The Grand Journey Slots

One wonderful thing about today's online slots, especially those from Microgaming, is that they are so varied and imaginative. No one game can be right for everyone's taste, but with hundreds of varieties to choose from, clearly there is something for everyone. On the other hand, even after you find a slot game you love to play, if you overdo it, eventually you will be ready to try something new.

If the same old routine seems to be getting you down, and it includes the same old slots, it could be time for a change. The Grand Journey will lead you on an adventure not only as far removed from modern Canadian living as anything you could imagine, but also completely different from any slot game you have ever played. So, if you're feeling adventurous, what are you waiting for? Sign up for The Grand Journey, and don't let those pesky dinosaurs and sabre-tooth tigers intimidate you. If you are lucky, the scary creatures will all go back into extinction, and you will be crowned the new king or queen of the jungle.

The Grand Journey Starts Here

The Grand Journey is a 5-reel, non-progressive jackpot online slot game with 30 paylines. The game was released by Microgaming for the online market in January, 2012. Its many exciting features have quickly made it a favorite with low to moderate stakes gamblers looking to add a good dose of novelty and adventure to their slot experience.

The destination picked for this adventure is an Amazon jungle. Your slot survival skills better be good, though, because, in your quest for hidden treasures, you will also encounter threatening dinosaurs, ferocious saber-tooth tigers, menacing warriors, and erupting volcanoes. But relax, because you will be accompanied by a fearless Jungle Explorer who luckily seems virtually immune to any lurking dangers. That means you're in good hands. So, if you are game, come along for the ride and see what happens. If you can find the jungle's hidden treasures and come away with a big enough stash to fill a treasure chest, even better.

Lots to See Along the Way

Not all of the Grand Journey symbols are intentionally scary. You will also see mushrooms, stone idols, a temple, the Explorer, the Explorer's travel equipment, and a beautiful Amazon lady. The bold graphics, colorful, lifelike images, and authentic sounds of the jungle will have you riveted to the screen. The symbols become animated during play, so you feel like you really are an active participant in a thrilling adventure.

On top of all that, The Grand Journey is packed with other exciting features-stacked and expanding wilds, scatter symbols, free spins, multiplied winnings, and a potentially lucrative bonus game. Another nice thing is that despite the game's high volatility, it is still relatively inexpensive. So, even if one expedition is nothing to write home about, you can always return another time, when your luck might be better.

You can play The Grand Journey for free, or you can play for real money. But don't let the very limited coin size, 1 cent or 2 cents, fool you into thinking that this is just a penny ante game. There are 30 paylines, so a penny bet won't work; the minimum you can bet per spin, to have all of the paylines working for you, is 30 cents. You also have the option of betting anywhere from 1 to 20 coins on each line. Therefore, the maximum bet per spin is 600 2 cent coins, or $12. The game does indeed offer enough flexibility in the betting range to suit both low and mid-level players, but probably not high rollers.

Wide Variety of Symbols and Bonus Games

The Grand Journey Logo is the game's wild symbol. As such, it can substitute for any other symbol on the reels except the scatter symbol and thereby turn non-winning spins into winners. In addition, whenever the Grand Journey Logo helps to complete a winning combination of other symbols, the payout is doubled.

If you get 5 Grand Journey Logos on a single spin, you win the game's largest fixed jackpot of 1,000 coins. However, the wilds are stacked, so with a maximum bet, you could actually win much more. Five of a kind of the various other symbols yield smaller jackpots of 500 coins or less.

Most slot machines with stacked wilds have just one wild symbol. After all, what could be more exciting than, on a single spin, to see one symbol singlehandedly turn a whole machine wild! But the Grand Journey didn't stop there. It has added a second wild symbol, a drill, on the middle reel only. This symbol is termed an "expanding wild" because it has the capability of expanding to cover the entire reel.

The globe is the game's scatter symbol. While all you need is 2 for a payout, 3 or more on a single spin, anywhere on the reels, triggers 15 free spins. This is also where the game really gets interesting. A detour set up just for you takes you along the jungle's "multiplier trail."

During these free spins, instead of a fixed preset multiplier for winning combinations, multipliers increase after you have a losing spin! Ironically, you are actually hoping not to win on consecutive free spins, so that your multipliers can be increased as much as possible.

The first time you win on a free spin, the amount is doubled, but after each consecutive losing spin, the win multiplier goes up by 1, all the way to a maximum of 10. Anytime you win a free spin, the multiplier resets back to 2 again. Also, the free spins cannot be retriggered. So you have to be exceptionally lucky to ever reach a really big multiplier, but it is not impossible.

You will have every right to call yourself King or Queen of the Jungle if you come away from the Grand Journey with the maximum win of 6,000,000 coins. The way to do it is have the whole machine go wild on a free spin with a 10x multiplier.

In any case, this game offers a thrilling, but sometimes bumpy ride. Watch out for the inevitable bankroll swings as you try to scoop up as much hidden treasure as you can.