Regal Knights

Regal Knights Review

If you’ve been waiting for a Big Bamboo-style game with a less brutal math model, Push Gaming just answered your prayers with their latest release called Regal Knights. The 5x6 grid is placed amidst medieval-style buildings on what looks like an idyllic spring day, and judging from the banners and symbols, some kind of knight tournament is putting the town in a festive mood.

You start by choosing your bet level between €0.1 to €100 per spin, which should satisfy most types of players. The golden knight with the mean stare is the top-tier symbol, followed by 3 other knight characters that look a tad less regal. These premium symbols award 3x to 20x your stake for 5 of a kind, with winning combinations forming from left to right across up to 50 paylines. The low-value axes, swords, maces, and daggers pay 0.3x to 0.4x for the same.

Regal Knights Slot - Reels Screen

The Wild symbol substitutes for any pay symbol to help complete or improve wins, while also paying the same as the top-tier golden knight symbol if up to 5 wilds appear on a payline. Mystery stacks reveal matching symbols, wilds, or the golden version, and the latter reveals coin prizes, multipliers, collectors, or scatters. This feature is the core mechanic of the game, just like in Big Bamboo, but the prize symbols are limited to 250x your stake in Regal Knights slot.

Eligible players can activate the Push Bet to increase the bonus round hit rate, and this feature is all about low-value symbol elimination. Each eliminated low-value symbol turns into a mystery stack, increasing the hit rate of this lucrative symbol accordingly while also awarding extra free spins and win multiplier upgrades. The top-tier RTP of 96.22 % is a tad above the industry average, but be aware that lower RTP settings are a possibility. With low volatility and a 4,897x max win, Regal Knights is a lighter version of Big Bamboo dressed in a medieval theme.

Regal Knights Features

The features may be familiar to fans of Big Bamboo, but there are some minor differences to be found in Regal Knights Push Gaming. Whether you’re a veteran or a newcomer, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know below.

Push Bet (not UK)

The Push Bet is an optional 50 % ante bet that increases your bonus round chances. However, Push Gaming does not reveal any stats on the bonus round hit rate, with or without this Push Bet activated.

Mystery Stack Symbol

Mystery Stack symbols tend to land in stacks and can appear anywhere on the reels in both the base game and the bonus round. All Mystery Stack symbols reveal the same symbol, be that a regular pay symbol, wilds, or the Golden symbol.

Golden Mystery Stack Symbol Feature

The Golden Mystery Stack Feature triggers when the Mystery symbols reveal a Golden Mystery symbol, and each instance spins to reveal one of the following symbol types:

• Instant Prize - coins award instant prizes between 1x and 250x your stake.
• Collector Symbol - collects all instant prize values while triggering a respin of all instant prize positions (the collector symbol is not needed to win the prizes, only to trigger a respin to increase the total prize).
• Multiplier Symbol - boosts all instant prize symbols by x2 to x10.
• Scatter Symbol - 3+ triggers the bonus round.

Regal Knights Free Spins

As mentioned, you need at least 3 scatter symbols anywhere in view to trigger the Bonus Round, awarding 8 free spins. If you trigger the feature with 4 or 5 scatters, 1 or 2 low-value symbols are converted to Mystery Stack symbols from the start, respectively. Scatters that land during the bonus round are collected in a meter, converting a low-value symbol into a Mystery Stack symbol for every 4th scatter collected.

You can potentially convert all 4 low-value symbols into Mystery Stack symbols via this system, and each upgrade also awards extra spins and a win multiplier upgrade. It works as follows:

• The lowest-value symbol conversion awards +4 free spins and activates an x2 win multiplier.
• The second lowest-value symbol conversion awards +3 free spins and activates an x3 win multiplier.
• The third lowest-value symbol conversion awards +3 free spins and activates an x5 win multiplier.
• The fourth lowest-value symbol conversion awards +2 free spins and activates an x10 win multiplier.

Regal Knights Bonus Buy (not UK)

Eligible players who want to cut right to the chase can do so via the Bonus Buy menu. Hit the star icon above the spin button to open the menu. Then you can pay 60x your stake to be guaranteed 3+ triggering scatters on the spin that follows.

Theme & Graphics

The Regal Knights slot plays out in a typical medieval town, with buildings towering at a strange angle, like you’re rambling through the main street drunk. Stone pillars with decorative carvings flank the reels on either side, with statues in each corner of the frame. Judging from the red banners hanging from each house, some kind of festival is ongoing. Perhaps it’s a jousting tournament, as it seems to have attracted all the bravest knights in the kingdom, each bringing their unique personality to the reels.

Pros and Cons of Regal Knights

Our Verdict

Judging from the themes, it would’ve made more sense if Regal Knights had the math model of Big Bamboo, and vice versa. The relaxing zen vibes of the latter are paired with an algorithmic setup that will either eat you alive or send you out of the jungle with a staggering win of up to 50,000x your stake. With Regal Knights, Push Gaming has basically created a watered-down version of their smash hit, both in the feature department and the return profile.

The medieval theme and fierce knights may give you another first impression, but as they say, math doesn’t lie. Regal Knights is clearly aimed at the casual crowd, a clever Push Gaming move to capture a different segment of players with similar core concepts. Mystery stacks take center stage once again, with golden mystery stacks stealing the show. Compared to Big Bamboo’s 5,000x, the 250x top prize may seem almost laughable, but that’s more or less as expected from a low volatility game like this.

You can still benefit from multipliers of up to x10, just like in Big Bamboo, and the mystery stacks can also help trigger the bonus round. In addition, as before, the collector symbol comes in handy to increase your prizes by respinning the mystery positions after collecting them. Instead of the gambling scatter system, you can get a head start in the symbol conversion meter by triggering the bonus round with 4 or 5 scatters. Other than that, the Regal Knights bonus round is similar, becoming more lucrative the more low-value symbols you convert.

I have to admit that I like the Big Bamboo theme and atmosphere better than what you get in Regal Knights, which seems like something Push Gaming has hastily pushed out to capitalize on the success of its predecessor. However, I do understand this choice, and I think it’s great that more risk-averse players now have an option offering similar features. The visuals aren’t stunning, but get the job done, and the mystery stack mayhem is still entertaining, even if the max win is a fraction of what's on offer in Big Bamboo.