Black Knight slot
GAME FEATURES
The Black Knight slot machine was once the crown jewel of WMS and despite being over 10 years old, it’s still getting plenty of play today. Now supplied by Scientific Games, this 5-reel, 10-ways slot has enough twists in its Free Spins feature to stay evergreen for another 10 years.
Why play the Black Knight slot?
✔ Free Spins with sticky expanding wilds
✔ Big Bet game with high RTP
✔ Vintage theme
What we think about Black Knight
“Black Knight is strictly for classic slots enthusiasts. If that’s you, it’s certainly worth a spin.”
Is Black Knight right for you?
The key considerations with the Black Knight game are its age, design and features. Williams Interactive made slots like these for land-based casinos for decades, and then migrated them to online so that a new generation of players could enjoy their vintage look and feel.
If you’re looking for the latest video slots with next-level features, then Black Knight is not going to be the one for you. It was released in 2011 and the design is very much out of the land-based slots playbook.
Its basic graphics and minimal animations put it firmly in the category of classic slots. The retro medieval theme is quite King Arthur, with a symbol set of crowns, sceptres, orbs, queens, court jesters and so on.
Despite its fairly simple design, this Black Knight slot game is not without its charms as we’ll see when we get to its features. It is also incredibly easy to learn and play. It uses a very common reel and payline format, and has just one main feature.
Features
Black Knight Wilds
In the standard game, any Black Knight you see during a base game spin acts as regular Wild, and substitutes for all symbols except Bonus. As you’ll see in the Big Bet Game, they behave a little differently.
Free Spins Bonus
OJO believes that good things come in bunches but in this case you’ve got a single Black Knight slot bonus game. Nevertheless, you can make the most of it when you get 3 bonus symbols scattered on the reels.
Seven free spins will pop up and then cover all the reels, triggering more bonus rounds, which makes this a great online slot game for low limit players. Land 4 bonus symbols and you’ll trigger 12 free spins. But we’re not done yet, as the Black Knight himself has a role to play.
Big Bet Game
Like many WMS slots, the Black Knight slot machine has a Big Bet feature which enables you to bet a larger fixed amount, in this case £20, for 5 spins, autoplayed until they finish and where all wins are combined and paid at the end.
During Big Bet spins, any Black Knight symbols are wild, substituting for all symbols except the Bonus. As we mentioned in the RTP section, you play this version of the game with a higher Return To Player too.
Other games like this
Mighty Black Knight
Scientific Games, now Light & Wonder, bought the entire WMS portfolio including its Black Knight slots, and then in 2017 released Mighty Black Knight. The graphics are much the same, but now you get up to 100 paylines with their Mighty Reels mechanic. Bet 10p/20p/30p/40p/50p+, and you’ll start with 10/20/30/40/50 paylines, but they’re doubled when you hit an expanding Wild, the reel layout and paylines are doubled in size.
The Knight King
If you’re a fan of the Middle Ages theme but prefer 21st century gaming, try Pragmatic Play’s fantasy slot. It’s a more rounded video slot which is enriched by Pragmatic’s Special Money Symbol feature, which comes to life in the Free Spins round.
Zeus 3
If you like the retro style of WMS slots and want to explore different themes, their Zeus slots are a great place to start, particularly the 3rd game in the series. Vintage design meets modern features with a 2-3-4-5-6-7 reel layout, stacked Wilds and up to 50 Free Spins.
My verdict
WMS’s Black Knight slot machine won’t win any awards for its design, gameplay or features, but after playing it for 20 minutes, my experience was positive. The theme grew on me, and when you trigger the Free Spins feature, that’s where the game really comes into its own.
If you’re up for trying this or any of PlayOJO’s 5,000 online slots, you can get free spins on a top slot when you make your 1st deposit (terms apply).
FAQs
Can I play Black Knight slot for free?
Yes, PlayOJO has a Black Knight demo you can try to see if the game is right for you. To access the demo version, create an account, search for the game and tap Try for Free.
What can I win on the Black Knight slot?
Win combos for the Black Knight slot machine start at 5x for 3 sceptres and rise quickly to 100x for 5 crowns, 250x for 5 queens and a mighty 2,500x for kings. As well as the paytable wins, they’ve snuck a random 500x win in there for when you spin 5 bonus symbols anywhere on the reels.
In the Big Bet Game, paytable wins are smaller as you get 5 spins combined for 1 bet, so 5 kings nets you 500x this time. The game’s official max win is £250,000 but that’s generally for the folks who play the Black Knight game for high stakes.
Why does Black Knight have an RTP range?
Just as we found with other top online slots supplied by SG, there are various tiers of Black Knight slot RTP depending on your stake and which game you play.
Bet less than £2 when you play the Black Knight UK slot and you get a modest 95% Black Knight RTP. Once you’re over £2, it rises to a very respectable 96%. Play the Big Bet Game however, and it tops out at 97.75%, a fine return in anyone’s book!
How does the Black Knight big bet game work?
The Black Knight online slot has a Big Bet game with a fixed cost of £20, and for that you get 5 spins of the base game. At £4 per spin, that’s a pretty hefty price. But for that, you get Black Knight Wild symbols that are sticky for any remaining spins, and an enhanced RTP of 97.75%. As long as you see the £20 as a one-off play rather than something you’d do regularly, or if £4 per spin is in your regular bet range, then the Big Bet game makes sense.
