Grand Melee Slot Review

Grand Melee Slot RTP, Details & Wager Limits

The Grand Melee slot is played with 6 reels, 4 rows and 1,193 ways to win. Landing 3, 4, 5 or 6 matching symbols from left to right across any of the paylines will award a winning combination. Only the highest win per connecting way to win will be paid out.

Bets-wise, you can play Grand Melee from 10p to £100 a spin. This is the same default stakes range offered in all Thunderkick slots by the way. To change your bet, there is a Bet box under the reels. Click/press this to see all options. Non-UK players can use Auto Play which allows up to 5,000 auto spins as well as optional single-win/loss limits.

The Grand Melee RTP is 96.17% which is just a bit higher than the 96% online slots benchmark. Thunderkick also offer 94.18% and 92.15% RTP versions which even the best online casinos in the UK may use instead of the higher one. Check by opening the Paytable.

Very high volatility (9/10), the Grand Melee slot offers you 5,000 x bet top payouts. Key to big wins are Sticky Respins where you can fill the reels with 1 symbol instance. Special symbols help you land more of them, upgrade them and expand the game area.

Theme: valiant royal nights clash in a medieval tournament

With a medieval theme, the Grand Melee slot is about valiant royal knights who clash to everyone’s amusement in a tremendous tournament. For reference, a melee is a disorganised hand-to-hand combat, according to Wikipedia, which was often for pure entertainment and to celebrate major events such as coronations.

Visually very colourful, it has a joyous feel. In the backdrop, will see a medieval castle as well as tents, banners and a stage where the battle arena takes place. The reels include A, K, Q, J and 10 royals which all appear on shields.

Higher-value symbols include blue, green, purple, red and golden knights. The Golden Knight symbol is the best paying with 20, 50, 100 or 200 x bet awarded for 3, 4, 5 or 6 in combination.

With no traditional Wild symbol, there are Symbol Upgrade, Symbol Expansion, Game Area Expansion and Bonus Scatter symbols. They all trigger respective bonus features (more details below).

Grand Melee Mobile

Released on the 16^th of August 2023, Grand Melee is available to play on mobile, tablet and desktop devices. Mobile slot players can enjoy this slice of medieval banter on iOS, Android and Windows smartphones.

Grand Melee Bonus Features

With 5 bonus features, the Grand Melee slot is all about sticky respins where you have the chance to land plenty of the same symbol. Symbol Upgrades and Expansions help as well as the Game Area expanding for up to 7 rows. All these features apply in the Free Spins Bonus feature.

Sticky Respin feature

The Sticky Respin feature is randomly triggered in the base game. A random paying symbol is selected in the area above the reels. If 5 or more symbols on the reels match the selected symbol, those symbols become sticky and lock in position. A free respin follows with more matching symbols also locking in place. The respins continue until no new instances of the sticky symbol appear.

Now, the Grand Melee slot comes with 3 symbols/features in the base game that will enhance the Sticky Respin feature. Here is what they entail:

Feature	Description
Symbol Upgrade	Appears randomly with all instances of the current sticky symbol transforming into more valuable sticky symbols
Symbol Expansion	Transforms into the current sticky symbol and expands vertically to cover the entire reel with sticky symbols
Game Area Expansion	Transforms into current sticky symbol and adds a new row to the bottom of the game area (up to 7 rows available in total)

Free Spins Bonus feature

The Free Spins Bonus feature is triggered when 5 or more Bonus Scatter symbols appear on a base game spin. It can also be activated during the Sticky Respin feature if the Bonus Scatter appears in the Bonus Meter above the reels with the Bonus Scatter becoming sticky.

The number of free spins you’ll play is equal to the number of triggering Bonus Scatters. This means you’ll begin with at least 5 free spins. You can also win additional free spins when you fill the Bonus Meter with Bonus Scatters. All the base game features are in play during the free spins too.

Grand Melee Review Summary: simple medieval fun with interacting bonus features

Visually, the Grand Melee slot has a jovial feel and ties into the amusing nature of hand-to-hand combat tournaments that served to entertain at big events back in medieval times. Thematically, and for context, it’s much more in line with Pragmatic Play’s Knight Hot Spotz than Play ‘n GO’s Diamonds of the Realm.

The base game is pretty simple with 5 or more matching symbols triggering Sticky Respins. Landing more of the same symbol will see respins awarded. The key is to land various special symbols which will upgrade current sticky symbols, make them expand for more on the reels and expand the game area for potentially more sticky symbols. All base game features are present during the free spins.

All in all, the Grand Melee slot is quite simple but interacting bonus features can lead to 5,000 x bet payouts on each spin or free spin. The bonus features are not unique or original but they can combine nicely for decent payout potential.

If you’re looking for more explosive action as well as larger max wins, the previous release, Sword of Shoguns, is recommended. With 6 reels and 5,040 ways to win, it comes with free spins with an expanding symbol. Retriggers will give you more free spins and expanding symbols. This can lead to 25,200 x bet max wins.