Join a trio of flighty sorceresses who can help conjure up a magic hat full of coins in Witch Pickings, a 5 reel, 25 payline slot from NextGen Gaming. The chief attraction here is the impressive bonus feature where you can choose which features are in play. Stakes range from between 40p and £80 per spin.
If you’re expecting dark imagery and symbolism given the witch theme, then think again – these 3 witches are about as far from Grotbags as you can imagine. The visuals have a gentle, fairy tale feel, full of green pastures and overlooked by an old castle.
Joining the obligatory playing card symbols are a cat, potion bottle, bubbling cauldron and castle symbols. The crystal ball is the wild, substituting for everything apart from the scatter. That scatter is the 3 witches symbol – land 3 of them to trigger the Free Games feature which is where things get interesting.
Before the 5 free spins play out, you get to choose a series of extras by picking from 3 different pots. In pot 1, the options are:
- Turn all the high value symbols into a single, randomly chosen symbol.
- Select the castle, cauldron, potion bottle or pendant to become a stacked symbol.
- Choose 1 of the above symbols. When it lands, it will award a random cash prize of between 25 and 500 coins.
In pot 2, the options are:
- Transform any standard wild that appears into an expanding wild.
- Add extra wilds to the reels.
- Add a wild multiplier which will boost any wild win by 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or even 10x.
In pot 3, the options are:
- Add a standard multiplier which will boost any win (not just wild wins) by 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x.
- Activate the pay both ways feature which will offer payouts from right to left as well as left to right. Add 5 extra free spins to your haul of bonus spins.
You can choose 1 extra from each pot. What you go for is a matter of personal preference but we enjoyed some success by combining the same symbols feature from pot 1 with the wild multipliers from pot 2 and the 5 extra spins on offer from pot 3.
There’s a history tab which records what you won from each pot combination. If all that choice becomes a little overwhelming, you can opt for the autopick which will make a random choice for you. On the variance scale, Witch Pickings is in the medium range offering a balance of payouts.
If you like a degree of interactivity in your slots play, then Witch Pickings certainly offers that. Being able to build your own bonus is a nice addition. Throw in the fine visuals and magical soundtrack and Witch Pickings becomes a very playable overall package. If you like witches, Playtech’s Halloween Fortune is superb.
