Leprechaun Carol

Now if you are like me, you are probably wondering if this is a slot about our wee Irish friends getting together to sing a few Christmassy jingles over a pint of Guinness or six, or whether it is about a Leprechaun called Carol who has got up to some mischief or other.

Well we can clear this up straight away given that this is a Christmas slot and say that it is definitely the former rather than the latter.

So what do we have here? Well for one, it is an Irish/Leprechaun themed game that for once isn't awash with green! Instead we have a snowy winter scene, with snow falling from the Sky although the obligatory rainbow is still evident. There's five reels, each with three symbols and sat atop the reels in the top left corner is a Leprechaun in a Santa outfit.

The top prize is 6,000x your total bet, which isn't bad considering you can wager between 0.20 and 100 per spin. It's also a higher volatility slot, which means careful bankroll management is essential in order to get the best from the game.

So how does merging two very popular slot themes in Leprechauns and Ireland combined with Christmas turn out? Let's take a closer look and find out.

Overview

• Game: Leprechaun Carol
• Developer: Pragmatic Play
• Reels: 5
• Pay Lines: 20 (non-selectable)
• Minimum Bet: 0.20
• Maximum Bet: 100
• Jackpot: 6,000x
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: High

Where can I play the Leprechaun Carol slot?

If you want to play the new Leprechaun Carol slot then the place to head is Black Diamond Casino. Not only does the casino have a wide choice of different slot games to play, including a large number of Pragmatic Play titles to enjoy, but it also is offering players a great value welcome bonus.

Sign up today and before you even make a deposit on the site, you will receive 25 Free Spins to play through. Once you have done that and decide that Black Diamond is the perfect casino for you, you can then qualify for a generous first deposit bonus of 200% up to a maximum of $2,000 on that initial deposit.

With a wide range of different promotions available for existing players at the site, plus a whole host of top games to play using your deposit and bonus, you will find plenty to occupy yourself at Christmas and throughout the rest of the year at the Black Diamond Casino.

Presentation

The Leprechaun Carol slot is a rather cheerful and very picturesque slot. Behind the reels is a rather pleasant snowy scene, comprising of Leprechaun dwellings, with snowy roofs, snow falling from the sky set against a forest and mountain backdrop, with the occasional snowy tipped tree and flower in the foreground. As slots go, it is a rather pleasant one to look at.

The music for the slot is not any Christmas Carol that I can identify but it is rather pleasant and jingly and oddly enough does seem to fit both the Irish theme and the Christmas theme rather fittingly.

The presentation is nice enough but I do have to say that there is nothing in this slot that is even slightly original. Essentially, this is a leprechaun themed slot, just with added tinsel and snow, but if that is how you like to play your games over Christmas then Leprechaun Carol will certainly hit the mark for you.

What's on the reels?

There is the usual set of lower and higher value symbols on the reel in the Leprechaun Carol slot. The lower value symbols are the playing card symbols and these range from 10 through to the ace. The wins these offer tend to be small with only the five-symbol wins guaranteeing you a profit on your spin (apart from the ace and king, which can see you land small profits if you land four across the reels).

The higher value symbols are the the pint of Guinness, the leprechaun's pipe, with a four leaf clover growing out of the bowl, a leprechaun's hat and the leprechaun that we see sat at the top of the reels. These offer much better value wins with three symbol wins starting at the same amount as your bet, while you can win considerably more (up to 50x your stake) if you land five of the stacked Leprechaun symbol across the reel.

Of course, with that symbol being stacked that mean you can land this on all 20 pay lines if you are lucky and that is indeed how you would trigger the bigger jackpot wins in this slot.

There are two other symbols on the reels to look out for. The Wild and the Scatter and these are the two features that trigger the main bonus features of the Leprechaun Carol slot.

Wild features

The Rainbow symbol is the in game Wild and it serves two purposes. It can first be used as a substitute symbol for the higher and lower value symbols on the reels to help create winning lines and seeing as it appears on all reels, it can do this in many different positions which is a bonus.

You can also win the joint top prize in the game with the Wild by landing five of them across the reels, which sees you win 50x your stake, with smaller pay outs for 2, 3 and 4 Wilds landed across the reels in position.

Sadly, there is no multiplier applied to any of the Wild wins in the slot which is a bit of a disappointment.

Free Spins features

The Scatter symbol in the Leprechaun Carol slot is the pot of gold and you need to land three of these symbols on the three reels it appears on, the first, third and fifth, in order to trigger one of the different bonus games available in the slot. It can take a little time to trigger the bonus features, but generally when you do, it is worth it.

One nice touch is that if you land to Scatters on the reels and one lands just off the other reel, then the Leprechaun at the top of the reels will 'nudge' the reels and the Scatter just off screen will come into play, triggering the bonus feature. This is the Scatter Nudge bonus.

When you land the Scatters, snowflakes move across the screen and your bonus game is revealed. It can be one of the following different options.

• Free Spins Picker - This sees the player awarded 20 Free Spins and a 3x multiplier. Before your spins start though you need to select from a number of Mushrooms on screen. As you do, you will reveal additional prizes, including additional Free Spins, an increase to your multiplier, picking a symbol which will turn Wild for the bonus round and you can keep collecting these prizes until you select the Collect Mushroom, after which your Free Spins, together with any bonuses you have earned, will start.
• Coin Collector - This sees you start with a 4x multiplier and 15 Free Spins and for this game all the Scatters are replaced with a coin symbol and you will see a counter which counts the number of times you land the coin on the reels. You then play through your Free Spins and as you collect the coins, each time you hit five, you receive 5 free spins and the multiplier increases by one (up to a maximum of 6x, after which the multiplier remains the same and you simply receive the Free Spins).
• Giant Symbols - With the Giant Symbols you only receive 3 Free Spins but for this bonus, on each spin you will have a 3x3 Giant Symbol on the reels. Which symbol is selected at random and for each spin it moves one place across the reels, from left to right, starting on the first three reels, then reels 2-4 and lastly from reels 3-5.

Other bonus features

One of the nice touches about the Leprechaun Carol slot is that it has four randomly triggered bonus game features which can trigger on any spin in the game. The bonuses you can play through are as follows:

• Raining Wilds - With this bonus, random Wild symbols will be added to the reels in random positions, with the possibility of generating a large value win.
• Pick a Fiddle - After the spin has been completed, you have to select one of the five fiddles displayed on the screen to reveal a cash prize.
• Giant Symbol - During the spin a random symbol is selected to become a giant 3x3 symbol that fills up three reels. This can appear anywhere across the reels and trigger some higher value wins.
• Scatter Nudge - As we have already explained, this bonus triggers only when you land a Scatter on the first and third reel and one on the fifth reel just off screen. When this happens, the Nudge feature kicks in to move the fifth reel scatter back on screen and trigger one of the Free Spins bonus games.

One thing to note about these bonus features is that they can take a good deal of time and patience to trigger. They don't trigger as readily as on other slots, but when they do they can see you land some sizeable prizes, especially the Raining Wilds and Giant Symbol features.

Best feature of the Leprechaun Carol slot

Without doubt for me, the best feature of the Leprechaun Carol slot is the amount of different bonus features available in the game. It can take a while to trigger them though, so patience is a virtue, but when you do, you usually find that your patience is rewarded with some very good value wins, especially in the Coin Collector and Free Spin Picker bonus rounds, although it is easy to see why the Giant Symbol bonus can also land some bigger value wins if you get lucky with a higher value symbol.

What does the Leprechaun Carol slot lack?

In truth, the only thing I feel that the Leprechaun Carol slot lacks is a little originality in terms of the design as Pragmatic Play have, unusually for them, played it pretty safe with this slot. The presentation is a little uninspiring, but the fact that the actual game is so high quality more than makes up for this.

Conclusion

Leprechaun Carol may have an unusual name and a fusion of two popular themes, and while the presentation may be a little safe and uninspiring, the sheer number of features and the higher value variance of the slot mean that you can land some fantastic value wins and that you are always never too far from a bonus feature. This is a fabulously fun slot to play with well thought out features and an exciting structure that offers a great mix of risk and reward.

Ratings

• Presentation: 13 / 20 - The presentation is nice enough in terms of how the Leprechaun Carol slot looks and plays, but it is not the most original and it doesn't really inspire you to play the slot when you look at it initially. There are some nice touches though, but it could have been a little more dynamic and appealing on the eye.
• Game-play: 17 / 20 - This is where the Leprechaun Carol slot starts to really up its game. The game play, especially with those big bonus features means that it is an exciting slot to play and you never feel too far away from a decent value win, which is unusual on a higher variance slot. Triggering the bonus games does take time and patience but you will often find them rewarded.
• Bonus Features: 20 / 20 - It's rare that I offer full marks to a game for any feature of it, but in terms of bonuses then the Leprechaun Carol slot has it absolutely nailed. The fact that there are so many bonus features, many of which are triggered at random in the base game and three different Free Spins bonus features, all with the potential of some sizeable wins, means that you are always keen to land each of the individual features to see what it offers. That gives the game huge added appeal.
• Entertainment Factor: 18 / 20 - Given the fact that there are so many bonus features on the Leprechaun Carol slot, it does make the game far more exciting and the fact that you have some sizeable wins interspersed with non-winning spins does make you feel like you are rewarded for your patience and all those lovely bonus games does make every spin an exciting one, exactly how a slot should be.
• Play Value: 14 / 20 - This is a higher variance slot so if you do not afford it a little respect when wagering, it can take a bite out of your finances, but played at an appropriate level for your bankroll, I found the slot to be more than fair in terms of value offering me a great mix of risk and reward. It was certainly one of the more generous higher variance slots I have ever played.
• Overall 82 / 100 - Never mind one of the best Christmas or Leprechaun themed slots, Leprechaun Carol for me has all the ingredients to be one of the best games of the year. The bonus features are what makes the game, but the way that Pragmatic Play have balanced higher variance with a really playable game that offers a fair balance between risk and reward means it is pitched absolutely on the money. This is a fantastic slot and one that you should add to your must play list.

Good Luck!

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