The Novomatic slot title Fruits ’n Royals has as its logo a redheaded Queen holding a bunch of cherries, with a blond King holding an orange. Players can see straight away what the theme is, and this title does exactly what it says on the box: mixing up classic fruit-machine symbols with Novomatic’s popular royal characters for a slot that has no frills, but enormous winning potential.
Fruits ’n Royals has only 5 pay lines, but players can bet from 8 to 2,000 coins on each line. The five reels show three symbols each at the end of each spin, and the icons are drawn in deep 3D colours, surrounded by a glow against the black of the reels. Apart from a rich blue velvet cloth, there is no backdrop, so the beautifully detailed symbols stand out even more. Prizes shown on the pay table adjust to the players bet per line, but for convenience they will be given here as coins, which must be multiplied by the line bet to calculate true wins.
Only Eight Symbols in Play
Good news for players is that Fruits ’n Royals uses only eight symbols in total, in keeping with classic fruit-machine tradition, which gives a better chance of the player making winning combos of three matches or more, or two in the case of the cherries. A trio of cherries pays a consolation prize of 5 coins for two matches starting on Reel 1, then 20, 50 or 200 coins for matches of three, four or five. The lemon, olive and orange all win the same prizes as the cherries for three, four or five of a kind.
The Queen and King are high-paying symbols, winning 50, 200 or 500 coins. The top-paying icon is a jewel-encrusted golden crown, with high arches over a crimson velvet base. For three, four or five matches, it wins 100, 1,000 or 5,000 coins.
Star Again in the Scatter Role
Another tradition that Fruits ’n Royals maintains from the earliest mechanical slot games or many iPad pokies is the use of a star as the Scatter symbol. This one is wrought in spiky gold, against a bright red cartouche. It does not trigger a bonus round or free spins, again in keeping with the vintage game.
Instead, the Scatter can deliver big wins, without needing to be on a matching pay line. The Scatter pays a multiplier of the entire bet per spin whenever it comes up three or more times anywhere on the reels. For three, four or five Scatters, the multiplier is X2, X10 and X50.
Good Wins Possible Even without a Wild
Although Fruits ’n Royals has no Wild icon, and the Scatter doesn’t trigger any bonus games, the slot still has rewards that make it worthwhile. Playing at maximum bet, five crowns will win the player 10-million coins, or $100,000, if they are playing in US currency. Five Scatters in any position will turn a maximum bet into $12,500. These big prizes, combined with the limited number of symbols, can make Fruits ’n Royals more rewarding than it first appears.