Welcome the Artists onto the Stage
The original Cirque du Soleil Kooza show already has a unique and vibrant universe, and that the Bally developers had to do is get some inspiration from the real-life artists themselves. The action is therefore taking place under the circus tent, with the reels centre stage just on top of a complete command bar.
A mysterious clown, and not the scary kind, stands on one side of the screen as you spin the reels. Visually, Cirque du Soleil Kooza is quite beautiful and unique. We love a slot game with a coherent atmosphere, and that is exactly what Cirque du Soleil Kooza gave us.
The Show Must Go On
Cirque du Soleil Kooza benefits from a simplified command bar right under the reels, based on different shortcuts to make your task as a player super easy. The 40 paylines of the game are fixed, so you will have to bet on all of them at every turn; just open the pop-up menu on the right to choose a wager, which can go from 0.20 to 400 credits per turn in total. With this large betting range, you really can adapt your strategy at will. The autoplay game mode can also be activated at any time, if you want to stick to the same wager for a moment.
Cirque du Soleil Kooza clearly has a relatively average variance, which makes big and small prize about as likely to be triggered at any time. The basic paytable of the game contains the classic card icons plus masks and several circus artists like clowns and acrobats wearing beautiful makeup. The maximum reward in the base game is only x3.75, which sort of force you to play big in order to win big here.
Where the Real Big Wins Lie
Cirque du Soleil Kooza makes up for its limited paytable with a very nice array of bonus features. The bonus box is the most common of these features. Find 3 boxes anywhere on the reels to win either a surprise cash prize or the right to spin the bonus wheel. On the wheel, you can unlock a surprise amount of free spins with win multipliers and/or stacked symbols all over the screen to boost your chances even further. If you land on the “wheel of death” feature, you get to increase the stakes even higher and win much bigger prizes.
The jackpot wheel is much tougher to get to from the base game, but when you do so you get a chance to win one of the 4 jackpots displayed at the top of the screen. This is by far the most rewarding feature in Cirque du Soleil Kooza, so if you are not afraid to bet against the odds then you should definitely aim for it at all times.
The Perfect Slot Game for High Rollers
Cirque du Soleil Kooza is a very polarising slot game, with beautiful graphics and an average volatility on one side and a rather disappointing paytable on the other. Sticking to the base game is clearly not the way to win big here, and we had to rely on the bonuses quite heavily right from the start.
As a result, Cirque du Soleil Kooza is probably better in the hands of high rollers and experienced gamblers, who like to take risks and play big to win big. The game reminded us a little of Angel’s Touch by Lightning Box, especially because of its large reel set and focus on the bonus features.
