Miss Universe Crowning Moment Slot Game
Released by High 5 Games in November 2013, Miss Universe Crowning Moment is one of a small group of video slot games based on popular television productions. It is also the only game connected to a television property owned by a casino owner, as Donald J. Trump is the owner of the beauty pageant. Trump is famous for having owned and operated casinos in Atlantic City, although by 2013 his interest in the casino management company he founded had been reduced to a minority stake.
Miss Universe Crowning Moment uses video footage and still photographs of five winners of the beauty pageant: Miss Universe 2010 (Ximena Navarrete), Miss Universe 2011 (Leila Lopes), Miss Universe 2012 (Olivia Culpo), Miss Universe 2013 (Gabriela Isler), and Miss Universe 2014 (Paulina Vega).
There are two bonus features for the game. One of them, the multi-tier Pick feature, was added through an update to the software after the game's initial release. The game also utilizes super stacks.
Miss Universe Crowning Moment is available at land-based casinos, on the Web, via mobile apps, and through RMG Online.
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Game Basics
Miss Universe Crowning Moment is a 5-reel, 4-row video slot game offering 40 pay lines. Prizes are awarded for winning combinations from left to right. There are three special symbols in the game:
- A wild symbol using the game logo
- A "Pick Bonus" symbol
- A "Free Games Bonus" symbol
All 13 symbols in the game use the super stack feature but there are some restrictions. The Wild symbol substitutes for all other symbols except for the two bonus symbols. Get five Wild symbols on any pay line and you win 1000 times your bet per line. If you fill the screen you'll get 1,000 times your bet per line times the number of active pay lines (max of 40,000 times your bet per line). Of course that will be a very rare occurrence.
The five winners of the pageant from 2010 through 2014 are the high-value tiles. When 2 or more tiles for 2014, 2013, and 2012 are adjacent to each other on a pay line a prize is awarded. The tile image may be replaced by a video of the winner with the audio recording of the moment she is crowned. For 2011 and 2010 a minimum of 3 adjacent tiles are required for a prize but video is also used to enhance these tiles.
If a large enough block of tiles feature the same winner on winning pay lines (about 12, or 3 adjacent reels), 9 of them are replaced with a larger version video of the lady in her crowning moment.
The remaining game symbols are the A, K, Q, J, and 5. The 5 symbol represents High 5 Games, which obviously received a lot of publicity from the partnership with the Miss Universe pageant. This is an unusual departure from the slot game tradition of using A, K, Q, J, and 10 from the standard playing card deck.
The symbols pay prizes in multiples of bets per line like most video slot games. Top prizes for 5-of-a-kind range from 50 (Miss Universe 2014) down to a humble 11 for the "5" symbol.
Game Controls
The game controls are arranged in three sections below the screen area laid out for the tiles.
The first section on the left allows the player to adjust the number of active pay lines up or down via arrow controls. The 5 choices are 1, 10, 20, 30, and 40 active pay lines. The bet per line control is also managed via up and down arrows and 8 choices for settings are 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.25, 1.00, 2.00, 5.00, and 10.00. The maximum possible bet is therefore $400 (40 active pay lines times $10).
It is advisable for players in land-based casinos to check the settings for the bet per line when first sitting down at a game, as you never know what the previous player's last bet was. You might quickly play through all your money without realizing you were making large bets.
The second display area reports how much you won on the last spin if anything and what your available credits are before you start a new game. Your next bet will be deducted from the available balance or the game will tell you that you don't have enough credits to continue playing at the current bet level.
The remaining five controls are standard on High 5 Games' slot machines: the Replay button allows you to see your last spin again, even playing through the entire Free Games bonus. The Question mark brings up the pay table interface and you scroll through that horizontally to either the left or the right. There are currently 22 help screens in the pay table interface. There isn't much difference in the details between the Free Games tile sheets and the regular game tile sheets.
The Auto Play button allows you to choose from 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 paid games. You click once and watch the machine play for you. You can click on the Auto Play button again to stop the spins. The Spin button counts down the remaining auto plays for you.
The Spin button initiates a single game but also serves as a Stop button. According to the pay table interface using the Stop option to interrupt the game does not change the outcome of the spin; that has already been determined. Just use this function to skip past the video effects (such as the highlighting of all the pay lines for which you won a prize).
Triggering the Bonus Rounds
The Bonus symbols are a Tiara and a Sapphire. To initiate either bonus game all the tiles on reels 2, 3, and 4 must be filled with that game's symbol.
The Tiara triggers the Free Games bonus. You win 7 games and this bonus cannot be triggered again from within itself. Although the bonus game uses different reels from the main game (you won't see any bonus symbols) all the symbols are similar to the main game's symbols and they have the same values.
The Sapphire triggers the multitier Pick Bonus game. You play through 4 tiers.
In the first tier you pick one from four options and that choice awards you a multiple of your total bet, ranging from 1X up to 5X. The bonus game ends there unless you get the "Credits, Advance to Next Level" symbol.
In the second tier you pick one of the four options and that awards you another multiple of your total bet, ranging from 2X up to 6X. In the best case scenario you could win 5X your total bet in the first tier and 6X in the second tier, for a total of 11X your total bet. Again, the bonus game ends here unless you turn up a "Credits, Advance to Next Level" symbol, but there is a catch.
If you get the "Credits, Advance to Next Level" symbol you'll only be able to win 1X to 5X your total bet on the second tier.
In the third tier you pick an option and it awards you 3X to 7X your total bet, unless you get the "Advance to Next Level" where again you can only win a multiplier ranging from 1X to 5X your total bet.
In the fourth tier you are presented four options again. One of them may only be an exit tile awarding you nothing. But you can also win another multiplier ranging from 2X to 10X your total bet.
The Pick Bonus game makes Miss Universe Crowning Moment a more interesting slot game but don't play the game just for that experience. The Free Games bonus can be very rewarding, too.
Most people should enjoy the videos of the winners. And the game's big win graphics are interesting as well. A tiara goes flying toward the screen (as if it was thrown from just in front of you) and it bursts into a cascade of diamonds and sapphires.
The Pick Bonus game has the most sophisticated graphics and video integration. They put some thought into this feature before adding it to the game. It may not come up as often as the Free Games bonus, so if you want to see what the Pick Bonus is like you'll have to settle in for a long game. Don't make aggressive bets.
And don't be surprised if you win a full screen of tiles for the same Miss Universe. It happens. The celebration song lasts a good long while as the game counts up your winnings, and meanwhile the crowd is cheering. But are they cheering for Miss Universe or for you? To be honest, no one really cares just as long as the music keeps playing and the credits keep rolling.