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Perhaps a relaxing koi pond isn’t the first thing you’d associate with high-temp progressive jackpot slots, but NetEnt finds a way to fuse the two in Imperial Riches.
NetEnt upholds its reputation for producing visually stunning games, placing us in a peaceful Japanese garden, complete with all kinds of colourful koi fish. In Japanese culture, Koi fish represent success through perseverance, and you’ll need plenty of it as you spin through wild symbols, free spins, and an eventual jackpot bonus.
We enjoyed the sense of progression that NetEnt built through its features here. Scatter symbols lead to free spins, which lead to the Lucky Pond bonus, which leads to the jackpot bonus. There was something satisfying in moving up from one feature to the next, with our wins increasing at every new tier.
Title:
Imperial Riches
Game Developer:
NetEnt
Release Date
2019
Layout:
5 x 3
Paylines:
15
RTP:
96.88%
Volatility:
Medium
Minimum / Maximum Bet:
€0.15/€30
Maximum Win:
1,500x
Bonus Features:
Wilds, Scatter, Free Spins, Win Multiplier, Fixed Jackpot, Progressive Jackpot
Although Imperial Riches isn’t packed to the brim with special features, NetEnt managed to tick all the boxes here. Bets can be set from ₹0.15 up to ₹30 and you could walk away with a maximum win of up to 1,500x your selected bet. That’s without taking into consideration the three progressive jackpots on offer. Here’s a closer look at the full set of Imperial Riches slot features:
Wilds – The wild gong pops up across both the base game and free spins, substituting itself for any missing pay symbols that could form part of a winning combination. Although we would have preferred it if the wild symbols had a value of their own, they still proved to be crucial in helping us put together additional wins.
Scatters – Imperial Riches’ lantern scatter symbols are your bog-standard video slot scatters. They have no value of their own and serve no purpose other than unlocking free spins. Three lantern scatters get you 10 Free Fall spins and any additional triggering scatters add five more free spins to your tally.
Avalanche Wins – NetEnt’s mechanic clears winning symbols from the reels, allowing for new ones to land and create recurring wins. It works like a charm, and we even managed to land five consecutive wins during our playthrough. It’s particularly useful during Free Fall spins, where it helps you land wins and collect more jewels without using up your free spins.
Free Spins – Free spins gameplay remains identical to the base game, with the addition of the jewel mechanic. The red jewel collects all the winning symbols you land during free spins and the jewels you collect come into play during the Lucky Pond feature.
Lucky Pond – Activating after free spins, the Lucky Pond mechanic clears the board and leaves us with two Koi fish. The jewels we collected during free spins fall into the pond, and we’re rewarded whenever they’re eaten by the fish. The Coin fish awards wins of up to 15x your stake, while the Bonus fish unlocks the jackpot bonus when it eats three jewels.
Jackpot Bonus – The jackpot bonus ups the stakes with six Koi fish and a fixed set of 50 starting jewels. The Coin fish returns, with increased wins of up to 40x your selected bet, while the rest of the Koi school delivers jackpot prizes when they ingest three jewels. You get two fixed jackpots and three progressive ones that are local to the online casino you play at.
On one hand, we enjoyed the smooth flow Imperial Riches’ features brought to the table. The medium volatility allowed us to land constant wins and we triggered the free spins bonus twice during our first 100 spins. We loved the creative way with which the jackpot bonuses were brought to life and had an absolute ball watching the Koi fish nip at potential jackpot prizes.
But perhaps Imperial Riches’ biggest letdown is the limited potential it offers. You can only win up to 1,500x your bet and although we managed to land some pretty consistent wins, they were never really high-roller material. Sure, the progressive jackpots could give you much bigger rewards, but there are plenty of better options out there, including NetEnt’s very own Mega Fortune.
If you’re looking for a more rewarding progressive jackpot slot, look no further than Playtech’s Age of the Gods: Furious 4. The maximum win from the base game is increased to 50,000x for your selected bet and you can unlock all kinds of reel modifiers to help you close in on that eye-watering figure. You will of course be dealing with a lower RTP of 94.88%, so don’t expect wins to be as constant this time around.
We already mentioned how NetEnt’s Mega Fortune can be a more rewarding progressive jackpot experience. Apart from having a higher 2,162x maximum win and a relatively similar RTP of 96.6%, Mega Fortune’s progressive jackpots are shared across multiple casinos. So, they get much bigger than Imperial Riches’ localised pots and are also triggered more often.
