Mighty Hat Mystic Tales

Mighty Hat Mystic Tales Slot Review

Golden light hazes through the trees of an enchanted forest, ivy wraps the dark blue reel frame, and a purple wizard’s hat with enormous googly eyes grins up from the corner of the screen. Mighty Hat Mystic Tales trades in storybook charm and commits to the bit: mossy rocks, hanging leaves and a dreamy glow press in from every side of the 5×4 grid.

Underneath the painterly finish sits a high volatility game across 243 ways, built almost entirely around one symbol: the Special Acorn, which appears only on the middle reel and can set off four different features. Playtech‘s catalogue runs from Buffalo Blitz to Fire Blaze: Jinns Moon and Better Wilds, but the acorn-driven build here is very much its own animal.

243 Ways and the Acorn Wild

Wins form from matching symbols in any position on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel, across 243 ways. Only the highest winning combination per symbol is paid, and ways wins are multiplied by your coin value, with the total bet set at five times that coin value.

The Acorn wild stands for any other symbol except the House and Stone symbols, to complete the best possible winning combination. That single sentence is its whole job in the base game, because the acorn’s more interesting form, the Special Acorn, only appears on the middle reel and carries every feature in the game.

The paytable is a short ladder, and the royals do most of the walking:

• Flower/Fairy: 5 for three, 10 for four, 50 for five
• Gnome: 2 for three, 5 for four, 25 for five
• A / K / Q / J / 10 / 9: 1 for three, 2 for four, 5 for five
• House (scatter): pays 1x, 2x or 5x the total bet for three, four or five, from any position

Values are multiples of the coin value except the House scatter, which multiplies the total bet. As a top symbol, the Fairy’s 50 for five isn’t rich, which tells you where the real money lives: the bonus ladder, not the reels.

The Special Acorn Features

When the Special Acorn lands on the middle reel, it may award any one of four features: the Respin Feature, the Treasure Chest Feature, the Free Games Feature or the Mighty Hat Feature. There’s no separate trigger symbol, no scatter count to build. One symbol, middle reel only, four possible outcomes.

Respin Feature

One respin is awarded. Some reels are held in position while each unheld reel spins again, and all ways wins during the respin carry a multiplier of x1, x2 or x3. It’s the smallest of the four outcomes, a quick top-up rather than a round in itself.

Treasure Chest Feature

A treasure chest containing up to five prizes is awarded. The prizes can be the Grand Bonus, Major Bonus, Minor Bonus, Mini Bonus, a Cash Prize, the Free Games Feature or the Mighty Hat Feature, so a chest can chain directly into a bigger round.

All prizes are paid after all have been revealed, and the feature is then complete.

Free Games Feature

Twelve free games are awarded, played automatically at the same bet as the triggering spin. During free games, landed Acorn and Special Acorn symbols become sticky and are held in place for one spin, and they also stick during any Respin Feature won inside the round.

The Special Acorn stays live throughout: landing on the middle reel during free games, it may award the Respin Feature, the Treasure Chest Feature or the Mighty Hat Feature, or 12 additional free games. The round can therefore grow well past its starting count while feeding the game’s deeper features at the same time.

Mighty Hat Feature and the Bonus Ladder

This is the round the game is named for. Nine special spins are awarded, and the triggering Special Acorn transforms into a gold border held in position. From there, the Stone symbol does the work:

• A Stone landing on an empty position awards a silver border
• A Stone landing on a silver border upgrades it to gold
• A Stone landing on a gold border upgrades it to red
• Three Stone symbols landing on one or more reels award an additional 3 special spins

When no special spins remain, all borders reveal their prizes: the Grand, Major, Minor or Mini Bonus for red borders, or a Cash Prize for gold and silver. It’s a build-and-upgrade round where every Stone landing somewhere useful extends the count or raises the value.

The Bonus Prizes

The ladder is a flat multiple of the total bet, shown on screen in credits at whatever stake you’re playing:

• The Grand Bonus tops the ladder at 1000x the total bet
• Below it sits the Major Bonus, worth half that at 500x
• The Minor Bonus pays 50x
• The Mini Bonus rounds out the jackpot tiers at 20x
• Cash Prizes fill the gaps, running from 1x up to 10x the total bet

The Grand Bonus at 1000x tops the game’s bonus prize ladder. There’s no bonus buy option; the Special Acorn is the only way in.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7/10

Mighty Hat Mystic Tales is a game of one door and four rooms. Everything runs through the Special Acorn on the middle reel, and the base game around it is thin: the Fairy tops out at 50 for five, the royals pay pocket change, and most spins exist to wait for the acorn.

The Mighty Hat round is the best of the four. Border upgrades give every Stone a job, three Stones extend the spins, and red borders carrying the 1000x Grand give the round a genuine top end. Free Games run it close, stacking sticky acorns, a possible extra dozen spins and feature triggers inside the round. The Respin is a multiplier and a shrug.

The weakness is the trigger: a single symbol on a single reel deciding between four outcomes of very different value, at high volatility, with no bonus buy to shortcut any of it. If a slow forest walk towards a ladder-climbing finish sounds like your sort of session, the hat fits. Hunters of richer base paytables will find these woods quieter than the artwork suggests.

Mighty Hat Mystic Tales FAQs

• Is Mighty Hat Mystic Tales high volatility?

  Yes, it’s a high volatility game, so bankroll management matters over a longer session.
• How do you trigger the features in Mighty Hat Mystic Tales?

  All four features trigger the same way: the Special Acorn symbol must land on the middle reel, and it may then award the Respin Feature, the Treasure Chest Feature, the Free Games Feature or the Mighty Hat Feature. The Special Acorn can only appear on the middle reel.
• What does the Mighty Hat Feature do?

  It awards 9 special spins. The triggering Special Acorn becomes a gold border, and Stone symbols landing on the reels award silver borders on empty positions and upgrade silver to gold and gold to red. Three Stones landing on one or more reels add 3 extra spins. When the spins end, the borders pay out: red ones reveal the Grand, Major, Minor or Mini Bonus, while gold and silver reveal a Cash Prize.
• Can the Free Games Feature retrigger?

  Yes. During free games, the Special Acorn landing on the middle reel can award 12 additional free games, as well as the Respin, Treasure Chest or Mighty Hat features.
• What is the Grand Bonus worth in Mighty Hat Mystic Tales?

  The Grand Bonus pays 1000x your total bet, and it’s the game’s top prize. The full ladder runs Grand at 1000x, Major at 500x, Minor at 50x and Mini at 20x, with cash prizes of 1x, 2x, 5x or 10x the total bet.
• How many paylines does Mighty Hat Mystic Tales have?

  The game is played with 243 ways to win, with winning combinations built from left to right across adjacent reels.
• What does the wild substitute for in Mighty Hat Mystic Tales?

  The Acorn wild substitutes for every symbol except the House and the Stone, completing the best available winning combination on a way.
• Who makes Mighty Hat Mystic Tales?

  Mighty Hat Mystic Tales is made by Playtech. Its release date is 5 September 2022.