The Twisted Circus

The Twisted Circus Slot - Key Facts

The Twisted Circus is a 5-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot from Microgaming, released on 20 October 2012. RTP is 96.36%, volatility is medium, and stakes run from £0.30 to £300 per spin. There is no progressive jackpot. Maximum payout potential sits at 416,000 coins, achievable from the free spins feature with stacked wild multipliers.

The theme is gothic circus - think Circus of Horrors rather than a cheery big top. Symbols include a tattooed strongman, a fire breather, contortionist twins, a bearded lady, a snake charmer, and a monkey playing an accordion. No playing card fillers. The backdrop is a dark Victorian theatre with heavy red curtains, a sharp contrast to the neon fairground look most circus slots use.

Bet Range and How to Play

The minimum stake is £0.30 (1 coin at £0.01 across 30 fixed coin bets) and the maximum is £300 per spin. Coin value runs from £0.01 to £0.20, and you can bet between 1 and 10 coins per line equivalent. The 243-ways mechanic means all 243 combinations are always active - you cannot reduce paylines. This keeps the minimum bet higher than some players expect, but it eliminates the mistake of accidentally playing with only a few lines active.

The game was built on Microgaming's older Flash-era platform and is available on desktop. Mobile support through the Quickfire HTML5 platform is limited compared to Microgaming's post-2015 catalogue, so check your casino's game library filter for device compatibility before expecting it on a phone.

Base Game and Symbols

With 243 ways to win, any matching symbols on adjacent reels from left to right pay out - no fixed paylines to worry about. The Twisted Circus logo is the wild and pays 25x your total bet for five of a kind. Crucially, when the wild forms part of a winning combination it triples that win, making it one of the more valuable wilds in Microgaming's catalogue at the time of release.

The fire-eater is the top-paying standard symbol at 10x stake for five. The snake charmer pays 8x for five. The remaining circus performers pay progressively less down to the lower-value symbols. The entry ticket is the scatter - land five for a 100x total bet payout (four pays 10x, three pays 2x). The ringmaster acts as the bonus symbol and triggers the Circus Match game when it lands on reels 3, 4 and 5 simultaneously. He pays nothing on his own and exists purely to unlock the bonus.

Free Spins Feature

Land three or more scatter tickets anywhere on the reels and you trigger 13 free spins. All wins during the feature are multiplied by 3x, so any wild that lands triples a win that is already tripled - effectively a 9x multiplier on wild-assisted wins. A single spin during free spins can reach up to 300x total stake when wilds land in the right positions. The free spins can be re-triggered, and the Circus Match bonus can also activate during the feature, though bonus wins are not subject to the 3x multiplier. This is where the 416,000-coin maximum comes from.

13 is the number regardless of how many scatters triggered it. It is a fixed award, not scaled to the trigger count. Three scatters, four scatters, or five scatters all deliver the same 13 spins - though the scatter payout itself scales (2x, 10x, 100x of total bet respectively).

Circus Match Bonus

The Circus Match triggers when the ringmaster bonus symbol lands on reels 3, 4 and 5 at the same time. You are taken to a second screen showing 16 stars arranged in a 4x4 grid. Click them one at a time to reveal circus characters underneath. Find three matching characters to win the prize shown in the paytable for that character. There are also four hidden wild symbols in the grid - land all four wilds before completing a character match and you win payouts for every character in the paytable at once.

It is a pick-and-click bonus rather than anything skill-based, but the wild sweep payout makes it worth landing. The bonus can fire in both base game and during free spins, though in practice the base game trigger is more common given the simultaneous reel-3/4/5 requirement.

How The Twisted Circus Compares

For Microgaming's gothic and theatrical catalogue, it sits alongside Immortal Romance and Thunderfist in terms of atmosphere. Those games have more complex bonus structures, but The Twisted Circus keeps things tighter - two distinct bonus modes, a strong wild multiplier, and a clean 96.36% RTP.

If you want something with a similar circus theme but lighter mechanics, Big Top is another Microgaming title worth comparing, though that one plays more conventionally with fixed paylines. For gothic atmosphere without the circus angle, Haunted House and Mad Hatters occupy similar territory from the same era.

The 243-ways format means dead spins are less common than on a 20-line game at the same stake - something that becomes noticeable over a session. Medium volatility means the bankroll does not evaporate fast in base play, but the big numbers depend on hitting the free spins with wilds active.

Should You Play The Twisted Circus?

The Twisted Circus holds up well for a 2012 release. The artwork is detailed and the gothic circus concept is executed better here than in most later attempts at the same theme. The 3x wild multiplier stacking with the 3x free spins multiplier is the main draw - a straightforward mechanic that produces strong results when it fires.

RTP of 96.36% is above average for online slots. The two-feature structure (free spins plus Circus Match pick bonus) gives the game more depth than a single-feature slot without overcomplicating things. If you like Microgaming's older catalogue - Cool Wolf, Red Hot Devil, Retro Reels - this fits the same era and style. Find it at any online casino running Microgaming software.

Where to Play The Twisted Circus

These online casinos carry Microgaming games including The Twisted Circus. Read our Donbet review or browse all casino reviews.

More Microgaming Slots

If you enjoy The Twisted Circus, try these other Microgaming games available at the same casinos.