Gypsy Slot: Gaze Into Her Crystal Ball To Reveal Your Fortune

Hi 5 Games and one of the most famous names in casino entertainment, Ballys, have combined forces to develop the stylish and elegant Gypsy slot. This immaculately presented slot tells the story of a beautifully gypsy fortune teller, resplendent in her jewelry, who travels the world in her caravan revealing the future through visions in her crystal ball.

It’s a rather simple premise for a slot, but setting it against the backdrop of a dimly lit town does give the game a little more of a supernatural feel, although this is by no means what you would term a scary slot. Instead, it is all rather cheery, with some bright and breezy musical your accompaniment as you get the reels spinning on this 5×3 reel and 243-ways to win slot.

Overview: Gypsy

Gypsy is a 5×3 reel slot that doesn’t have individual paylines. Instead it offers 243-ways to win on every spin. The minimum bet for this slot is $0.50. You can increase that up to a maximum sized bet of $500. This means that this is a slot which can be played by any slot player, from lower stakes gamer to the high roller.

Perhaps something of an oversight is the lack of multiplier bonus features, especially in the base game. But the game does have a number of different bonus features, which we will explore in more detail later. With a jackpot of 1,000x your stake available to be won, this is a medium volatile slot where the bigger wins tend to come once you trigger the features.

Who will the Gypsy slot appeal to?

The Gypsy slot is a game that will have almost universal appeal. The theme has been well done with a nice mix of the gypsy lifestyle combined with more whimsical and fantasy elements to give the game a slightly creepy edge. However, the focus remains very much on the slot rather than the back story. And with 243 ways to win, this is a game that does pay out relatively frequently.

A 1,000-coin jackpot isn’t massive, but when played at the higher coin levels can produce some larger wins. However, it’s the cumulative wins in the free spins round which will really appeal to players. If you can hit this when it’s ready to pay out, players can pocket a considerable sum. The key is being able to play long enough to trigger the bonus round, hence players that can afford longer sessions will gain more from this slot.

Gameplay: Gypsy

The first thing to note with the Gypsy slot is that as a 243-ways to win slot, there are no paylines. Hence there’s no decision to make with the number of lines to play per spin. You can bet from as little as $0.50 per spin up to $500 per spin. If you’re someone who likes to play on a longer session while otherwise occupied, there is an Autoplay feature you can use to play through the spins.

Everything on the reels is based on the Gypsy theme. There are the usual playing card low symbols, although these have been jazzed up somewhat to give them a more Romany feel. There are four playing card low symbols (Jack through to Ace) and three standard medium value symbols. These are the hands around the crystal ball, the caravan, and tarot cards and a candle.

These medium value symbols offer the same payments of 25, 50, and 100 coins, depending if you land 3, 4 or 5 on a payline. The higher value symbol in the game is the Gypsy herself. Her symbol is slightly different to all the others as this can operate as a split symbol.

Gypsy symbols

What this means is that some of the Gypsy symbols incorporate two Gypsies in a single space and as such, this means that this counts as two symbols on the one spot. This means that instead of landing five across the reels as a top prize, you can actually land 10 (which pays the jackpot of 1000 coins). Indeed the more of the Gypsies you land on a payline (three or more) then the greater the size of your payout.

This means that if you land two “double gypsy” symbols on reels 1 and 2, you would earn a payout of four gypsy symbols and so on.

Additional features

Alongside the Split Gypsy symbol, there are two other key symbols in the game to take note of and the first of these is the Wild symbol, which is simply the Gypsy logo. This substitutes for all symbols apart from the Bonus symbol and when it substitutes for a Gypsy symbol, it automatically counts as two symbols. The Wild symbol only appears on the second, third, fourth and fifth reels however.

The Bonus symbol is the in-game scatter and you need to land three of these across reels two, three, and four in order to trigger the free spins bonus round. Initially you receive 10 Free Spins when you unlock the bonus, but you can trigger additional free spins by landing the three bonus symbols again, up to a maximum of 200 free spins.

Once the free spins round kicks off slightly different reels and symbols are used for the free spins round and your cash award is calculated as you work your way through the free spins and then awarded at the end of the round in a single lump sum.

Special features: Gypsy

Split Gypsy symbol

The highest value symbol is the eponymous gypsy, and she can come as a single symbol, or a split symbol, which counts as two symbols on a single space meaning you can land a win of up to 10 gypsy symbols (as opposed to five for all other symbols).

Free spins

Land three of the Bonus scatter symbols to earn yourself 10 free spins. These are played on a new set of reels and you can retrigger an additional five free spins each time you land the three scatters during the bonus round. Unlike many free spins game, these additional free spins are relatively easier to trigger.

Wild

The Wild symbol operates as a substitute for all high and low value symbols to create winning paylines. When substituting for a Gypsy symbol, the Wild automatically substitutes a split symbol, meaning you get two gypsy symbols for the one Wild.

What works?

Simple gameplay

Gypsy is very much a simple slot to play, even with 243-ways in operation as opposed to paylines. It’s fun, fast and easy for any slot player of any level of experience to understand.

243 ways to win

The 243-ways to win is a positive feature because it means that players do tend to win on spins more frequently and certainly playing the Gypsy slot, you will enjoy wins on a regular basis, although most of these tend to be very small.

Retriggerable free spins

One great feature of the slot is that when you trigger the free spins bonus round (which unlike other slots, is relatively easy to do), you can also retrigger additional free spins relatively easily, which then potentially boosts the value of your free spins bonus.

What doesn’t?

No multipliers

There is one glaring omission from the Gypsy slot and that is a complete lack of any multipliers at any point in the game. Even just a simple 2x multiplier on Wild wins would have given a little extra excitement.

Very low value wins

The biggest problem with the Gypsy slot is the relative value of the wins. Even four or five symbol wins generally pay very small amounts when compared to other slot and this severely impacts the long term value of the slot and its appeal.

Small jackpot size

Added to the low value problem in wins is the fact that the jackpot available of 1,000 coins isn’t very large by modern standards and you do have the feeling while playing the game, with small wins and a small jackpot, what is it you are playing for?

The scores

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Graphics & soundtrack 2.5/5

There’s nothing wrong with the presentation of the Gypsy slot and the musical accompaniment when you spin the reels has been well done, however there is nothing that truly excites you or grabs your attention when playing.

Originality & creativity 2/5

In truth, other than the Split Symbol feature on the Gypsy, there isn’t a great deal of originality in this slot. It has a fun, but standard Free Spins game and with no multipliers or other bonus features, it is a bit lacking creatively.

Play value 2.5/5

The good news is that you do win relatively frequently on the Gypsy slot, but the bad news is that these wins tend to be very small in size indeed, with even four and five symbols wins only offering small payouts compared to your wager.

Jackpot potential 1/5

The 1,000-coin jackpot isn’t really going to cut it nowadays with games with jackpots considerably greater than that, all of which can be played for the same price or less per spin.

Repeat play 2/5

The Split Symbol feature works well at times and the ability to trigger additional free spins, and regular free spins rounds are positives, but there just isn’t enough depth or excitement in the slot to keep you playing for very long.

Total score: 10/25

Gazing into my crystal ball, I thought Gypsy would be a slightly more involved slot than it actually is. Low base game payouts, even for four or five symbols, combined with a small jackpot and somewhat repetitive gameplay mean this isn’t a slot I’ll be rushing back to play any time soon.