Solar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse Slot Review

A stepped pyramid rises out of the jungle canopy, and behind it hangs a sun that has gone the colour of embers. That darkening disc is the whole idea of Endorphina’s Solar Eclipse: a Mesoamerican ruin where daylight is failing and the reels sit inside carved stone. It’s a handsome frame for a deliberately old-fashioned machine, and the two make an odd but coherent pairing.

The claim worth arguing is the return. Solar Eclipse runs at 98.04% RTP, a figure that stands well above almost anything else you’ll find at a UK casino, and it does so on a 3×3 grid with just 5 paylines. Three reels, five lines and a return that high is a combination the studio’s own Joker Ra and Crystal Skull don’t offer, and it makes this small game more interesting than its size suggests.

Reels, Lines and Symbols

This is a classic three-reel format: three rows, five fixed paylines, and winning combinations that must land on enabled lines from the leftmost reel across adjacent reels. Scatter symbols are the exception, counting in any position, with scatter wins added to line wins. It’s a layout that rewards simple, patient play rather than anything elaborate.

The paytable is a short ladder, and every figure below is what three of a kind pays as a multiple of the total bet:

• Chief (blue mask) – 60x
• Leopard – 20x
• Snake – 10x
• Purple Gem – 4x
• Triangle – 3x
• Blue Gem – 2x
• Green Gem – 1x

Above that ladder sit the Sun and the Moon, both wild, both appearing only on reels 1 and 3, and both substituting for the paying symbols. They’re also the richest symbols on the screen: three Moons pay 200x the total bet, and three Eclipse symbols pay 204x, comfortably more than the Chief.

The two combine, too, and what that combination sets off is the game’s one big feature. Because the wilds only ever land on the outer reels, every spin carries a small chance of the merger.

Until it happens, the middle reel is left to do the ordinary work of matching gems and animals. That’s the base game in a sentence, and it’s a patient one.

Free Games and the Expanding Symbol

When the Sun and the Moon appear together, the Moon moves across and covers it, and the two become a single new symbol: the Solar Eclipse. That merger awards 20 free games and starts the round’s special mechanic.

At the start of the free games, one symbol is chosen at random and given expanding powers. If enough copies of that symbol land to complete a winning combination, they expand vertically to fill their reels. Position doesn’t matter for this count, only the number present.

Once expanded, the symbols pay for combinations of a kind in adjacent and non-adjacent positions, and only on enabled paylines. The Eclipse itself stays busy throughout, doing three jobs at once:

• Substitutes for all symbols during the round
• Appears on reels 1 and 3 and expands vertically to complete expanding-symbol combinations, even when expanding symbols already occupy that reel
• Multiplies expanding-symbol wins by x2 when it covers one reel, and by x5 when it covers both

Those multipliers are where the round’s real potential sits. A single chosen symbol stacked across the grid, with the Eclipse holding both outer reels, turns a modest three-of-a-kind ladder into something considerably bigger.

The round can also extend itself. Eclipse symbols landing together on the outer reels add a further 15 free games, carried over on the same bets and lines, so a round that’s already producing expanded wins has room to keep producing them.

The Risk Game

Every win can be gambled, and this is Endorphina’s long-running card duel. Four cards are dealt face down and you pick one; beat the Dealer’s card and your win doubles, with the option to go again for up to ten attempts in total. Lose any round and the entire gambled amount is gone.

The fine print matters more than usual here. The Joker beats every other card and can never be drawn by the Dealer, so a Joker pick is always safe. Matching the Dealer’s card is a draw rather than a loss, leaving your winnings unchanged.

Two further quirks shape the maths. Card probabilities aren’t evenly distributed, so some picks are better than they look, and closed cards can reappear from round to round.

TAKE WIN is always available to bank what you have, and it’s the right instinct: taking the risk on every win regardless of the Dealer’s card returns 84% on average, which is why the headline RTP assumes you collect rather than gamble.

Bonus Pop

A BONUS POP option sits persistently in the corner of the interface, offering a paid route past the base game. It’s a single button rather than a menu of tiers, so the choice is binary: buy your way into the feature or wait for the Sun and Moon to align on their own.

Against a paytable whose best line win is 60x, the buy only starts to make sense if the free games it purchases produce an expanded, multiplied combination early. Set against the patience a natural trigger can demand, it’s there for players who’d rather not wait for the sky to darken.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7.7/10

Solar Eclipse is a small game with one large number attached. Three reels and five lines promise modest, steady play, and that’s what the base game delivers: a short paytable, a 60x top line win, and wilds doing quiet work on the outer reels until the Sun and Moon finally meet.

The free games are the reason to be here. Twenty spins, one expanding symbol and multipliers that climb to x5 when the Eclipse swallows both outer reels give the round genuine upside, and the retrigger means a good round can grow. There’s no stated ceiling on what those expanded combinations can build. The Risk Game is the other strength, though its 84% average return on habitual gambling makes it a feature to visit occasionally.

The weakness is plain: everything outside the bonus is three-of-a-kind repetition. The 98.04% return does a lot of quiet work making that repetition cheap to sit through. It suits players who like classic formats with one strong feature and a return worth staying for, and there’s a neat symmetry in that: the game waits for an eclipse, and the patient are the ones who see it.

Solar Eclipse FAQs

• How do you trigger the free games in Solar Eclipse?

  Land the Sun and the Moon on the reels together. The Moon covers the Sun to form the Solar Eclipse symbol, which awards 20 free games with the expanding symbol feature.
• What does the expanding symbol do in the free games?

  A random symbol is selected at the start of the round. If enough copies land to complete a winning combination, they expand vertically and pay for combinations in adjacent and non-adjacent positions on enabled paylines.
• Can free games retrigger in Solar Eclipse?

  Yes. Eclipse symbols landing together on reels 1 and 3 add a further 15 free games, carried over on the same bets and lines as the round you’re already playing.
• What is the RTP of Solar Eclipse?

  Solar Eclipse runs at 98.04% RTP, well above the industry average. The optional Risk Game has its own average return of 84% if you gamble every win regardless of the Dealer’s card.
• How many paylines does Solar Eclipse have?

  Solar Eclipse is a 3-reel, 3-row slot game with 5 paylines. Wins must land on enabled paylines across adjacent reels from the leftmost, except scatter symbols, which count in any position.
• What is the grid size of Solar Eclipse?

  Solar Eclipse uses a 3×3 grid, with three reels and three rows.
• Can you buy the bonus on Solar Eclipse?

  Yes, there’s a BONUS POP option displayed persistently in the corner of the interface, which buys direct access to the feature round.
• Who makes Solar Eclipse?

  Solar Eclipse is made by Endorphina. Its release date is 23 November 2021.