Microgaming’s highly anticipated ‘The Phantom of the Opera™’ online slot went live today with partner Microgaming and Quickfire operators .
‘The Phantom of the Opera™’ is based on the successful film adaptation released in 2004 that grossed over $154 million worldwide.
This 243 ways, 5×3 reel game features the musical’s world renowned scores and the film’s iconic characters, which act as high-paying symbols that can be double stacked during play. The game’s low symbols are themed specifically to the brand.
Feature rich, the game comprises a number of bonuses, all of which pay homage to the storyline – two of these are found in the base game. First of all, A Letter Bonus, which symbolises the letters that The Phantom sends to the new owners of the theatre to issue his demands, awards a random cash prize when landing on reel five.
A Chandelier Bonus represents a famous scene from the story where The Phantom cuts down the chandelier in anger. During this randomly triggered base game feature, the scene darkens, the music changes and The Phantom laughs as the chandelier falls onto the screen, turning two or three reels wild.
Three or more scatter symbols trigger the feature selection where players can pick one of three bonuses or the ‘Choose For Me’ option, where a player will be awarded one of the features at random.
The three bonus features in the game are the Masquerade Bonus, Music of the Night and All I Ask of You – each representing a key scene and musical score.
The Masquerade bonus is a three-tier pick feature experience where players can be awarded cash prizes, additional picks, or a level-up to progress to the next tier. The higher the tier, the higher the cash values available, and the music changes as players journey through each level. Once a player runs out of picks, their bonus round ends.
10 free spins are awarded in the Music of the Night feature, during which players may encounter a variety of gameplay enhancers, including random wilds, wild reels, multipliers and extra spins. Multiples of these random events can occur at the same time, adding more excitement to the game.
Finally, All I Ask of You awards 10 free spins with a unique wild mechanic, Dancing Wilds™. Christine and Raoul both feature as wilds and move randomly between every spin in time to the music. When landing in specific ways, they can generate standard wilds, a single wild reel, adjacent wild reels, a 2×2 wild block and a 3x multiplier.
David Reynolds, Games Publisher at Microgaming, comments:
“The Phantom of the Opera™ is a mesmeric game, combining a new game mechanic with visually stunning artwork and a musical score that is legendary.
“There has been much hype about the slot since we unveiled our plans at ICE in February and I’m delighted that the stage is now set and it is ready to launch with our vast operator base. Our incredibly talented game studio have truly realised the brand.
“Working with The Really Useful Group to bring this game to market has been a pleasure; we are excited to see how the game performs in the coming months.”
2017 ICE attendees will recall Microgaming’s announcement of the development of the slot in partnership with The Really Useful Group.
The announcement accompanied a Phantom of the Opera-themed bar featuring opera singers performing the title track ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ at intervals throughout the day.