The Sword and the Grail Excalibur Slot Review

The Sword and the Grail Excalibur Slot Game

“The Sword and the Grail” is a classic 5-reel video slot with three rows, relatively basic bonus features, and a solid betting range. 

The game's main premise revolves around keeping afloat with instant scatter wins and Holy Grail Wilds while hunting the bonus game. I wasn’t overly amused by the “generosity” of the base game, but I loved the roaming wilds in the Free Spins round.

Symbols & Payouts

This slot follows the basic payout rules of standard 20-line video slots. Symbols pay from left to right in threes, wilds substitute for all non-scatter symbols, and the betways are fixed. I mentioned that the graphics look good, but they help discern minor symbols from major ones and bonuses. There are nine paying symbols, so let’s see their payout rates:

• Ts and Js: 0.10x for three-of-a-kind, 0.20x for four, 1.0x for five;
• Qs and Ks: 0.20x for three-of-a-kind, 0.30x for four, 1.5x for five;
• As: 0.20x for three-of-a-kind, 0.40x for four, 2x for five;
• Knights and Wizards: 0.5x for three-of-a-kind, 1x for four, 5x for five;
• Queens: 0.7x for three-of-a-kind, 1.5x for four, 7.5x for five;
• Kings: 1x for three-of-a-kind, 2x for four, 15x for five.

Wilds will always substitute for the highest-paying symbol possible when connecting wins, but if they cannot replace another symbol (e.g. chain is interrupted by a bonus, or the entire row is full of Wilds), they’ll always substitute as Kings. 

Regarding betting range, The Sword and the Grail Excalibur is a balanced slot but particularly well suited for high rollers. Its betting range spans from €0.10 to €100.

Its top win is a whopping 25,000x, meaning that the highest payout per spin is limited to €2,500,000. 

The Sword and the Grail Excalibur Bonus Symbols

This Play’n Go slot is full of symbols and imagery perfectly fitting into the medieval fantasy setting. 

The “Holy Grail” acts as a wild with multipliers; King’s Symbols award instant prizes while the mighty sword in stone, the legendary Excalibur, grants free spins to those strong enough to pull three scatters onto the reels. Let’s explore in more detail how each of these bonus features works. 

King’s Prizes & the Sword Meter

The King’s Prize symbols (Lions) award instant wins wherever they are drawn. Even if only one lands on the reels, you’ll receive a hefty sum on top of your regular wins. 

You’ll notice a little sheath-like bar above the playing grid, featuring numbers x2, x5, x10, and x100. With every spin, the game will randomly “draw” the sword along this meter and multiply the wins of the King’s Prizes by the selected value. 

The prizes themselves award a multiplier of the current wager, which can be x1, x2, x3, x5, or x10. The King’s Prize’s own multiplier is multiplied by the Sword Meter multiplier to calculate how much you’ll win. 

The Holy Grail

According to the Arthurian legend, the Holy Grail epitomizes sanctity, purity, and abundance. In The Sword and the Grail Excalibur, it exemplifies the latter, acting as a substitute symbol with four possible multipliers - x2, x5, x10, and x100. However, those unworthy may only see it as a “regular” wild, as these multipliers are rare and only shown to a select few. 

Should the player pass the iron trial by pulling three Excalibur scatters and trigger the bonus round, the Holy Grail will strive to remain in their possession and become a “sticky, roaming wild”. These substitute symbols will not only persist on the playing field but will also move along the reels until they exit the playing field. 

Free Spins

The feature I loved the most about The Sword and the Grail Excalibur is the Free Spins round. King Arthur will summon the knights of the Roundtable as soon as three Sword Scatters are collected, and they will spin the wheel to determine your starting global multiplier and free spins. 

This bonus game has a unique progressive system that effectively replaces the Sword Meter. It is filled by collecting Sword Scatters - 3 of which will grant you 5 extra free spins while every Scatter will draw the Excalibur by a single tile. 

The “new” Sword Meter has the same thresholds (x2, x5, x10, and x100) but won't reset between rounds. Whenever you reach a new threshold by collecting sufficient Scatters, you level up, the global multiplier will correspondingly increase, and you will receive additional free spins based on your “title” (e.g. “Squire when leveling for the first time). 

More importantly, the higher your ranking at the Roundtable, the better the Holy Grail wilds will be. As soon as I was proclaimed a “Knight” (level two), all of my Wilds were guaranteed to carry a multiplier of at least x5. 

How to Win at The Sword and the Grail Excalibur

The Sword and the Grail Excalibur has 20 fixed paylines, and all symbols pay from left to right. I kept banking dozens of small wins throughout the base game, courtesy of minor King’s Prizes and recurring wilds, but my highest winnings came from the Bonus Game. 

Unfortunately, the Buy Bonus feature isn’t supported, and the hit frequency of Sword Scatters isn’t overly impressive, so I’ve had several testing sessions without activating the Roundtable Wheel spin. 

The Sword and the Grail Excalibur Slot RTP & Volatility

This video slot boasts a decently high RTP score of 96.2% and is a high-volatility game. 

It features multiple bonus mechanics that may either bring you huge winnings in just a few (free) spins, but the symbol payout rates are a bit lower than usual, so you’ll have to rely on luck with multipliers to stay afloat until the Excalibur is drawn. 

Final Verdict

It took a deep dive into The Sword and the Grail Excalibur to fully explore everything it had to offer. For the first 100-odd spins, I was mostly drawing basic symbols while the King’s Prizes barely covered my wagers. 

My opinion of this slot significantly changed when I drew the sword from the stone for the first time. The Roundtable Wheel animation, the progressive journey through knighthood, and the ever-increasing multipliers impressed me. It’s a shame that these magnificent bonuses are extremely rare and aren’t purchaseable. 

I wouldn’t play The Sword and the Grail Excalibur for real money without a sizeable bankroll knowing that I’d have to lay my chips on its elusive bonuses.

However, I would recommend this slot to high rollers - its top win is colossal, and if you can sustain dozens if not hundreds of spins with negligible returns, you may witness some amazing scores.