Pragmatic Play20 May 2024High volatility
Starlight Princess Pachi
The odd one out: a small pachislot-style game with the princess, her cat and the castle, and none of the tumbles. What's new in this edition:
- No tumbles and no multiplier hearts: a 3×3 grid with 27 ways, paying left to right.
- Free spins are won in a respin mini game, and every free spin is guaranteed to win.
- Collect 12 scatters in one round for Super Free Spins, where one multiplier applies to every win.
Free demo
Pragmatic Play's own demo with play money. It loads only when you press play.
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The change that matters: a different game in the same castle
Pachi borrows the look of the series and throws away its engine. There are three reels of three symbols. Wins are paid for three matching symbols on adjacent reels from left to right, and with three rows there are 27 such paths, or ways, across the grid. Only the highest win counts on each way, and the wins of all ways are added up. A full screen of one symbol wins on all 27 ways at once.
The intro screen draws the whole game as a flow chart, and it is worth following, because each part leads to the next:
- Scatter respin. When a princess scatter lands on the middle reel and there aren't two more scatters elsewhere, the reels with scatters hold and the others spin again. Another scatter holds its reel too and earns one more respin. Three scatters when it's over start the free spins.
- Respin mini game. Before the free spins, star wands marked +1 to +16 spins drop on a 3×3 board. You start with three respins; every new wand that sticks resets them to three. When you run out or fill the board, the numbers are added up: that is how many free spins you play.
- Free spins. The reels carry long stacks of symbols and every free spin is guaranteed to win. Every scatter that lands is collected on a counter.
- Super Free Spins. If the counter reaches 12 in one round, a super mini game follows the free spins: winged cats with multipliers from x1 to x91 fill the board the same way. Their sum multiplies every win of three Super Free Spins, which are also guaranteed to win.
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Replay: Super Free Spins we bought
In this round the super mini game filled all nine squares, one cat landing a x35, and the multiplier added up to x50. The three guaranteed spins then paid 165x, 60x and 200x the bet, 425x in all, against a 300x price. It was the best of our five super buys.
The whole round, spin by spin
| Step | Win (x bet) | Round total |
|---|---|---|
| Super mini game: multiplier | 50 | – |
| Free spin 1 | 165x | 165x |
| Free spin 2 | 60x | 225x |
| Free spin 3 | 200x | 425x |
Paytable
Each value is the win for three in a row on one way, in multiples of the total bet. A full screen of stars would pay on all 27 ways: 540x before any multiplier.
| Symbol | 3 in a row, per way |
|---|---|
 | 20x |
 | 5x |
 | 2x |
 | 1x |
 | 0.8x |
 | 0.6x |
 | 0.4x |
 | 0.2x |
 | 0.1x |
Buys, RTP and the cap
There is no ante bet in Pachi. There are two buys: 70x the bet for the free spins (with their mini game) and 300x to go straight to the super mini game and Super Free Spins. The RTP is 96.04% whichever way you play, the lowest figure in the series. The most one round can pay is 5,000x, and the rules put the chance of reaching it at 1 in 870,625 spins.
Our test: 1,000 spins, ten buys and five super buys
At the minimum $0.10 bet in the official demo. A small sample; it shows how a session can go, not the game's odds.
- 18.0%of 1,000 base spins paid something
- 2free spins triggers in the base game
- 40xbest round of the 1,000 (free spins included)
- 40.4xmedian of 10 bought rounds (price 70x)
Fewer than one spin in five paid, the lowest hit rate in the series. The scatter respin fired in 52 of the 1,000 spins and led to free spins once; the other natural round came from three scatters on one spin. The mini game gave between 5 and 15 free spins in our ten buys, 8.5 on average, and none of the ten rounds collected the 12 scatters for Super Free Spins: the most we reached was nine.
On a phone
The square grid suits a phone well: upright, it fills the width, with the princess above and the buy button below.
Verdict
A fun change of pace with clever mini games, held back by the series' lowest RTP and a base game that rarely pays. Try it in the demo before anything else.
Love it if
- You want something quick and different: three reels, short rounds and mini games.
- You like bonuses that always pay: every free spin is a winning one.
- You enjoy collecting: 12 scatters in a round open the Super Free Spins.
Skip it if
- You look at RTP first: 96.04% is the lowest in the series.
- You love the hearts: Pachi has no multiplier hearts and no tumbles at all.
- You want frequent base-game wins: fewer than 1 spin in 5 paid in our test.
Like what you see? Play Starlight Princess Pachi for real
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Questions
What is the RTP of Starlight Princess Pachi?
96.04% for plain spins and for both buys, according to the rules screen of the official demo. It is the lowest RTP in the Starlight Princess series; the other four games are at 96.49% to 96.55%.
How do you win free spins in Pachi?
Land three scatters, either on one spin or through the scatter respin that starts when a scatter lands on the middle reel. A respin mini game then decides how many free spins you get: each wand that sticks to the board is worth 1 to 16 spins.
How do Super Free Spins work?
Collect 12 scatters during one free spins round, or buy them for 300x the bet. A super mini game sets a multiplier, the sum of cats worth x1 to x91 each, which then applies to every win of three guaranteed winning spins.
What is the max win?
5,000 times the bet. The rules put the chance of reaching it at 1 in 870,625 spins.
Does Pachi have tumbles or multiplier hearts?
No. It is a 3×3 game with 27 ways and no tumbles. Its only multiplier is the one set by the super mini game for Super Free Spins.
Is there an ante bet?
No. Pachi offers two buys instead: 70x the bet for the free spins and 300x for Super Free Spins.
