Joyful Joker Megaways slot

Joyful Joker Megaways slot from Microgaming has been, like their previous efforts, designed by an in-house developer in this case All41 Studios. Forgotten Island Megaways slot was also by All41 as was the dire Shamrock Holmes Megaways slot and this leaves me wondering why they don't use an established classic like Thunderstruck 2 slot for a Megaways game. Here you get a simple retro-look along with the sounds and symbols but that doesn't mean it will be a bad game. So can this slot be joyful for our bankroll or will the joker be on us?

On the reels...

You have the most common set-up here on Joyful Joker Megaways slot with a top scroll of 4 symbols, 6 reels of 2-7 rows therefore 324-117649 ways to win. Wilds can only appear on the top reel, scatters on the 6 base reels with symbols stacked and single, winning ones replaced from above. The 6-of-a-kind pays are 50x bet 7's, 5x Bars, 2.5x Bell, 2x Horseshoe, Melon or Grapes or Plum 1.5x, Orange or Lemon or Cherry 1x. There is a decent modifier here though.

Joker Wheel

Randomly, the wheel may spin and offer up a 2 to 10x multiplier. This will apply to your initial win on the spin, then rise by 1x for every subsequent winning tumble, kind of like a mini-free games mechanic. Should you trigger the free games on this spin, your bonus will begin at whichever multiplier this modifier ended on!

Free Games

You need 4 scatters to earn 10 free games with +2 for each one over this. Now the Joker scatters only appear, like the Wilds, on the top scroll and 3 or 4 will award that exact amount of extra spins. The round starts with a 2x multiplier, or possibly more if triggering from the Joker Wheel random feature. Each tumble increases the multiplier 1x, no limit and we are told 23,000x is possible here. There is a basic feature buy in some jurisdictions for 80x bet, 120x bet for a 3 or 5x multiplier start and 150 x bet for a 5 or 10x start.

Our View...

Joyful Joker Megaways slot has a reasonable 96.25% RTP and due to the retro appearance is quite easy on the eyes and ears. You can get the occasional decent base game hit here and although the Joker Wheel can help, it's rare to trigger the bonus from it. This is hard to trigger as with most Megaways games but I'm not sure if the 2x multiplier head start is worth sacrificing 2 spins for, I would rather have the Bonanza 12 spins with just a 1x start. The wins seem to be more frequent here though which is maybe why retriggers and extra spins are so meagre in comparison with that old favourite. Still, with the stated potential we have here, this game could well prove to be the joker in your pack...