Cash Of Kingdoms

Cash of Kingdoms Introduction

We have no idea what took so long. It was on the third day of the ICE Totally Gaming conference in early 2018 that Microgaming unveiled Cash of Kingdoms with David Reynolds, Game Publisher at Microgaming, describing it as 'being built on a strong game engine that will give players an action-packed escapade with fantastic payouts'.

ICE being such an important iGaming event, software companies use it as an advertising platform to show off their latest and greatest products, which now in retrospect leaves us asking what in the world Microgaming was thinking to choose Cash of Kingdoms as one of its featured slots, especially when head to head rivals NetEnt were flexing their muscles by showing off strong branded titles such as Narcos and Vikings.

Although having slipped behind as of late, there's no doubt about the fact that many players still hold Microgaming in high regard and news of new slots from the Isle of Man based provider yanks our attention. However, upon first catching a glimpse of Cash of Kingdom, any hope of a new spectacular Microgaming slot was all but gone. But can you really judge a slot by its cover? Let's find out.

Cash of Kingdoms is a medieval fantasy-themed five by three reel, 15 payline online slot that pays both ways. As it turns out, it's actually a Slingshot Studios production so what we're looking at here is another one of those dreaded Microgaming collaborations. For those of you unfamiliar with Slingshot Studios (as are we), it's a small independent developer that started out in 2016 and actually seems to be making its debute with the launch of this slot.

Cash of Kingdom Symbols & Paytable

Symbols on the reels include five low-value symbols represented by loot, powder kegs, bow & arrows, spell books, and sword & shields. The game introduces a crew of gallant allies to serve as premiums; Crafty Rogue, Bearded Bombardier, Feisty Archer, Magical Mage, and the Dashing Knight. The Knight, being the most lucrative symbol, yields a 10 times the stake win for 5 across a payline. The symbols appear in stacks of two, which means it's not possible to land a full screen of any symbol.

The paytable is simple and straight to the point, displaying payouts in cash relative to the current bet size and updates accordingly when increasing or decreasing your stake. No confusing coin values to calculate here. Well done! Speaking of bet size, this slot accepts bets ranging from €0.15 all the way up to €480 which is a bit mad. It's a low variance game, however, so a lot of players might be inclined to try their luck on higher stakes.

Invading Wilds

Wild symbols play a central role in this slot and appear only on the middle three reels. When a full stack of wilds appears on reels 2 or 4, the Invading Wilds feature is triggered. The stacked wilds will then duplicate to turn an adjacent reel wild. This feature comes into play in the free spins game as well but with added benefits. Interestingly, Microgaming (or Slingshot Studios) have trademark protected the name of the feature, which, to be honest, comes across as a bit ridiculous being that it's far from an original concept.

Cash of Kingdoms Free Spins

Three Scatter symbols on reels 2, 3 and 4 initiate the free spins game with 10 free spins to start with. During the free spins, each Scatter awards +1 free spin. The paytable says nothing about the maximum number of free spins that can be awarded, so we will simply have to assume it's capped at some number.

In the free spins game, players benefit from super stacked wild reels, meaning stacked wilds appear more frequently. Moreover, if you land full stack of wilds on reels 2 and 4, reel 3 will be invaded by wilds as well, and a 2x multiplier is applied to the total win.

Cash of Kingdom Conclusion

This is a depressing slot that should have never been released under Microgaming's wing, let alone allowed to stand as a representation of the company's recent achievements. We're struggling to understand what must have gone through the minds of the people working at Microgaming to headline this slot at ICE. It's quite shocking how bad Cash of Kingdoms actually is, and all it manages to accomplish is to confirm the fact that Microgaming has lost touch with reality.

The payouts are disastrous and some of the worst we've seen in a long time. The main game is a complete joke, offering no potential at all. The free spins game is not much better with a max win potential of around 250x per single spin. There are no creative or innovative ideas to be found whatsoever, which makes the game come across as generic, flat, and bland at best.