Moon Princess Stargazing: Slot Overview

Moon Princess is an Asian cartoon-type slot that has served developer Play’n GO well since it was released in 2017. Not only did it garner success in its own right, but the game went on to spawn numerous follow-ups and reskins over the years as its maker sought various ways to reuse the central gaming mechanics in different settings and with different side features. From Christmas to Origins to Power of Love and beyond, Moon Princess has been a reliable go-to for the studio, which has added another release to the range in the form of Moon Princess Stargazing, introducing two new princesses to the fold.

As tradition dictates, one princess inhabits the screen at a time, hovering to the right of the gaming area, indicating which Princess Power may potentially trigger. The actual gaming area, UI, and various mechanical components have a classic Moon Princess look to them, while the background presents a view of the cosmos to make up the stargazing part of the title. It’s all very Moon Princess-y, a little bit new-ish, a bit more old-ish, overall very familiar.

Symbols drop into a 5×5 space and create wins when 3 or more matching symbols form a line vertically or horizontally. Winning symbols are removed, and symbols drop downwards, but new symbols are not added at the top. Cascading wins repeat till no new combinations appear or the grid is emptied. It is possible to wager 10 c to $/€100 per spin in this highly volatile game, where the most preferred RTP clocks in at 96.2%.

The pay symbols are bells, hearts, stars and circles as the lows, then three princesses make up the highs. Five-of-a-kind combinations award 1x the bet for the lows, 3x the bet for the highs, or 2x for combinations of princess symbols. Wild symbols can only be created, and one is placed in the middle after a 3 OAK win has been removed, substituting any paying symbol. Wilds award 5x for a line of five of them, and if there are only wilds on the screen, they get removed.

Moon Princess Stargazing: Slot Features

Moon Princess Stargazing’s features are a win multiplier, Girl Powers, Resonance spins, free spins, and a grid clearance prize.

Win Multiplier

On each spin, 3 to 10 random grid positions are highlighted. The multiplier increases by +1 when a win occurs on a highlighted position. Winning combinations are multiplied by the multiplier, which resets before each new base game round. Winning on all highlighted positions in a game round awards the 5x Constellation prize, multiplied by the win multiplier.

Girl Power

Girl Power triggers at random on any spin, depending on the active princess on the screen. Astra adds 1-2 Power Wilds, which remain on the reels after wins; Nova adds 2-5 wilds in a diagonal line; and Star adds 2 or 3 wilds. The active princess changes after each Girl Power activation.

Resonance

A three-segmented meter sits next to the reels and is filled by winning princess symbols (including wilds). A 3, 4, or 5 OAK princess win fills 1, 2, or 3 segments, respectively. When the meter is filled and no more wins occur, one free Resonance spin is awarded. The multiplier is reset, and a Girl Power triggers on each symbol drop where a win did not occur. The order is Astra, Nova, then Star, and if all symbols are cleared from the grid, free spins are triggered.

Free Spins

Before the round starts, players choose one of the three princesses. During free spins, the chosen Girl Power triggers on every non-winning spin. The win multiplier carries over from the Resonance feature, and it does not reset till the free spins feature ends. Fully charging the meter awards +3 free spins up to a maximum of 50. Resonance cannot trigger while free spins are in play.

Grid Clearance

Clearing the grid of symbols, except during Resonance, awards 20x the bet multiplied by the win multiplier.

Moon Princess Stargazing: Slot Verdict

Um, Moon Princess Stargazing was an alright game to review. It might be a match for gamblers in the mood for some tweaked Moon Princess action, as long as they’re prepared not to be dazzled by unique technical brilliance. Moon Princess Stargazing functions about the same as others in the MP range have done, choosing to offer side adjustments instead of galactic-sized innovations. In some ways, the freakiest thing about Moon Princess Stargazing is the fact that Love and Storm have exited the building to be replaced by Nova and Astra.

Fair enough, the two new princesses are armed with different modifying abilities. Instead of transforming symbols from one type to another or removing sets of symbols from the reels, all powers relate to placing wilds on the reels in one form or another. Less variety, but potentially useful all the same, particularly Power Wilds that are not removed after participating in a win. Otherwise, Moon Princess Stargazing is largely just a rehash of a system which Play’n GO has used a bunch of times in a bunch of games, not all of them fronted by Moon Princesses either, such as Rise of Olympus et al. So many times by now they’ve either grown stale or feel like a pair of trusty, old running shoes that have perfectly moulded to your feet.

Where Moon Princess Stargazing trounces the original Moon Princess slot is in the winning potential department. It’s not the highest, that would be Moon Princess Origins, yet Stargazing caps wins at 10,000x, though max exposure isn’t mightily favourable. All up, Moon Princess Stargazing is a playable MP slot, but it’s probably better suited to connoisseurs who are able to sift through the subtleties than general gamblers who want their hair blown back with new stuff.