Who doesn’t want to play a slot game with a mildly amusing pun on the Wizard of Oz? If you don’t, read our in-depth review to see if we can change your mind.
Special Features
The Winnings of Oz is a slot with a number of special features that will gain your attention and maybe see you picking you up a nice little bit of extra money. Here’s how each of them works:
Winnings of Oz 2x Wilds
In the Winnings of Oz game you’ll be wanting to hit some Wilds, not just because they substitute in for any symbol except for Scatters and can give you a winning line, but also because they’re 2x Wilds, meaning that your winnings will be doubled! That’s something that even the Tin Man could get excited about. More than three Wilds will form a win line all of their own, but in that instance the prize won’t be doubled.
The Yellow Brick Road Bonus Round
Landing a Yellow Brick Road symbol on reels one, three and five will see you wander along that most famous of paths, heading towards the Emerald City. When the game starts you’ll get to spin the wheel, which will tell you how many paces along the road you’ll go.
Spaced out along the Yellow Brick Road will be Dorothy’s companions; namely the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion. If you pass them they’ll join you on your journey and you’ll win bigger. You’ll keep going along the path until your spin lands on ‘Collect’, increasing the chance of a better prize. In this game you can win up to 400x your stake!
The Wizard Bonus
This is technically a continuation of the Yellow Brick Road bonus round, simply because you’ll trigger it by reaching the Emerald City with Dorothy and all three of her companions. Because you can also trigger it by landing two Yellow Brick Road symbols and a Wizard Bonus symbol on reels one, three and five, however, we’re treating it as its own special feature. You’ll be asked to pick up to four coins, with each one revealing a character. The character will give you a cash prize and you’ll want to concentrate on this one – you can up to 1000x your total stake!
The Witches Free Spin Bonus
If you land a Witches Free Spin symbol on reels two, four and five then you’ll initiate the Witches Free Spin game. During this time you’ll be hoping to see some Good Witch Wilds, given that they’ll substitute for any symbol within the Free Spin game. The game will keep going until you collect five Wicked Witches, with an unlimited number to play with until that happens. Even once you have collected the five Wicked Witches, that will simply trigger yet another game.
Super Spin
Within the Free Spin bonus game is the Super Spin, which is what happens once you’ve collected five Wicked Witches. During this time you’ll be wanting to get as many Good Witch symbols as you can. As well as acting as Wilds during the Free Spin game, you’ll also collect them and the ones you’ve gathered will carry on over in to the Super Spin game. If you didn’t get any then don’t worry, you start the game with two regardless. The ones you’ve collected will be put onto your reels for the Super Spin, which will obviously increase your chance of winning.
Winnings of Oz Progressive Jackpot
There are two ways that you can trigger the progressive jackpot during the Winnings of Oz game. The first is via the Yellow Brick Road bonus round for high stake players. Whilst you’re heading along the road you might see the Wizard Bonus icon appear. If you spin the right number to land on it then you’ll immediately win the progressive jackpot!
The second way to win the progressive jackpot is via the Wizard Bonus round itself. If you make it playing the Wizard Bonus via the Yellow Brick Road then Dorothy and any of the characters that you arrived in the Emerald City with will be automatically added to your coin collection. If you then reveal all four characters during the Wizard Bonus then you’ll automatically win the progressive jackpot.
Gameplay & RTP
The Return To Player average for the Winnings of Oz game is 94.81%, which is very nice indeed. Is it as good as the 98% you can find with the very best slots out there? Obviously not, but it’s a more than decent amount and a shade better than the 94% you’ll find with the majority of Virtue Fusion games. Whether it will be enough for you to play the game on a regular basis will be down to your own personal take on how important you think money is compared to a fun game to play. If money matters then you won’t have any complaints about an RTP of 94.81%, whilst if it’s the gameplay that you think is the most important thing then you won’t be disappointed with Winnings of Oz.
Let’s start by talking about the theme of the piece. If you can forgive the pun on the Wizard of Oz then you’ll find yourself immersed rather quickly in a game that has a theme that is present throughout. Once you’ve started the game you’ll see an introductory video explaining how each of the various bonus games works. That’s quite handy if you’ve struggled to understand what we’ve been saying! The reels sit in front of Oz and the Emerald City, with the Yellow Brick Road curling around too. The line numbers are located inside emeralds, with the ‘Info’, ‘Spin’ and other buttons also found inside similar shapes. When it comes to the symbols, all of them are of characters and things that you’ll recognise. As well as Dorothy, cradling Toto in her arms, the Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow have all come together for one symbol. Dorothy’s Shoes are on another one, with Auntie Em’s house also taking up a symbol of its own.
When it comes to the actual gameplay, the Winnings of Oz works very well. The reels spin nice and smoothly and if you land a couple of Scatters that might be leading to playing a bonus round then you’ll find the last reel keeps spinning around to build up the tension. The bonus games are all good fun and fit perfectly into the theme. The Free Spins game with the Witches is definitely the most enjoyable, if for no other reason than you can really win quite big with it. Obviously the Yellow Brick Road is tied-in intrinsically with Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz story, as is the Emerald City. Little wonder, then, that both of them form an important part of the game. Whether you’re the sort of person that loves high Return To Player averages or excellent gameplay, you’re almost certainly going to enjoy Winnings of Oz as a slot and keep coming back to it time and again.