The Legend of Shangri-La: Cluster Pays Slot

The fun and interactive Legend of Shangri-La: Cluster Pays game created by NetEnt does not come with the normal paylines; rather, it employs the use of Cluster Pays feature which means that gamers need to create a cluster of similar symbols in order to achieve wins.

The game is based on the 1933 Lost Horizons book by James Hilton who extensively portrayed a mystical world which was in existence centuries ago. In that supernatural world, people lived unbelievably lengthy lives; a development that would normally take 12 months in our present world lasted for more than a decade in that mystic world, meaning that life expectancy then ran into hundreds of years.

The environment is designed in a brilliant way with the intention of evoking the utopian vision of the lost valley. Nature abounds in the backdrop in the form of green pastures, beautiful trees, cascading waterfalls as well as the ancient temples. All these are designed with a motif that is purely Asian in nature and befits the theme. The sound design is just stylish and the scene is completed by an animated character which comes in the form of a tranquil panda in red stationed very close to the reels.

The Legend of Shangri-La: Cluster Pays - How to Place a Bet

This NetEnt six reels and cluster pay slot machine can be played on all modern devices which include tablets, mobiles, and desktop. The betting range starts at 10p and terminates at £200 which is rather high but will benefit the diehard gamblers who wish to hit the max win at a single spin.

The Legend of Shangri-La: Cluster Pays - Gameplay

The game is a typical NetEnt slot. It comes with a fantastic look and brings enlightenment as well as a sense of harmony. A monk accompanies you on a journey to the serene illusory mountains with the background populated by green valleys and cherry blossoms. On the reels, you will see symbols like a trio of guru symbols (elephant, cat, and monkey), you will also see flowers, Koi carp, butterflies and dragonflies.

The guru symbols aid in the gameplay by making appearances as stacked. The symbol with the maximum payout is the cat with a reward of 1,000x your bet for having 30 or even more on the reels. Ordinarily, the wins come when you land a cluster of nine symbols or even more. Lookout for the substitution symbol which can change into an adjacent symbol (with the exception of the Free Spin symbol) to offer you the best winning combo.

There is also a Random Substitution feature which gets activated when you have as little as two clusters of similar symbols making a landing in the base game. The clusters come with a quartet of similar symbols each. Whenever it gets triggered, a single substitution symbol joins the reels to create the nine cluster win.

Another important feature is the Sticky Re-Spins feature. This feature only activates when at least a couple of non-winning clusters of similar symbols put in an appearance anywhere on the game’s reels. The symbols stay put by sticking in place as the others re-spin on the reels, this goes on until all sticky symbols are exhausted.

The most important feature is none other than the Free Spin feature which gets activated when you land three Free Spin symbols or even more. Get five, six, seven or as much as eight free spins anytime you get three, four, five or six Free Spin symbol. You can trigger the Nudge Reel feature with a couple of Free Spin symbols. Here you can nudge the elusive third Free Spin symbol onto the game’s reels to get the Free Spin feature activated. Once in, you can have random substitution symbols either added or deducted from each free spin. This aids in the formation of winning clusters. While on the feature, if your wins are less than ten times, you will get an additional free spin to leverage on.

In conclusion, the slot machine is simply superb and comes with the potential award of up to 1,000x your bet per spin/free spin. The key to unlocking the big wins is the Substitution symbols which come in the Free Spin feature as well as the base game.

The Legend of Shangri-La: Cluster Pays - Game Buttons

It is quite impossible to comfortable operate a slot machine without leveraging on the help of the controls which houses the game buttons. NetEnt equipped The Legend of Shangri-La: Cluster Pays with game buttons like:

• Coins Buttons – Shows the balance of coins you have left to play with.
• Information Button - Displays the paytables.
• Bet Button – It comes with two buttons up and down, the up button increases your bet while the down button reduces it.
• Level Button – Use this to increase or decrease your bet level.
• Coin Value Button – Use this to increase or decrease your coin value.
• Spin Button – This is represented by the Yin Yang symbol at the controls and it works to set the reels into motion.
• Autoplay - This spins the reels continuously till a preset number is achieved

The Legend of Shangri-La: Cluster Pays: Payouts

When you get a collection of thematic icons like dragons, fish, flower petals and butterflies, you will begin to reap the smaller payouts. As you move towards the elephants, the cats, and the monkeys, the payouts begin to look more promising. In explanation, the cat which bears a close resemblance to a Himalayan lynx will give you a payout of 30 credits when you get a collection of nine of them.  As the symbols increase, the payouts also increase with a max of up to 10,000 credits when you manage to cover 30 spots with that particular icon.