are removed from the reels, allowing for more symbols to fall from above. This would’ve allowed players to potentially form more wins.
That’s not to say that Playson has left us completely in the dark, though. Illuminating our features list is the Flaming Frames feature, which we brushed upon earlier.
When you land sun symbols, they will transform into flaming frames, which will surround a symbol position on the reels. The flaming frames will accumulate throughout what Solar Queen Megaways™ calls a spin cycle.
Unlike the setting on your washing machine, the spin cycle consists of 10 spins, and sort of acts like a portion of time within which you can accumulate flaming frames. At the end of the cycle, the frames will turn into wild symbols, potentially forming some huge combinations!
If a sun symbol lands within one of the flaming frames, the winnings multiplier at the top of the reel will be increased. This is applied to the wins for that spin and will be reset at the end of the spin cycle.
Keep in mind that changing your bet level will reset the multiplier, so try and lock in a bet amount you’re comfortable with for the duration of the 10-spin cycle.
That leaves us with the last feature present on Solar Queen Megaways™: the free spins section. As we mentioned earlier, 3 scatter symbols trigger 10 free spins.
During the free spins game, the other features get a boost too. The sun symbol will immediately become a sticky wild symbol. Sticky wilds will remain on the reels until the end of free spins, allowing for potentially larger and larger winning combos.
This game also offers a Bonus Buy feature if that’s something you’d like to do. This might be limited by the region in which you live.
Besides the features, it’s important to take a look at the specifications and numbers for Solar Queen Megaways™. Unfortunately, we’re not off to a great start when it comes to the number of ways to win this game.
The slot’s maximum of 7,776 ways to win comes in shockingly low compared to other Megaways™ titles. We’re used to the standard ‘up to 117,649 ways to win’, so although still in the thousands, the contrast is significant.
Let’s take a look at the other metrics for the game, and see how they stack up.
The Solar Queen Megaways™ RTP is set at 95.85%. This is a smidge lower than what can be considered the average RTP for most games, which is 96%. While we don’t think the difference is particularly noticeable, it can be worth bearing in mind.
What RTP means is that in the long term, over hundreds of thousands of spins, you can expect to win $95.84 back from every $100 you bet. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean you can make a big win that’s far greater than the total you’ve staked. It’s just the way things are lined up in the long run.
Solar Queen Megaways™ also comes with a high-volatility rating, so you can expect to encounter larger but less frequent wins when compared to medium- or low-volatility slots.
This also means that you will most likely have to endure some dry spells throughout your playing experience – in other words, subsequent spins which might only land you small or no wins at all. This is just the nature of high-volatility games, so it’s recommended that you have a well-padded bankroll if you’d like to play through these dry spells.
Thankfully, Solar Queen Megaways™ has quite the range of betting options, which should offer different kinds of punters what they’re looking for. The minimum betting amount is $/£/€0.20, while the maximum is set at $/£/€100.
Solar Queen Megaways™ is of course compatible with both desktop and mobile devices. Therefore, whether you’re on your phone, tablet, laptop or desktop, you’ll be able to play this game to your heart’s content. The game intelligently adapts the user interface to the device you’re playing on in order to offer the best possible experience.
If you’re not a stranger to how Megaways™ games are played, then you’ll find yourself absolutely at home with this title. Winning combinations are formed with 3 or more of the same kind of symbol on adjacent reels, starting from reel 1.
The controls are easily laid out and a breeze to get used to. The main control cluster is located centre-bottom on the game screen. Moving left to right, this has controls for the autospin feature, the larger orange spin button, and the bet selector. The autospin feature also has loss and single win limits, which is a nice touch.
At the bottom right you’ll also find some additional controls. These include a turbo button (which is shaped like a lightning bolt), a mute button, and a 3-line menu, which takes you to the game info screen, where you’ll find the paytable.
As with any game, you’ll find that Solar Queen Megaways™ has both some positive and negative aspects. Let’s take a look at a condensed pros and cons list as a summary of our review.
Pros
Cons
Solar Queen Megaways™ offers an additional option for one of Playson’s more popular releases for players who’d like to up the ante and enter into the realm of up to thousands of ways to win. Although the implementation of the Megaways™ engine is a little disappointing, it’s got some interesting features and additional mechanics which are well worth the spin!
Provider | Blueprint Gaming |
RTP | 96.03% |
Volatility | High |
Number of ways | 117,649 Megaways™ |
Provider | Blueprint |
RTP | 96.55% |
Volatility | High |
Number of ways | Up to 117,649 |
Provider | Blueprint |
RTP | 97.00% |
Volatility | Medium/High |
Number of ways | 470,596 |
Provider | Big Time Gaming |
RTP | 96.5% |
Volatility | Medium to High |
Number of ways | 117,649 |
Provider | Blueprint |
RTP | 96.01% |
Volatility | High |
Number of ways | 15,625 |
Provider | ReelPlay |
RTP | 96.18% |
Volatility | High |
Number of ways | Unlimited |
Provider | Big Time Gaming |
RTP | 96.54% |
Volatility | Medium/High |
Number of ways | N/A |
The Solar Queen Megaways™ RTP is 95.84%.
Solar Queen Megaways™ features flaming frames, spin cycles, and a free spins bonus game with sticky wilds!
Solar Queen Megaways™ was developed by Playson.
Like other Megaways™ games, you can win at Solar Queen Megaways™ by landing 3 or more of the same kind of symbol on adjacent reels starting from reel 1.