Fire and Blood. Hear Me Roar. Ours is the Fury. Winter is Coming.
If you recognise those famous words and love online pokies, you’ll be ecstatic to know Game of Thrones Pokies is now officially up and running. As promised, the game was released on December 1, 2014, by Microgaming – the leading Internet casino game developer for over 15 years – in partnership with HBO (Home Box Office) licensing.
Best online casinos to play Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones Pokies is a 5-reel, 15 payline online slot that also includes the option of 243 ways mode for more ways to win. Thanks to the official licensing partnership with HBO, it will feature all the iconic sights and sounds of the television show such as the Iron Throne, the vistas of King’s Landing, and yes, the epic opening song.
The game is playable in real money and free/practice modes via Web browsers in instant play, Microgaming’s Quickfire platforms, and dedicated downloadable casino software of your favourite Microgaming-affiliated online casinos. Whether it makes a move to mobile is yet to be heard, but knowing the huge popularity of the series, it won’t be surprising if Microgaming make a quick port of this fantastic game.
Game of Thrones is a non-progressive jackpot video slot. It has over 75,000 coins to be won, split between the base game (10,000), scatter bonus (7,500) and free spins feature (50,000). Even more can be won in the Gamble Trail feature, which we cover in more detail below. Players can bet with up to four coin sizes – 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, and 0.10 – to suit varying bankrolls. The minimum bet is $0.15 and the maximum is $15.00.
All symbols – free games, scatters, wilds – are represented by the banners of the four main noble houses in the television show and book series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Players will spin the Stag of the Baratheons, the Wolf of the Starks, the Lions of the Lannisters, and the Dragons of the Targaryens. The TV show’s icon acts as the wild.
Gamble Trail feature
The Gamble Trail feature, when activated, gives players the chance to double their cash wins with the flip of a coin – specifically, a Braavosi silver coin, just like the one Arya Stark is given by the mysterious Jaqen H’ghar in the television show. This side game works much like the gamble options on traditional Australian pokies machines, except that we can progress through four levels on the map of Westeros:
- Three Eyed Raven – The mysterious figure which haunts Bran Stark’s dreams
- White Walker – A fearsome wight of Westerosi folklore
- Direwolf – Proud predator of the northern realm, sigil of House Stark
- Dragon – Mightiest of all creatures, the power behind House Targaryen
Each time you call heads or tails correctly, you progress to the next level play for double the previous stake – unless you exceed the gamble limit, which can happen if you enter the feature after a really big hit. If you make the wrong heads-or-tails call, the Gamble Trail ends immediately and you lose the lot. But if you reach the Dragon level and win again to make it four on the trot, you finish the feature with a very handsome payout.
Just like standard gamble features, you can walk away at any time – so if you are quite satisfied with doubling your win on Three Eyed Raven, for instance, just hit ‘Collect’ to bank your winnings and return to the reels.
Free spins in Game of Thrones
The Game of Thrones online pokie has free spin rounds which can let players win up to a 50,000 coin jackpot. The feature is triggered by spinning three, four, or five scatter symbols. Upon doing so, the Free Spin Selection screen lets the player choose from four of the major noble houses of the hit TV series and best-selling novels, which award different numbers of spins and multipliers along with unique stacked wild symbols.
- House Baratheon – 8 free spins with a 5x fixed multiplier. The House Baratheon sigil symbol of the Stag stacks three symbols up.
- House Lannister – 10 free spins with a 4x fixed multiplier. The House Lannister sigil symbol of the Lion stacks four symbols up.
- House Stark – 14 free spins and a 3x fixed multiplier. The House Stark sigil symbol of the Wolf stacks four symbols up.
- House Targaryen – 18 free spins and a 2x fixed multiplier. The House Targaryen sigil of the Dragon stacks six symbols up.
More special features
Besides the unique Game Trail function and the loads of free spins to be won, the Game of Thrones slot’s main game has plenty of bonus wins to offer on its own:
- Stacked Wilds – The TV show’s title screen acts as the Game of Thrones wild, which can substitute for any other picture except the scatter. Wild symbols can come in stacks of three, meaning they can fill up an entire reel to create huge winning opportunities.
- Scatter Bonus – The Iron Throne scatter is probably the most precious symbol on the board. Land two or more scatters anywhere on the reel to win bonus payout multiplied by the total bet (rather than the standard bet per line). Get at least three Iron Thrones scatters to unlock the bonus game.
15 paylines or 243 Ways to Wins
Microgaming has done something quite splendid by releasing two separate versions of the Game of Thrones real cash pokie: one with 15 fixed bet lines, and one with 243 ways to win. This means every kind of Australian punter can enjoy the same game, whether you prefer traditional payline pokies or the modern all-ways slots with no win lines.
Naturally, there are one or two discrepancies between the two formats:
- Game of Thrones 15 paylines slot – Minimum bet $0.15, maximum bet $15.00. Play either 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, or 0.10 coins. Regular jackpot up to 150,000 coins, free spins jackpot up to 750,000 coins.
- Game of Thrones 243 Ways Pokie – Minimum bet $0.30, maximum bet $15.00. Play either 0.01, 0.02, or 0.05 coins. Regular jackpot up to 1,200,000 coins, free spins jackpot up to 6,050,000 coins.
As you can see, the biggest difference (apart from how the payouts work) between the two is the jackpot sizes. Those figures are a little deceiving, however, as the maximum cash jackpots are actually $750,000 and $605,000 respectively in AUD cash terms. So all up, the two Game of Thrones releases are more or less identical in terms of gameplay, features, and real money betting options.
Why should I play Game of Thrones slots?
If you’re a major fan of the television show or the original book series upon which it is based, you’ll love the online slot from Microgaming for its authenticity and stylistic faithfulness to the show – and that’s thanks to the major licensing partnership the developer has managed to make with HBO to keep the art and audio as close to the real thing as possible.
Where can I play Game of Thrones pokies?
Game of Thrones is available at all leading Microgaming powered casinos, as well as several of the leading multi-provider sites. We recommend Aussie players play Game of Thrones at Royal Vegas Casino, where new players can claim up to $1200 in matched deposit welcome bonuses.