Judge and Jury Megaways

Judge & Jury Megaways: Slot Overview

Trial by jury, the 'cornerstone of our liberty' as James Madison put it, has been around for rather a long time. According to certain sources, the Ancient Egyptians were first to use a form of trial by jury around 2,000 B.C.E., and the Ancient Greeks weren't far behind before the concept caught on amongst the Romans. Attempting to capture some courtroom drama on the reels is software provider Skywind in a slot called Judge & Jury Megaways. To reflect the veritable Gordian Knot of intricate legal loopholes and clauses, Skywind has loaded in a stack of features such as random wilds, symbol removals, cascades, free spins, progressive multipliers, an I.D. Parade, and Wanted Poster cash prizes.

For the setting, Judge & Jury Megaways takes place in a location that looks part courtroom, part judge's office, what with all those books sitting on shelves in the upper right quadrant. A judge hangs out on the other side of the reels, banging his gavel, and occasionally saying judge-y things to thicken the atmosphere. Crime slots are popular, so good on Skywind for breathing a bit of fresh life into the genre by doing something different with it. There's a mishmash of all sorts here. Wanted posters, safes overflowing with cash, sirens, police officers, crims, the works. Skywind has chucked in the kitchen sink – both in terms of theme and features.

On the mechanical front, Judge & Jury's game grid comprises 6 vertically spinning reels and a single horizontal bonus reel up the top. This being Megaways, the number of symbols on the main reels changes on each spin, producing anywhere from 324 to 117,649 ways to win. Players get multiple ways of representing themselves in court, meaning you can play in normal mode, where stakes vary from 20 p/c to $/€200 per spin or flick Double Chance on - this betting option increases the stake by 25%, doubling the chance of winning free spins. Either way, the game is fairly volatile (4/5) and comes with a solid return to player value.

To the payable now, where 10-A card rank tiles appear as the low pays, and handcuffs, safes, robbers, policemen, and judges are used as the high pays. Landing a full six of a kind winning way results in a payout of 0.4-1x the bet for the royals, rising to 1.5-7.5x the bet for a premium win. Substituting for any of the pay symbols to help complete a winning way are 2 wild sirens – a blue and a red one. The special thing about the red wild is it appears on the top reel, and when it hits, it expands downwards to cover all positions on the reel beneath it.

Judge & Jury Megaways: Slot Features

If a stack of features is a must-have item in a slot, then Judge & Jury Megaways could be just the ticket because Skywind has jammed in quite a few extras, it must be said. It starts with the usual cascades, which remove winning combinations from the board when they hit, allowing symbols to drop down to plug the gaps. If this creates a new winning way, another cascade triggers.

The Judge

The judge isn't just there to look stern and commentate. Occasionally, he awards 2 random bonuses in the base game. For the first, he can remove royal symbols from the reels on a non-winning spin, where only non-royal symbols fall in on the resulting cascade. The other bonus is randomly adding 3-6 wild symbols to the reels.

Wanted Posters

On each spin, a different wanted poster is displayed on the right-hand side. If a poster symbol appears on the reels which matches it, players win a cash prize of 2x, 5x, 10x, 100x, or 5,000x the bet. Once the prize has been paid, the poster is removed, and a cascade occurs into its gap. Wanted Posters appear in the base and bonus game but are not increased by the progressive multiplier.

Free Games

Landing 4 scatters in the base game awards 10 free spins, plus 5 additional spins for any extra scatter in view – up to 20 at the most. During free spins, each win increases the progressive multiplier by +1 before new symbols cascade down. Lastly, landing 3 or 4 scatters during the feature awards an extra +5 or +10 free spins, respectively.

I.D. Parade

While free spins are active, landing at least 3 cell symbols triggers the I.D. Parade feature. Getting 3, 4, 5, or 6 cell symbols in view awards 1, 2, 3, or 4 picks, respectively. For the parade, four suspects are displayed on-screen. Picking them uncovers prizes such as +3, +5, or +10 free spins, +3, +5, or +10 to the multiplier, or cash values of 5x, 10x, 20x, 30x, 50x, or 100x the bet.

Buy In Feature

Some players may have access to the Buy In Feature button. If there, clicking it lets you pay 80x the bet to receive 10, 15, or 20 free spins.

Judge & Jury Megaways: Slot Verdict

Skywind has really taken to Megaways with gusto. The studio started with an older game upgrade called Big Buffalo Megaways and a clever 'book of' version in Book of Gems Megaways before moving on to be more creative with the format. Judge & Jury Megaways is another good example. It's not just a case of stuffing a ton of features onto a Megaways reel-set either, though there are plenty of extras to be found in Judge & Jury. What's neat is that games like Judge & Jury Megaways or Alive! Megaways bubble with a positive spirit, as if Skywind actually had fun while making them and dreaming up what sort of gameplay to include.

Skywind has certainly gone to town with the features, as a lot of them have wedged their way into Judge & Jury Megaways. From the base game randoms to a free spins round with a progressive multiplier and I.D. Parade pick 'n clicks, to the universal Wanted Posters system, there is rarely a dull moment. For players who like a full list of extras, then Judge & Jury Megaways is one to check out. When you consider the solid entertainment value and a max win figure, Skywind has gone out of their way to make sure as many bases as possible are covered. One minor caveat is that the visuals have a slightly old fashioned Payday Megaways look to them, which, compared to many of the state of the art slots out there, may come across as rather dated. However, that's more of a personal issue rather than a deal-breaker since players value different aspects when playing slots.

Needless to say, if you've got the slightest interest in Megaways, then putting Judge & Jury Megaways through its paces makes perfect sense. On the other hand, if stuffing a slot full of features Blueprint Gaming style is not enough to float your boat, what's left is a rather mediocre Megaways game which does look 5 years late to the party.