KOI Princess
Launched simultaneously across desktop and PC on 24th November 2015, the KOI Princess video slot from NetEnt is a mid-twentieth century Japanese art themed slot with plenty of features to help make this an entertaining game to play. The Anime styled graphics of the KOI Princess along with the background, symbols and music all add to an atmospheric and immersive gaming experience.
KOI Princess online slot is a 5-reel, 3-row and 20 bet line game that offers Random Features similar to NetEnts Hook’s Heroes slot which also launched around the same time. This slot includes Bonus Features, Wild Substitutions, Bonus Symbols, a Bonus Bet Mode and has a top jackpot of 100,000 coins. So let’s travel to the far east and give this game a spin and see what we think of this feature rich slot.
How to play KOI Princess Video Slot
There are seven coin levels you can set with this online video slot starting from 0.01 up to 1.00 along with ten bet levels. Using both the bet level and coin level together you can set a cost per spin from as little as 20p up to a high rolling £200 per spin. However, this slot has a unique Bonus Bet feature that you can activate or de-activate at any time using the button in the bottom right corner of the game screen. This allows you to ‘double’ your bet and at the same time increase your chance of getting a random feature and bonus feature. Therefore, you can now spin as much as £400 at a time! Therefore, make sure before you start your play that you set an overall cost per spin at a level you can comfortably afford.
As the game first loads you will see a series of 3 opening screens that detail the main features of the game. You can stop this intro from being displayed next time in the settings of the game. Once the main game has loaded you will be presented with a game screen that is of high quality as we have come to expect from NetEnt. The KOI Princess stands to your left with an animated waterfall background on your right and then the center of the screen is made up of the 5 reels. Symbols include the standard 10, J, Q, K and A in a suitably styled look to match the theme, along with Oriental/Japanese animals, coins and the KOI Princess herself.
To spin the reels you just need to select the green button with the rotating arrows at the very centre of the bottom part of the game screen. Next to the spin button you also have a ‘Max Bet’ button and an ‘Auto Play’ button. Clicking the Max Bet will spin the reels at level 10 based on your current coin value. Choosing the Auto Play feature gives you the option to have the game spin the reels automatically. You can set the number of spins from 10 up to 1000 spins.
As you play you can land any of the 4 random features at any time. These four features are 5-Hit, Random Wilds, Wild Reels and Bonus Game Activation. Each of these awards the player one free spin with the associated feature. With 5-Hit you will get a guaranteed 5 symbol win. The Random Wild will overlay the reels with between 4 and 9 wilds and the Wild Reels feature will overlay between 2 and 5 reels with complete wild symbols. Finally, the Bonus Game Activation awards 3 bonus symbols that will create a randomly selected main bonus feature.
Besides these 4 random features, you then have 4 main Bonus Features which are Sure Win Free Spins, Wild Reels Free Spins, Coin Win and the Bonus Wheel. You will need to achieve 3 bonus symbols within reels 1, 3 and 5 to activate any of these features.
The Sure Win Free Spins awards you with 10 free spins with the first spin guaranteed to pay out 20 coins times the bet level and then the remaining wins will be at the highest coin prize for the session. With the Wild Reels Free Spins feature it is again 10 free spins with between 1 and 5 reels being overlaid with Wild Symbols. The Bonus Game is a bit of a mini-game where you get to spin the wheel and win coins or even either of the two previously discussed features. Finally, the Coin Win is exactly what it says and awards an instant coin win.
You will also see that on the very bottom of the game on the left, there are several options including a question mark, auto button, volume control and settings. The question mark gives you fairly in-depth information about the game including rules and game functions.The settings allow you to set your spacebar on a PC as the action for activating a spin. You can also set the game to quick spin and remove the intro screens.
KOI Princess Video Slot Tips
On the bottom left-hand side of the KOI Princess game screen, you will see an ‘i’ symbol. Selecting this will allow you to view a series of 8 screens that give information on each of the features discussed above. You can also view the coin payout levels for the number of matching symbols on a pay line along with a grid view of each of the winning lines. These screens are useful to help you familiarise yourself with the game.
If you are new to playing the KOI Princess video slot then rather than using your hard earned cash to play the slot from the off, we would suggest trying it out for free. By using a demo mode feature that is offered by some online casinos you can play the slot and get used to all its features. If you then enjoy the game you can switch to playing in real cash mode at any time. If you would like to play KOI Princess for free then you can at GDay Casino and Casino Luck.
Is KOI Princess the right video slot for you?
The KOI Princess Video Slot has a theoretical RTP (return to player) on its standard game setting of 96.00% giving a house edge of 4.00%. Netent do have other online slots with a higher RTP and even if you choose to activate the Bonus Bet which increases your chances of a feature, the RTP only improves up to 96.23%.
Overall as we played through 100 spins at bet level 1 and coin value 0.05 (£1 per spin) we found that although the game has 8 features they are hard to achieve. We received two random 1 spin features but never one of the four main features. Although the longest dry spell without a win was 9 spins, the wins when they did come in felt small and we never seemed to feel like we were getting anywhere quickly. The game is as you would expect, a high-quality game from NetEnt but the slightly lower RTP seemed to show through and reduce the excitement of the game.
We would look at KOI Princess as a medium variance machine so not necessarily one to use your free casino cash on from a welcome bonus. However, if you are prepared to stay the course it is the main bonus features when they kick in that will create the best wins.
