12 Apr

Microgaming’s Reel Gems makes its way to Mobile Pokies Menu

Some time back, Microgaming undertook a painstaking quest to convert all of its most popular online poker machines of the past into mobile pokies. The latest conversion was awarded to Reel Gems, a stylishly designed 5-reel pokie originally released for desktop in November of 2010.

Reel Gems Mobile Pokies

Reel Gems pokies isn’t overloaded with heavy 3D animations like many of today’s new pokies games. All of its symbols are large, bright and clearly defined. This makes it a perfect choice for real money game play on smaller screens.

The new mobile pokies version of Reel Gems is compatible with all Android, iOS and Windows powered smartphones and tablets. Following the re-release in early March, players can find it on all Microgaming-powered mobile casinos like Royal Vegas.

Reel Gems Mobile Pokies

Reel Gems mobile pokies is a 5 reel, 243 ways-to-win game featuring myriad precious jewels. Bets can be placed in 10-credit increments, with coin sizes ranging from $0.01 up to $0.50, for a total bet of $0.10 to $5.00 per spin.

It’s a rather simple game, with common but rewarding features, like wilds and free spins. The one unique feature is the Respin option. In its original release, Reel Gems was one of the first Microgaming pokies to offer this special feature. We’ll talk more about that below.

The game’s high-paying symbols are all vibrant gems of various shape and color – Diamond, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire and Topaz. The lower paying symbols are numeric card values of A, K, Q, J, 10, 9.

The Reel Gems logo is the Wild. It doesn’t do anything special, aside from the usual substitution of all other standard base-game symbols (not scatters) to help create the highest possible winning combination. It won’t multiply the winnings, and – unfortunately – can only appear on reels 2 and 4.

Reel Gems Mobile Pokies Free Spins

The mobile pokies game’s most lucrative feature is its Free Spins. To trigger them, players will need to see 3 or more Free Spin Scatter symbols appear anywhere on the reels. This will first initiate Scatter Pays of up to 100x the total bet, followed by an automatic run through 15 free spins.

During free spins, the value of all winning combinations will be tripled by a 3x multiplier. Free spins can be retriggered at this time if 3 or more Scatters land on the reels during the free games.

Reel Gems Respin Feature

After every spin in the base game, players will have the option to Respin any reel. There’s a cost for doing so, which will be clearly displayed beneath each reel. The cost will vary, depending on how likely the Respin will produce a small or large win.

Reel Gems Mobile Pokies Respin Feature

The Respin feature should be used wisely, but does have the potential to create some extra large wins. If, for example, there are diamonds on reels 1, 2, 4 and 5, respinning the 3rd reel could produce a 5-diamond combination worth 4000 credits.

Any reel can be respun (at cost) as many times as the player wants. However, only winning combinations involving the respun reel will be paid following a respin. You can’t simply respin the mobile pokies’ 5th reel over and over to keep collecting on a 4-gem combo across the first 4 reels.

I have had success, however, with repeating 5-9’s on the reels. Because the 9 is a very common symbol, if it appears in a 5-reel combination, it’s not a bad idea to respin the cheapest reel in hopes of landing another 9, awarding another 100x payout. I tried this and hit the 5-9’s combo three spins a row.