Moriarty Megaways

Join the hunt for the criminal mastermind from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels on the slot from iSoftBet. Part of their Twisted Tales series, Moriarty Megaways pits the professor described as the ‘Napoleon of Crime’ against the fabled detective duo Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson for a volatile chase across six dynamic reels.

Those joining the hunt can look forward to wild substitutions, two random modifiers as well as a free spins round with unlimited multipliers and two extra game areas that are unlocked by collecting detective symbols with a potential to lead to wins of up to 42,553x stake.

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Slot Details

Moriarty Megaways is a cascading video slot with six reels, 2 to 7 rows and 324 to 117,649 ways to win. During the free spins feature, up to three game areas can be active with up to 352,947 ways in total. Wins are awarded for two to six matching symbols on adjacent reels from left to right only. You can join the fabled detective duo on desktop, tablet or mobile from 0.20 to 20 credits per spin. The game has high variance with an RTP of 96% (unconfirmed) while using the Moriarty Bet to purchase a bonus will slightly increase the value.

Courtesy of the Megaways engine under licence from Big Time Gaming, every round is a unique event as the number of ways to win is randomly determined at the start of every spin sequence. The game will randomly select between 2 and 7 symbols for reels one and seven as well as 2 and 6 pay symbols for reel two to five. Additionally, the game has an extra horizontal tracker at the top of the game window with four positions, extending from reel two to five, where more symbols appear on every spin, thus, creating anything from 324 to 117,649 win ways.

Any win will set off a chain reaction, shattering all winning symbols before new ones tumble into the empty spaces and potentially create more winning combos. The process continues as long as a win occurs after a cascade. All wins are accumulated and paid once a spin sequence ends.

Nothing else could be more fitting as the canvass for a Sherlock Holmes slot than the famous Baker Street with the London Tower in the background. The creative team went to great length to recreate an authentic scene from 19th century Victorian London complete with street lamps and cobblestone alleys. The audio is just as fitting with intermittent comments from the flamboyant Moriarty and an epic yet heartwrenching soundtrack.

The pay symbols start at the low end with card royals from 9 through to A, awarding 0.8x to 1.75x your bet for a single six of a kind. They are followed by two chess pieces – pawn and king – as well as Moriarty’s signet ring and Moriarty himself. Hit six across the reels to win 2x to 50x your stake.

The mastermind’s golden pocket watch is the wild symbol, appearing on the horizontal reel on top only and substituting for all regular symbols. A gold-frame icon with spider webs and marked with ‘Free Spins’ acts as the scatter. There are two additional special symbols – Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes – which can appear during the free spins only to trigger the extra game areas.

Moriarty Megaways Slot Features

“He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty. […] But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. […] He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organiser of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city…”

Sherlock Holmes, The Final Problem from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1893.

True to the quote from Sir Doyle’s masterpiece, iSoftBet integrated the storyline into the gameplay in a way that goes well beyond the stunning graphics and gripping soundtrack. At the same time, Moriarty Megaways is testament to not only the versatility of the game engine but also proof that developers with some creative thinking can deliver a truly entertaining slot, even when the features in play have been used in prior releases.

The base game has two modifiers that will be also available in the free spins, albeit in a slightly different fashion. The Watson Mystery Symbol is well-known and often produces big or even mega wins. The feature can trigger at the start of any spin, adding mystery symbols to the reels and, as usual, all landing in view will reveal a common pay symbol once the dust has settled. However, they cannot turn into bonus or wild symbols. And there is more. Every winning cascade on the same spin will increase the win multiplier by x1, no limits. It will reset once the feature concludes.

Also, watch out for the random Sherlock Max Megaways modifier, which can activate at the start of any new round and will guarantee a spin with maximum 117,649 Megaways, increasing your chances to trigger the bonus game or to hit a big multi-way win. And again, every winning cascade on the same spin will increase the win multiplier by x1. It will only reset once the feature ends.

Having three Free Spins scatters on the reels by the time a round concludes will trigger 15 Super Moriarty Free Spins with each further adding +5 spins, up to a maximum of 30 spins. During the feature, three scatters in the top tracker during the Watson or Sherlock Reels extra spins will retrigger +5 free spins. In true Megaways fashion, the round has an unlimited win multiplier that starts at x1 and increases by x1 after each winning cascade, no limits.

But there is so much more that makes this slot so unique. At the start of the round, you will observe two smaller reel sets being added to the bottom of the main game area (desktop), one marked with Dr Watson and one with Sherlock Holmes as well as a counter starting at 3.

Watson and Holmes symbols can appear in the horizontal reel on any free spin with each reducing the counter by one. Collecting three will pause the main free spins feature and activate the respective reel set for a single extra spin.

• Watson Reels: One spin with mystery symbols leading to a guaranteed win. The multiplier keeps increasing with each winning cascade.
• Sherlock Reels: One spin with max 117,649 Megaways. The overall multiplier for the round will keep increasing with each winning cascade.

Both extra reels can be triggered together with Watson being then played first. They will be locked again once the extra spin concludes, ready for you to collect once more sufficient Watson or Sherlock symbols to retrigger them. The bonus feature ends once you run out of spins.

Lastly, the feature buy option is making a return in jurisdictions where it is not restricted. Called Moriarty Bet, it will allow you to buy a Free Spins feature for a one-time amount of 150x your base bet. The following spin will reveal a minimum of three scatters which will get you 15 free spins. The round is played in the same fashion as the standard bonus feature.

Final Verdict

iSoftBet is ramping up their Megaways portfolio with another blockbuster slot that should please not only the fans of the game engine but also the more casual players. The storyline is perfectly embedded into the gameplay together with stunning graphics and a gripping soundtrack.

The win potential from a single round is tantalizing at 42,553x bet unless it is capped by an operator at a rather modest 1,000,000 coins which converts to 10,000x your bet in real money. Still, well worth your trip back in time to 19th century London for an exhilarating reel chase.

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