Jolly's Cap Free Play in Demo Mode

Jolly's Cap review

Graphics, Sounds, and Animations

It's time to go on a medieval adventure – you'll feel like the king of the castle when you play Jolly's Cap by Merkur Gaming.

This slot looks a little older than other slots you might have played, which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, as it was released in 2015.

The game grid is set against the backdrop of a castle at sunset, and while some symbols are themed, others take inspiration from retro slots. The same goes for the theme music: it's similar to what you might have heard if you've played a mechanical slot in a land-based casino.

Gameplay

Jolly's Cap is set on a very simple grid with five reels and three rows. There are 10 fixed paylines active every time you spin, and to land a win you need to match at least three of the same symbols on adjacent reels from left to right, on one of these paylines.

The Joker symbol pays out the most, followed by the king, queen, falcon, and horse. You'll bag smaller wins if you land the A, K, Q, J, or 10 symbols.

Wilds, Bonuses, and Free Spins

Jolly's Cap has fewer special features than most other slots. Even though there are Scatter symbols, there's no Free Spins round and the main feature to look out for here is the Gamble option.

The Joker symbol is the Wild, substituting for other regular symbols, while the eponymous Jolly's Cap symbol acts as the Scatter Wild. It substitutes for all other symbols and can transform up to two other symbols into Wilds.

After a win, you can click on the money bag icon at the side of the grid to collect your winnings. Alternatively, select the card icon to open up the Gamble feature. Here you'll need to correctly predict the outcome of a virtual card draw to increase your winnings. There's also a Ladder Gamble feature, which comes with the potential for bigger wins, but it's riskier.

Bet Sizes, RTP, and Variance

You can start the stakes pretty low, at just $/€/£0.10 per spin, while the maximum stake amount is $/€/£20. That's a lot less than most other slot games, which means that the absolute maximum amount you can win is also lower. But with the top possible win coming in at 10,000x, it's still pretty impressive.

Jolly's Cap has a Return to Player (RTP) percentage of 96%, which is exactly the industry average for slot games. The game's volatility is medium, so wins are neither large and rare, nor small and frequent – they're somewhere in the middle. This means that gameplay can be a little less exciting than we'd like, so we tend to recommend higher-volatility games.

Conclusion

We have to admit, we've played more modern and interactive games than Jolly's Cap. There's nothing wrong with the RTP or volatility – they're standard, if not good. But the real disappointment for us was the lack of a Free Spins round, or any kind of bonus game. While the Gamble feature (especially the Ladder) offers a good way to increase your wins, it relies on you getting lucky enough to land line wins in the first place. All that said, it's still a decent game and worth a try, if you're looking for something plain and simple.