The Snake Charmer

The Snake Charmer Slot Review

The Snake Charmer is a 5-reel, 3-row video slot from NextGen Gaming, released in 2013. It runs on 25 fixed paylines with an RTP of 95.35% and medium-high volatility. Coin sizes run from £0.01 to £2.00 per line, giving a bet range of £0.25 to £125 per spin.

The theme is Indian street performance. The Taj Mahal dominates the background, a cobra rears up beside the reels, and the soundtrack cycles a sitar-and-tabla loop that sets the scene without becoming grating. The presentation is straightforward: the reels are clear, the symbols are easy to read, and there is nothing visually confusing about how the game operates.

Symbols and Paytable

The high-value symbols are a belly dancer (the top non-wild symbol at up to 1,500x your line stake for five), an elephant (up to 750x), a snake basket, and a pungi - the flute-like pipe the charmer plays. The low-value symbols are standard 9-through-Ace playing cards, which is a missed opportunity given how much thematic material the Indian setting provides.

The wild is a hypnotised snake. Five wilds on a payline pays 5,000x your line stake - the highest combination payout in the base game. The wild also expands to fill an entire reel when it lands, which happens in both the base game and the free spins feature. Expanding wilds can appear on reels 1, 3, and 5.

The scatter is the snake charmer himself. Four scatters on the reels pays 100x your total bet outright; five scatters also pays 100x. The scatter pays regardless of payline position.

Free Spins Feature

Land 3 or more charmer scatters anywhere on the reels to trigger 10 free spins. During the bonus round, the wild snake can appear on reels 1, 3, and 5 simultaneously, each expanding to cover the full reel. A spin with all three reels wild creates a large block of substitutions across the grid.

There are two limitations worth knowing before you play. First, the free spins cannot be retriggered - 10 spins is your allocation and that is final. Second, no multiplier applies during the feature, so payout size depends entirely on how many expanding wilds land and how well the remaining symbols line up. The variance within those 10 spins can be significant: some bonus rounds produce near-nothing, others deliver meaningful wins when multiple reels simultaneously go wild.

Expanding Wilds in the Base Game

The expanding wild is not exclusive to free spins. In the base game, the snake wild lands on reels 1, 3, or 5 and expands upward to fill all three rows of that reel. This gives the base game more volatility than a standard NextGen slot of this era - you can hit a meaningful payout from a single base-game spin without needing to trigger the bonus. It also means the free spins round, while the main feature, is not the only route to a larger win.

Gamble Feature

After any winning base-game spin, you can opt into the gamble feature. Guess the colour of the next playing card correctly and your win doubles. Guess the suit correctly and it quadruples. You can chain up to 5 correct guesses, but one wrong answer wipes out the entire win from that spin.

The math is simple: a colour guess is 50/50 (double or nothing); a suit guess is 1-in-4 for a 4x payout. The feature is optional and the prompt appears automatically after a win - you can skip it and bank your win. Regulars of NextGen slots from this period will recognise this as a standard feature across the catalogue.

How It Compares

NextGen built a lot of 5x3, 25-line slots in this era with the same structural elements: expanding wild, 10 free spins, gamble feature. Eastern Dragon, Ramesses Riches, and Doctor Love on Vacation share the same skeleton. Genie Wild takes the expanding wild mechanic in a similar direction with a Middle Eastern setting.

The Snake Charmer is not the standout title in that group. The 95.35% RTP sits below the current industry average of around 96%. Player ratings on review aggregators sit around 2.4 out of 5, reflecting a consensus that the base game is dry and the free spins - while carrying real potential - are not frequent enough to make up for it. That said, the expanding wild in both base game and free spins is a mechanic that rewards patience: when it clicks, particularly with reels 1, 3, and 5 all going wild in the bonus, the payout gap between spins is noticeable.

For players building out a NextGen catalogue, the NextGen Gaming page lists all available titles. If you want to see which casinos carry these games, the casino reviews section covers the main UK-facing options.

Verdict

The Snake Charmer is a competent but unspectacular slot. The Indian theme is executed cleanly, the expanding wild mechanic functions in both base game and free spins, and the gamble feature adds a decision point after wins. Against those positives: the 95.35% RTP is below average, the free spins cannot retrigger, no multiplier applies in the bonus, and the base game between features is quiet. This is a slot where most sessions will be steady small losses punctuated by the occasional expanding-wild surge. Medium-high volatility means you need a session bankroll that can absorb a run of non-events before the mechanic fires.

Where to Play The Snake Charmer

These online casinos carry NextGen Gaming games including The Snake Charmer. Read our Lord Of The Spins review or browse all casino reviews.

The Snake Charmer RTP and Variance

The Snake Charmer has an RTP of 95.35%, which is around the industry average. See our highest RTP slots for the best returning games. Medium volatility offers a balanced mix of win frequency and payout size.

At the minimum bet of £0.01 per spin, a £10 deposit gives you 1,000 spins with a statistical expected return of £9.54. Read our slot betting strategy guide for tips on managing your bankroll.

More NextGen Gaming Slots

If you enjoy The Snake Charmer, try these other NextGen Gaming games available at the same casinos.