3 Lucky Leprechauns (4ThePlayer) Slot Demo & Review

Leprechauns go together with online slots in the same way that salt and vinegar go with fish and chips… oh my, that’s got to be about the most British simile I could possibly come up with, isn’t it? I hope you can get my point, though – every developer and their dog has published at least two or three games featuring these diminutive supernatural fairies by now! For me, it seems as if the craze began with IGT’s world-famous Rainbow Riches, although I suspect there will have been at least a handful of less well-known examples before it. Some of the latest additions to the genre include Leprechaun’s Vault, Leprechauns Magic Power Reels, and Leprechauns Lucky Charms, and the most amazing part is that 4ThePlayer’s game is the third leprechaun-themed slot of 2023 so far, and we’re only two weeks in!

Anyway, that’s the small talk out of the way; it’s time to get down to business! Before discussing the payouts offered in 3 Lucky Leprechauns, can we all take a second to appreciate the amazingly detailed and great-looking symbols? Top marks for that aspect of the game, 4ThePlayer! The highest-paying item on the menu is a Horseshoe with a return of 30x for a full payway of five of a kind, closely followed by a Wishing Well, which pays 20x for all five symbols. The Four-Leaved Clover will award you 10x the bet for a complete payway, after which we’re on to the medium pays. There are just a couple of symbols in the next category – a Jug of Beer and a pair of Mushrooms – both of which share identical returns of 8x the bet for five of a kind. The low-paying section includes five more royal symbols; the Aces and Kings will pay 5x the total bet when all five of those land on a payway, whilst the Queens, Jacks, and Tens are all a little less valuable at 3x for all five symbols.

Choosing your bet is performed via two controls directly underneath the main spin button. The lowest wager permitted is just €0.10, which is fantastic for those with smaller bankrolls, whilst the maximum has been set at €30.00 per spin. There’s a decent number of options between the two extremes, although the jumps between amounts get a tad larger than I would like when you go above €10.00 per spin.

When you first open 3 Lucky Leprechauns, you will likely assume this is a relatively standard video slot. The reel set features five columns of three rows each, and all 243 possible ways across the playfield are active for payouts. This setup means that any set of three or more matching symbols in adjacent columns starting from the left will award a win – no need to remember any payline layouts here.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any base game features to explain here – a rare thing in a 4ThePlayer release. There is one nice little twist to mention, though – Clicking on a wild symbol anywhere on the reel set will allow you to change your lucky leprechaun! This is a purely cosmetic feature, but I, for one, absolutely believe that the cute lady leprechaun Muriel will bring me much more luck than that shady-looking Seamus, don’t you?!

When a 4ThePlayer release has nothing in the way of base game features, you can guarantee they will make up for it in the bonus rounds! The leprechaun trail sits enticingly on the left of the reels at all times whilst playing 3 Lucky Leprechauns, but you’ll need to hit three or more bonus scatters to activate it.

If the triggering combination includes four or five scatter symbols, the game will automatically promote you higher up the trail at the start of your bonus round; a four-scatter trigger will boost you to level seven, whilst a five-scatter trigger takes you all the way to level 12.

Leprechaun Trail Feature

After activating the trail, the game will start randomly moving between the various options on your current level before choosing one of the available options. The lower levels are filled mostly with arrows which will take you up to the next level, but as you move higher towards the top of the trail, you will notice that the odds begin to shift towards awarding a prize instead.

The trail includes fifteen levels, as follows:

• Levels 1-3: Cash prizes up to 15x the total bet.
• Levels 4-6: Cash prizes up to 30x the total bet.
• Levels 7-9: Offers the choice of 4-7 Win Spins or a cash prize of up to 70x the total bet.
• Levels 10/11: 10-15 Win Spins or a cash prize of up to 150x the total bet.
• Levels 12-14: Pick a win bonus or a cash prize of up to 1,000x the total bet.
• Level 15: 5,000x total bet jackpot!

Win Spins

The leprechaun trail can award between 4 and 15 win spins depending on the level reached before the bonus is activated. Every spin is guaranteed to be a winner, but this could be a bog standard three-symbol win or a five of a kind of the highest-paying symbol! All winnings are further boosted by a 5x multiplier. If you would rather play it safe, a cash prize alternative is available with a value relative to the number of win spins you have won.

Pick A Win

This is a basic pick-me feature, but I suspect that few players will complain about this when they see the size of the prizes on offer! You can win anywhere from two to five picks depending on the level reached on the Leprechaun Trail, and each pick is worth between 50x and 2,000x the total bet! Now that’s what I call a Pick Me feature!

Bonus Buy

The features sound great, don’t they? If you would rather not wait for them to trigger naturally, a bonus buy facility allows you to purchase them directly from the base game. The available options include:

• Leprechaun Trail (35x bet): Randomly lands between three and five scatters, taking you directly to the trail where you have a shot at winning the other bonus rounds or a cash prize.

• Win Spins (75x bet): Randomly awards between four and 15 free spins.

• Pick-A-Win (330x bet): Randomly awards between one and five picks.

This is one occasion where I don’t get the feeling that the most expensive option is way too risky! Yes, 330x the normal price per spin is undoubtedly costly, but my experience of the feature suggests that you are likely to win at least a third of that back each time – and likely much more. Whilst I believe it to be a fair price, the usual disclaimer still applies – never gamble anything you cannot afford to lose!