Spellbinding Mystery

Spellbinding Mystery Slot Review

Slot Provider: Pragmatic Play

RTP: 96.04% | Variance: High | Maximum Win: 10,000x

Our Score: 8.4

Play at Barz Casino
QUICK LINKS: Game Information | Where To Play | Full Review | Compare Slots | Tips For Players | About The Developer

WHY YOU CAN TRUST THIS REVIEW: The information and opinions on this page are the result of an comprehensive process of information gathering and live game testing by the gambling experts who work at allslotsites.com. Find out more here.

About Spellbinding Mystery

Reviewed by:

Published Date: 7th July 2023

How We Review Slot Games

We test and rate all slot games across 5 criteria, assigning a score out of 10 for each and an overall score that is an average of the 5. To build an accurate assessment of each game we gather information from the supplier and play in real play or demo mode. Find out more.

Spellbinding Mystery is a 7×7 Cluster Pays game from Pragmatic Play, released in June 2023. It has a magical theme and charming atmosphere thanks to the welcoming presence of a friendly wizard!  The object of the game is to line up clusters of identical symbols in lines horizontally or vertically. 7 or more are required to trigger a payout. There are also wilds with multipliers of up to 5x to help complete those clusters. Mystery Symbols drop at random on any spin and are all changed into the same pay symbol to increase the odds of wins too. In the free spins round, where big wins are possible, wilds ALWAYS come with multipliers and mystery symbols land more frequently.

This is a super-volatile slot with a 10,000x top win. You can play from 20p per spin.

Spellbinding Mystery Game Information

  • RTP: 96.04% | 95.05% | 94.02%
  • Variance: High
  • Maximum Win: 10,000x
  • Progressive Jackpot: No
  • Reels: 7
  • Rows: 7
  • Paylines: Cluster Pays
  • Minimum Stake: £0.20
  • Theme: Magic
  • Features: Free Spins, Multiplier Wilds, Mystery Symbols

What We Liked

  • Mystery symbols accumulate in free spins
  • Wild multipliers up to 10x in free spins
  • Fun, magical theme with charming design
  • Clusters of up to 49 symbols

What We Didn't like

  • Very tight in testing
  • Fewer features than other grid games

Spellbinding Mystery Review Scores

  • Theme and Design 9
  • RTP and Variance 8
  • Maximum Win 9
  • Symbols and Paytable 8
  • Features and Gameplay 8

What Our Reviewer Says ...

"A highly volatile, but charmingly magical cluster pays game with a potentially super-charged bonus round"

Overall Score: 8.4

Theme & Design

Our Score 9

An Enchanting Game With a Spell-Casting Wizard

I love the production in this game. It is a great-looking slot from a studio I find to be a little inconsistent in the quality of their output – often it feel like quantity over quality with Pragmatic. However, in this case we have a beautifully rendered and enchanting woodland at night, home to a wizened old magician who stands to the right of the reels. His home, with golden light beaming out of the windows, sits to the left. The style borrows from classic cartoons and has a Disney-like cinematic quality to it. It’s a cosy setting and an immersive game you can easily lose yourself in.

Spellbinding Mystery by Pragmatic Play
Spellbinding Mystery – Enchanting Forest Setting

As you play, watch for the magician waving his staff and saying things like ‘Mastering the craft’ as he casts spells to change Mystery Symbols into pay symbols. It’s all quite charming and backed by a suitably twinkling magical soundtrack.

RTP and Variance

Our Score 8

What is RTP?

RTP (Return to Player) refers to the amount a game will pay out in cash prizes expressed as a percentage of all the money wagered on that game. For example, a 96% RTP means a game will pay out £96 for every £100 wagered. This is an average number and will vary from one session to the next.  Read more here.

What is Variance?

Variance refers to how far a game will deviate from its RTP over time. High variance games deviate a lot and produce uneven win distributions and unexpected windfalls. Low variance games provide a more stable and even distribution of wins. Read more here.

Spellbinding Mystery has three available RTP settings – 96.04%, 95.05% or 94.02%. It is at the discretion of your casino which setting they choose to run the game at. We verified the RTP at five slot sites in the UK. This is what we found:

Only Vegasland and MrQ choose to run Spellbinding Mystery at its optimum RTP level. We recommend you choose to play at either of these sites if RTP is important to you.

Spellbinding Mystery is a highly volatile game – rated 5/5 by Pragmatic Play themselves so you can expect this slot to be very hot and cold, more often cold than hot! But the right combination of multiplier wilds and mystery symbols in the bonus round can trigger some big win sequences.

Maximum Win

Our Score 9

What Is Maximum Win?

Maximum win refers to the maximum amount a player can win from one spin. It is expressed as a multiple of the stake. For example, where the maximum win is 100,000x, from a £1 stake, the maximum win would be £100,000.  

Spellbinding Mystery has a top win of 10,000x which is good for a Pragmatic Play slot. Most are in the region of 5,000x to 10,000x. This maximum payout is comparable with other Pragmatic slots like Smugglers Cove or Gates of Valhalla. You can find more like this in our collection of Pragmatic Play’s highest max payout slots.

Explore Games With Similar RTP, Variance and Maximum Win

Like the numbers? Here are some more games you might want to try.

Slot SiteSupplierRTPVarianceTop Payout
Hellvis WildPragmatic Play96.01%High5,000xPlay Here
Big Bass Bonanza Hold and SpinnerPragmatic Play96.07%High10,000xPlay Here
Smugglers CovePragmatic Play96.5%High10,000xPlay Here
Gates of ValhallaPragmatic Play96.46%High10,000xPlay Here
Towering FortunesPragmatic Play96.5%High6,442xPlay Here
Power of Thor Megaways™Pragmatic Play96.55%High5,000xPlay Here
Wild BoosterPragmatic Play96.47%High5,000xPlay Here
Panda’s Fortune 2Pragmatic Play96.51%High5,000xPlay Here

Symbols and Paytable

Our Score 8

Spellbinding Mystery is a Cluster Pays slot on a 7×7 grid where wins are triggered by landing 7 or more identical symbols in a cluster, formed where symbols connect vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

As is typical for Cluster Pays, slim pickings are had for clusters of just 7 symbols, but if you ever get lucky enough to land clusters in the region of 20 right up to 49 then you could be looking at sizeable payouts as you can see in this screenshot.

Spellbinding Mystery Paytable
Spellbinding Mystery Paytable

There are 9 symbols in total.

The 4 low payers are the gems in orange, blue, purple or red. They are valued at from 0.5x for 7 of each up to 100x for 49 of each. Premiums are the magic symbols – two potion bottles, parchment, magician’s hat and spell book. These pay out from 1x for 7 potion bottles right up to 500x for 49 spell books!

There are also Wilds, Scatters and Mystery symbols whose role is described below.

Features and Gameplay

Our Score 8

Spellbinding Mystery is not a complex game by any stretch. It reminds me a bit of Wisdom of Athena, a Scatter Pays game that has a similarly simple gameplay but can drive great value through multipliers.

As you play, the trick is to keep your eye out for Mystery Symbols and hope to unlock the bonus round for bigger wins.

Wilds With Multipliers

As well as substituting in for any other symbol except, scatters and mysterys, to trigger wins, the Wild MAY also land with a multiplier in the base game. That is a 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x multiplier that is applied to any win that the Wild forms part of.

Also, try to land more than one multiplier wild because they are multiplied together where two form part of a winline.

Mystery Symbols

I love the Mystery Symbols in this game – they are particularly potent in the free spins round. They are represented by The Star and when they land, at the end of the spin and before wins are calculated, ALL visible Mystery Symbols will transform into the same paytable symbol, chosen at random.

How important that is will depend on how many land and what other symbols are on the reels of course, but a lucky spin with 5 or 6 can bring good results.

Spellbinding Mystery - Mystery Symbols
Collecting Mystery Symbols in the Free Spins round

Free Spins, Multipiler Wilds and Mystery Symbol Spots

As ever, the free spins round is where it’s at for the big wins. You’ll need 3 of the magic scatters to land anywhere on reels 2, 4 and 6 to trigger 10 free plays with some interesting enhancements.

Spellbinding Mystery - 3 Scatters
Landing 3 Scatters Unlocks The Bonus Round

This is where Mystery Symbols have even more power – when they land they mark their spot on the grid and from them on, after each spin, those spots ALWAYS transform into mystery symbols. And if a Mystery Symbols lands on a spot not yet marked, an extra spin MAY be granted.

Furthermore, Wilds ALWAYS have a random multiplier of 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x or 10x.

The Final Verdict

When a Pragmatic Play game comes with a volatility rating of 5/5 you know it can be a rough ride and so it proved in my test session as I burnt through my balance in quick time. However, that shouldn’t totally inform your opinion of what is actually a very decent slot game. After all, that is what high variance gaming is about, and if you can’t absorb those tough times, then you shouldn’t be playing.

There are two reasons I would still come back to Spellbinding Mystery. Firstly, this is a game with a great feel – the design, soundtrack and animations all make it entertaining to play even during the dry spells. Secondly, there are plenty of indications that on its day, Spellbinding Mystery will produce some massive moments. As well as the simple fact that the top win is a sizeable 10,000x, the free spins round is set up for epic moments as Mystery Symbol spots accumulate creating more chance of building the higher value clusters, and wilds come with multipliers of up to 10x. It’s easy to see how you could build wins in the 1,000x or more region this way, albeit on rare occasions.

So, in conclusion, only approach this game if you are ready to deal with its vertiginous volatility, and if you do, hope that it’s chosen your day to pop!

Compare Spellbinding Mystery With Similar Slots Picked By Us

Here are more games like Spellbinding Mystery compared on configuration and features. Click through to read a review of each one.

Slot GameProviderThemeMin. StakeMax. RTPVariancePaylinesTop PayoutJackpot
Pragmatic PlayMusic£0.2096.01%High2435,000xNo
Pragmatic PlayPirates£0.2096.5%High2010,000xNo
Pragmatic PlayParty£0.0196.56%High255,000xNo
Pragmatic PlayNorse£0.2096.55%High117, 6495,000xNo
Pragmatic PlaySteam Punk£0.2096.64%High1020,000xNo
Pragmatic PlayCrystals£0.2096.46%High117,64910,000xNo
Pragmatic PlayFood£0.2096.43%High16,3845,000xNo
Pragmatic PlayOriental£0.2596.51%High255,000xNo

Useful Tips When Playing Spellbinding Mystery

Remember, online slots are games of chance, there is NO strategy that can improve your odds of winning. However, reading our review and following these tips will help you get the most out of your time playing this slot game.

1. Mystery Symbols Are Powerful 

These symbols are extremely useful in free spins because they stick and you can soon build up a big bank of them and turn many spots into the same symbol on EVERY spin. Look out for them.

2. Wild Multpliers Are Powerful Too

Wins from Wilds can be indifferent but watch out for when they come with multipliers because they can boost your payout significantly, particularly in free spins when they can be valued up to 10x.

3. Take A Low Stake Value

As my 200 test spins showed, sometimes this game just doesn’t want to give out. To mitigate that, set your stake to a low value, like the 20p minimum. It means you can absorb the tougher periods before pay day!

4. Play At Our Recommended Slot Sites

We have chosen the sites on this page because they all offer a high quality slots experience with a great game selection, good value bonuses, and all under UK license for safety and fairness.

 

Who Made Spellbinding Mystery?

  • Name: Pragmatic Play
  • Established: 2015
  • UK License: Remote 046683-R-325951-014
  • Total Games: 500 +
  • Known For: Wide range of themes and styles, live casino including gameshow formats, and bingo
  • Popular Slots: Fruit Party, Dog House Megaways, Big Bass Bonanza, Release the Kraken
Find More Pragmatic Play slots

Like The Sound of Spellbinding Mystery? Here are 4 more games chosen for you...

Pragmatic Play

Hellvis Wild

Variance: High | RTP: 96.01

Max Win: 5,000x

Our Score 7.6

Play Now Read Review
Pragmatic Play

Big Bass Bonanza Hold and Spinner

Variance: High | RTP: 96.07

Max Win: 10,000x

Our Score 8.0

Play Now Read Review
Pragmatic Play

Wild Booster

Variance: High | RTP: 96.47

Max Win: 5,000x

Our Score 7.2

Play Now Read Review
Pragmatic Play

Towering Fortunes

Variance: High | RTP: 96.5

Max Win: 6,442x

Our Score 7.0

Play Now Read Review

Allslotsites.com - Trusted and Independent Online Slot Reviews

Allslotsites.com has been publishing online slot reviews since 2018. It’s fair to say we know a thing or two about what makes a good game – that magic mix of theme, style, gameplay and payout potential. For each slot we review we take you on the full journey through its narrative and design, reel configuration, key numbers including RTP and max win, volatility level, gameplay, and finally an expert verdict. You can also check our comparison tables to see how each slot matches up against others handpicked by our reviewers and check our tips on hitting that winning streak.

We are not paid by the developers whose games we cover. We are independent and our views of each game are honest. That is why you can trust us!

Learn, explore and find your next slots adventure with us!!