Circus Brilliant Pokie
All the fun of the circus is brought to the 5 reels and 20 paylines of the Circus Brilliant video pokie from EGT. Setting it in the big top of the circus gives the developers lots of scope to add colourful symbols like performing elephants, sealions and bears, (not that we would approve of such things, but it’s only pretend), and of course, what circus-themed pokie would be complete without a scary clown and the Ringmaster?
Although EGT tend to specialize in traditional fruit machines, when they bring out a game with a more specific theme, they usually do it in style, and this one looks great. It also comes with some nice, although hardly unique, bonus features, like wild substitutions, free spins and multipliers, plus the option to gamble wins, and a shared progressive jackpot that’s common to all pokies from EGT.
Red and white striped circus tents make up a background image and the colourful title sits above the reels, alongside the 4-levels of the Jackpot Cards progressive prizes. The control buttons underneath the reels are used to set wagers from the minimum of just 0.20 per spin, to the high limit of 400.00, although anyone wanting to test it out beforehand can usually find free Circus Brilliant video pokies at most online casinos.
Playing Circus Brilliant
Anyone taking time to review the pay table will see that playing card symbols, J, Q, K and A will each return prizes equal to 10, 20 or 100 coins when landing across a payline, on connected reels running from the left side. Although many pokies use the same symbols to fill out the bottom of the tables, these ones have at least been designed in bright colours to fit in with the theme.
The various performing animals each pay 20, 100 or 500 coins when landing 3, 4 or 5 of a kind across a line, and the beautiful lady Ringmaster and clown are both valued at 50, 200 or 1000 coins. Any symbols that make up a winline will move around a bit in some nice animations, with the bear riding his bicycle around and the sealion juggling a ball.
A picture of the circus tent pays out the biggest wins and is also a wild symbol. Just 2 need to appear to be worth a win of 15 coins, and 3, 4 or 5 will see prizes of 100, 1000 and 10,000 paid respectively. When it’s in the right places, this symbol can substitute for all other symbols, so it can fill in any gaps in a winning sequence, or stretch wins across more reels to give players a bigger prize.
Circus Brilliant
Unable to connect to MySQL: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No such file or directory
Free Spins Game
Instead of having a scatter symbol to trigger bonus games, EGT have taken the unusual step of having a free spins game start whenever players get 5 of a kind symbol wins across a line. If the line is made up of a playing card symbol, 5 free spins will be awarded, while any of the animals will be the trigger for 15 extra games, and the characters will treat players to 50 spins, but no matter how many start, any winnings are doubled in value throughout them.
The spins can’t be retriggered from within the round, so once they are done, players are returned to the main game.
Gamble Feature
There’s an option to take a 50/50 gamble with any win of 700 coins or less, and to double it, gamblers will need to predict if a playing card is going to be from a red or black suit. Get it right and they can collect the doubled prize or try to gamble it again for an even bigger award, but get it wrong at any point and the bet is lost.
Jackpot Cards
Those progressive jackpots above the reels are part of the Jackpot Cards game which can begin at any time. Once triggered, players will need to find 3 matching card suits from the 12 face-down cards shown, and the Club, Diamond, Heart of Spade jackpot is guaranteed to be won, although values differ with each, and because the top prize can be quite substantial, this round doesn’t start very often.
The Verdict
Despite the questionable pictures of performing animals, the Circus Brilliant casino pokie machine has a real sense of fun and some vibrant colours. It comes with a decent bet range that should suit the vast majority of potential gamblers, and has the potential for them to win some pretty big prizes, especially when the wild symbol lands across a payline.
Free spins with multipliers is a nice bonus feature, although the reels don’t contain a richer mix of symbols, but apart from this, Circus Brilliant is a good all-rounder.