King of Cats Megaways

King of Cats Megaways: Slot Overview

If you ask people who the king of cats is, most would probably say lions. But are we sure about that? Pound for pound Siberian Tigers are much larger than lions, and when the two species have brushed up against each other in captivity, tigers have come out on top. Maybe it’s the image of the majestic, fluffy maned lion, lording it over the savanna with his pride that does it? Since we can’t pit animals against each other like they used to do in Ancient Rome, the answer will always be theoretical. Perhaps Big Time Gaming’s slot King of Cats Megaways can at least partly help solve the mystery as it pits two big cats against each other – lions and pumas.

Okay, the two beasts don’t exactly go toe to toe here. Instead, Big Time Gaming has introduced a clever new mechanic known as Playerselect™, which allows players to switch between two game modes during the base game. One is lion mode, which takes place on the sunburned grassy savanna of Africa; the other is puma mode, located in a dank forest, all vine twisted trees and filtered sunlight. Both are accompanied by the same soundtrack, a sort of electronic African number, overlaid with a bit of chanting when certain symbols appear. King of Cats Megaways manages to make sure it includes all of the elements usually found in this theme, with added Big Time Gaming flair.

The action occurs on a Megaways powered grid, consisting of 6 reels, holding 2 to 7 symbols each. Every spin alternates the number of symbols appearing on each reel, producing up to 117,649 ways to win. A little surprisingly, there is no cascade system, but the core Lion and Puma features land often enough to counterbalance that. Stakes cost the same in either mode, from 20 p/c to £/€20 per spin, though RTP is slightly different. When playing the Lion Game, there’s a value of 96.72%, while the Puma Game is 96.70% - both highly volatile.

Wins are awarded for landing matching adjacent symbols left to right, in any row position. We don’t get too into the theme on the paytable, where King of Cats Megaways uses 4 gems of various colours as the high pays worth 1 to 25 times the stake for six of a kind, and 9-A card icons as the low pays. As for wilds, there are 3 types that appear in King of Cats Megaways. One is a regular-sized wild, the other two are mode-specific (covered below). All replace any symbol except the scatter to complete a winning line.

King of Cats Megaways: Slot Features

The first extra to tackle is the Playerselect feature which is the name given to the double game system. Instead of having one spin button, there are two – one for the Lion Game, one for the Puma Game. Players are free to click either one at any time, so it could be one spin of Lion, one spin of Puma, whatever you like. If auto-spins are an option, then setting them locks you into either Lion of Puma spins for the duration.

In the Lion Game, a Lion Wild appears as a 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4 sized tile, carrying a multiplier of x4, x9, or x16, respectively. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters in the Lion Game awards 8, 12, 16, or 20 Lion Free Spins. In this bonus round, 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4 size Lion Wilds begin with x4, x10, or x16 multipliers. Every time a Lion Wild appears, the Lion Wild Multipliers increase by 2, 5, or 8. Landing 3 more scatters in any position extends the round by retriggering free spins.

In the Puma Game, up to 3 fully stacked Puma Wilds may appear on each spin. Each Puma wild has a multiplier of x2, x3, or x4. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters in this game awards 15, 18, 21, or 24 free spins. The first time a Puma Wild occurs on any reel in free spins it reveals an x2, x4, or x6 multiplier. Every subsequent time a Puma Wild occurs on the same reel, the three multiplier possibilities increase by 1, 2, and 3. Puma Spins are also retriggered when 3 or more scatters land in any position.

King of Cats Megaways: Slot Verdict

The Playerselect concept is a clever one as it increases the chance of keeping players in the game rather than have them switching to something else should impatience start to creep in. The dual nature on offer here is quite intriguing and definitely gives you the impression of having two good games rolled into one. King of Cats Megaways has been designed to Big Time Gaming’s exacting specifications, so the build quality is high, and while it might not be one of their major innovators, it does everything better than most of the competition.

Switching between the two games is fun as well - if you get bored of the bush, one click, and you’re back to warm, sunny grasslands. Both modes have their merits, and players will no doubt have a preferred feature that gets their pulses racing. During the review, the Lion Game seemed to perform better, as it was quicker off the draw and conjured better returns, yet both features are equally effective. They also frequently hit.

These aren’t the sort of full reel wilds or super-sized wild multipliers that show up once or twice every hundred spins making you wonder if they even exist. Quite the opposite, seeming to hit every other spin almost, keeping the base game lively. Once triggered, free spins take the good parts of the main game and make them even better by incrementing the multipliers. This is when Kind of Cats Megaways bares its teeth, offering wins of up to 56,620 times the bet on a single free spin in the very best of scenarios.

BTG has turned their attention to the popular African nature genre and produced a slot that outperforms most of its peers. Winning potential is huge, features are varied and frequent, plus you get two games in one; it’s all hard to fault, really.