The more we play Pragmatic’s releases, the more they seem like they’re trying to poke Disney into taking action. The theme of a man finding a genie’s lamp and wishing to make off with the princess and be rich is well and common enough, but one look at the character symbols will show you that Pragmatic took a very obvious inspiration, and altered it just enough to avoid the Big Mouse. Or maybe they just used one of their 3 Genie Wishes. This Pragmatic Playslot released in December 2016, with a medium volatility and a 500x fixed jackpot. It also offers different gameplay experiences – such as Wilds only appearing during normal gameplay and additional features on top of the free spins to spice things up.
As we already mentioned, this whole title feels like a slightly edited version of Aladdin. Take a look at the thief, the man with the beard, the princess – but, in our minds, the most incriminating are the monkey and the genie, which are both very clearly borrowed from the cartoon. Alongside them, you will find some boring playing card symbols J, Q, K and A, and the artists at Pragmatic spent some time making them seem more Arabic to fit the setting. The town under a setting sun looks gorgeous, but like before, a solid reel background prevents us from drinking in the view that we otherwise would love to see. On the gameplay side of things, 3 Genie Wishes doesn’t particularly stand out in any shape or form. It feels good to play, but it doesn’t really do that much different, apart from the large amount of paylines.
To activate free spins, you need Scatters to appear on the first, third and fifth reel, which can then reward one of four different bonuses. You can get free spins with raining Wilds, free spins with sticky Wilds, a big award that’s a cash prize between 10x to 500x, or a small award that’s just a 1x consolation prize. Free spins with raining Wilds will grant you ten extra turns, and at the start of each spin, Wilds are placed randomly and are replaced at the beginning of the next free spins. Meanwhile, free spins with sticky Wilds get only six extra turns, during which Wilds are placed in a random position and remain there for the whole duration of the feature, with new Wilds appearing each free spin. This gives you a variety of options, though obviously, some are more profitable than others. Free spins with Wild bonuses are more fun from a gameplay perspective, but they can rarely reach the top prize of the high award, which is the 500x win.
With everything said and done, 3 Genie Wishes was a mixed bag in our eyes. It was fun to play, and when we were lucky, we managed to win some extraordinarily good wins. At the same time, normal gameplay can feel like somewhat of a chore, and despite having 50 paylines, there were still dry spells during which we saw no wins, which feels somewhat baffling. It has problems, but not enough of them that we can’t give you a recommendation. Give it a go, you’ll have fun!
