Hairway to Heaven, a game offered by RTG (Realtime Gaming), might sound like it’s inspired by “Stairway to Heaven”, but it’s actually a children’s story themed slot. If you’ve heard about the story with the princess locked away in a tower, with hair so long that the prince could use it to climb up to her window, then you know exactly what you’re getting here. It’s a charming slot, with cute graphics and lots of bright colors that make it even more enjoyable.
The game will give you a chance at one of the two random progressives it offers, but the real prize is the $25,000 that the game awards. Along the way, it gives you access to feature symbols like the wild or the scatter, while the free spins and its multiplier will do a lot to make you appreciate this title more. It’s a 5 reel slot, with 50 bet lines.
Features of Hairway to Heaven
Both the Prince and the Princess contribute to the feature list in Hairway to Heaven. That’s why each one takes one of the two major roles in the game, with the Prince being the scatter, while the Princess acts as the wild.
The Princess may only appear once in the game, on the 3rd reel. She is capable of even taking the role of the scatter symbol, mainly because the wild expands and covers the entire reel, so there wouldn’t be any spot for the Prince to appear on. The wild’s role is to substitute for the other symbols, as always, but it does something extra for you and doubles the payouts of combos it helps create.
The Prince is the other major symbol, a scatter that is going to appear up to five times during a single round. The more times you see it in a round, the better its prizes are. Regular payouts start at 2x the bet value and go up to 25x, but if the Princess takes part and substitutes for one of the wilds, then the prize for 4 or 5 scatters goes up to 10x and 50x (the wild multiplies the winnings by 2x).
There is something unfortunate to comment on when it comes to the scatter. While the exact position of these symbols on the reels doesn’t matter, they do have to be on consecutive reels, starting from the first one. You don’t get paid when you have multiple scatters, but which have empty reels between them. Quite unfortunate, and something that takes a lot away from the feature and the game.
Damsels in Distress Feature
Just as the story goes, the Princess is in distress and she needs to be rescued from the tower. The charming prince, shown climbing on her long hair braids, needs to appear 3+ times on the reels and the Damsels in Distress feature will start. At this point, you get 8 free games, with the added benefit of seeing the Princess appear on up to three reels (2, 3 and 4), instead of only one. This feature may be retriggered, as long as 3+ scatter symbols make an appearance again.
Feature Guarantee
This is another component for the game, one that guarantees you access to the free spins feature, but only as long as you don’t get it yourself within the next 125 rounds at most. There is also the Instant Trigger Chance. You also have to pay extra for it, adding an additional 20% to your wagers. There is no option to not use the Feature Guarantee, so you pay up to $50 extra per spin for it. You can see the status of the Feature Guarantee and your chance to get an instant trigger of it in the top right corner of the game.
Betting options and jackpots
With a total of 50 paylines offered, you will find that there will be a lot of paying combinations for you, but first you have to select and activate them all with coins. These coins have denominations starting at $0.01 and going to $5. The regular bet goes up to $250, to which you have to add another $50 for the Feature Guarantee, so up to $300 per spin can be wagered.
The game doesn’t have just high betting limits and lots of paylines though. A 5,000 coins top prize is within reach here, with the value being up to $25,000. The two side jackpots might be progressives, but they will not bring as much money as the game can.
Design and symbols
The game’s design is one of the best things about it. They’ve spared no effort in trying to make this a fairytale slot, and it shows everywhere. It does look like everything was taken directly out of a recent Disney movie and used in symbols and surrounding graphics. The design is complete with meadows and stunning views of mountains, plus a rainbow placed strategically between them.
Symbols: Princess (wild), Prince (scatter, 25x the bet), Tower (2,500x), Guard (2,000x), House Heraldry (750x), Mirror (500x), Key (500x), Ace/King/Queen (250x), Jack/10/9 (150x).
Is It Worth Playing?
The game has its pros (graphics, prizes, some of its features) and its cons (the forced Feature Guarantee and the requirement for scatters to be on adjacent reels starting from the 1st), but overall I believe you will enjoy it and the many chances it gives you to get paid.
The Hairway to Heaven slot machine is offered through the RTG platform, so if you want to play it for real or just to practice, look out for casinos that use it.
