WMS Wizard of Oz Road to Emerald City Video Slot Review

Based on the classic film version of The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland, Wizard of Oz Road to Emerald City is a 3 reel, 3 row, 9 payline video slot from WMS Gaming. It comes with 2x multipliers and no fewer than 7 bonus features that offer free spins, multiplier prizes and cash trails. Join Dorothy and chums from between 35p and £70 per spin.

WMS has kept things pretty stripped back as far as design is concerned – you’ll see single, double and treble bars spinning around the reels alongside a lucky red 7. The best standard symbol is the Wizard of Oz logo which awards 5,000 coins if you land 3 in a row. Look out for the 2x multiplier which can double payouts.

The symbol featuring Dorothy and friends is the wild – it replaces everything bar the 2x multiplier, logo and emerald. On certain lucky 7 symbols, you’ll see a piece of emerald attached. Land 3 or more of these symbols on a single payline and you’ll trigger the bonus round. There are 7 features on offer here in all:

• Glinda The Good Witch Booster feature – if you land this, you’ll go on to play 1 of the other features but with an upgrade in the form of extra cash prizes or multipliers which are applied to your wins there.
• Dorothy Free Spins feature – land this round and you’ll get between 5 and 20 free spins. Every emerald symbol you land here is collected in a meter. Once you’ve got 3 of them, you’ll immediately trigger 1 of the extra rounds. You’ll then play that round before returning to the free spins. Land 3 or 4 emeralds in one go and another round of free spins are added to your total.
• Cowardly Lion Multipliers feature – 1 free spins is warded here on a special reel set that includes wild emeralds and wild multipliers of 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x, 15x or 25x.
• Scarecrow Crow Prizes feature – watch out for the crows that can land on the Scarecrow. You’ll get an instant cash prize if 1 crow lands. If it’s 2 crows, you’ll get a cash prize or a multiplier. Land 3 and you’ll be in line for a multiplier boost.
• Tin Man Winning Spin feature – reel 2 is wild for the duration of this round. Watch out for emeralds that increase multiplier awards from 1x to 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x or 25x. The feature will end with a winning spin where the multiplier is applied to the win.
• Wicked Witch Free Spins feature – 3 free spins are awarded if you land this round. On each of them, reel 1 will be a stacked wild. Any wild, logo or emerald symbols that land here will also turn wild and will remain so for any free spins you have left.
• Toto Emerald Trails feature – this is a mash up between a free spins round and a cash trail. Landing emerald symbols moves you along the trails. Which direction you move depends on where on the reels the symbol lands. The further along the trail you make it, the bigger the potential awards. If you land a free spin without either a winner or an emerald , you’ll get a Pooper. 3 Poopers and it’s game over.

The 3×3 game engine is a little unusual for a branded video slot. It works well enough though, especially as there are plenty of extras to get stuck into. The design here is simple too but again works rather nicely. You’ll see all the main characters from the hit film as well as hearing “Over The Rainbow” and “We’re Off to See the Wizard” playing in the background. No complaints there then.

Frank L. Baum’s novel has been turned into plays, movies, musicals and now a video slot. This latest adaptation works well, combining simple, understated design with some impressive features. Get lucky there and there could be riches on offer “Over The Rainbow” on the Road to Emerald City. There are also 3 other Wizard of Oz video slots which can be found in the WMS section.