Rainbows End Online Video Slot Machine

Rainbows End, Microgaming's 25-line, 5-reel video slot boasts a whopping lead prize of 5,000 times line multiplier. This prize is enhanced even more by the chance to wager 20 coins (valued from one penny to 25 cents) on each of the 25 paylines. Combine this with the slots' wilds, multipliers, free-spins, scatters, and a bonus gamble feature, there are options galore to give players an array of chances to win big.

Rainbows End spreads an Irish leprechaun theme across one of Microgaming's older 5-reel interfaces. The icons -- rainbows, pots of gold, shamrocks and the like – look good at first glance, but the soundtrack never ventures beyond a stereotypical Irish jig and the animations seem barely animated.

The animations for the leprechaun and pot of gold, which leap up when a player wins, seem to have had a little more thought put into them. By the time a player gets to the winning icons, however, the design of the rest of the game has taken the fun out of the fun.  Adding the gamble bonus feature, often seen in Microgaming’s older products, helps to increase the winnings without risking too much money. However, even the chance for greater winnings can't disguise the reality that this is on the whole an inferior game.

This makes for disappointment for veteran slots players, because Rainbows End shows signs of having the potential to have been a spritely, enthralling Irish-themed slot if only more careful attention had been given to its production values. The variations will engage some players, especially as the winnings pile up, but longtime slots players will easily recognize Rainbows End as another case of "might-have-been."

Wild Symbol
The pot of gold serves as the wild icon, which appears only on reels 2 and 4. The wild can actually fill a full reel, meaning that there are many possibilities to create winning combinations as the pot of gold expands with an adorable animation. It's a pretty good trick that benefits the player well. The wild icon can substitute for all other symbols including the scatter.

Scatter Symbol
The Leprechaun serves as the scatter icon, which will win a player multiples of an entire spun wager. If the scatter icon shows in multiples of 2, 3, 4 or 5 in any position across the reels, the combination earns the player mutipliers of 1, 5, 20 or 100 times respectively. Clearly, catching a Leprechaun will bring "the luck o' the Irish" in Rainbows End.

Free Spins
Three or more of the Leprechaun symbols wins a player free spins and a free multiplier. It's great to sit and watch as the free spins earn winnings amid colorful backgrounds and a medley of Irish music.

Bonus Rounds
Rainbows End includes a gamble game, technically not a bonus, that will double or quadruple the bet. Each time a player wins, no matter the award's size, there's a chance to gamble the winnings on a better prize. The player gets a chance to guess whether the next card is red or black (a 50-50 chance) to double the prize.

The other option is to guess whether the next card is a diamond, spade, heart or club, a 1 in 4 chance. One recommended strategy for Rainbows End is to gamble using the smallest prizes in an effort to transform them into big winnings. However, if gambling fever gets hold of a player, the temptation looms large to risk big winnings on an even bigger award. Then that dream of Irish luck could turn the pot of gold into an empty cauldron.