I think it’s fair to say that the industry has a correct balance of serious and fun slots. The former can be quite boring, to be honest, unless we’re talking about an ominous slot like Nolimit City’s Mental, which is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes, we all need a bit of fun in our lives, and Mighty Munching Melons by Reel Kingdom and Pragmatic Play offers loads of it.

A throwback to vintage slot machines when melons and fruits ruled supreme, Mighty Munching Melons is easy to play at top slot sites. The highly volatile slot has an RTP of just over 95% (95.04%, to be exact) and ten fixed lines. And, while it’s all fun and classic at first glance, get to the bonus round, and you’ll find how fun and epic it truly is.

The base game might not have many surprises, but at least you can pay more for a chance at extra scatters. That bonus round is an homage not just to slots but to vintage video games, too. Get to the bonus round, and you’ll be impressed by the sound effects and clearly notice the influences from Pacman, except this time, a melon and a ghost melon play the lead roles.

Mighty Munching Melons is a 5x3 slot with a very Pragmatic Play-like setup. All the controls are beneath the reels, and it’s easy to set your bet with a few clicks. To the left side of the reels, you have the Ante bet and the bonus buy feature if you’d like to pay a bit more.

The symbols include old-school slot fruits, including melon, orange, lemon, grapes, and cherries. The regular cast of symbols is completed with a combination of card royals. There’s no wild symbol, which is a bit strange. However, the melon as a bonus symbol can do more without substituting other symbols. There are also golden money coins and a ghost melon symbol, which come into play in the bonus round.

Ready to get started? The first thing I did before playing was adjust my bet. The minimum is 30c, while the maximum of $360 will surely excite high rollers. As soon as you’re satisfied with your bet, hit the spin button or set up to 100 automatic spins.

The base game is pretty basic, in my opinion. You don’t have any special features here, and not even a wild to spice things up. Mighty Munching Melons is all about the bonus round, where it reaches its highest winning potential. Winning combinations are formed in the traditional way for three or more matching symbols. The oranges pay the most – 1,000x the bet for five of a kind.

There's not much to mention or look for in the base game. Since it’s a slot oriented toward its bonus feature, you’re best off activating the Ante bet, which costs 50% more but increases your chances of landing the bonus round.

The bonus spins round is triggered with three scatters: the Ante bet feature or the bonus buy feature. Anyway, you trigger it, and you get three respins to start with. If you ever played a Hold & Win feature before, you know how this one works. Only coins and melons can land on the reels, in addition to the rare ghost melon.

All money symbols—or golden coins—in the bonus round land with pre-determined values. They also reset the tally back to three. So does a melon, which lands, flips in a random position, and moves that way until it wraps around the edge of the screen and returns to the starting position. In total Pacman fashion, the melon also eats all the coins in its way. The first melon to hit the reels adds an x1 global multiplier. Each next melon increases the multiplier value by +1. This multiplier applies to all collected coins, so it can be profitable.

When the rare ghost melon lands, it will move to a random position on the grid. If eaten by a melon, it will help it grow to 2x2 or 3x3 in size, obliterating everything in its way. This only happens for a single spin.

Sometimes, the slot will add an extra life to your tally of three. When you run out of respins or all the positions are filled, a random 3x3 Melon without a multiplier can collect them one final time.

There’s a bonus buy slots feature if you don’t want to trigger the bonus naturally. It costs 100x, but considering the value of the bonus respins, it may be worth it.

I had loads of fun with the Mighty Munching Melons slot. Personally, it was a nostalgia trip to the good ol’ Nintendo/Atari days when the only thought on my mind was how to pass a level on a video game. Pacman played a big role in my life those days, and the bonus round in Mighty Munching Melons is surely reminiscent of the classic.

I didn’t want to wait for the bonus to trigger naturally, although I also didn’t want to pay 100x. In the end, I ended up paying a bit more for the Ante bet, and it was delivered in just a few spins. The bonus round was excellent. I was glad to land many coins and melons, effectively playing over 50 spins. I left with a win over $156, which would even justify buying the bonus round at 100x.

The Mighty Munching Melons slot has an RTP of 95.04%, which is right around the average for highly volatile games. It’s not the highest-paying slot I’ve seen, but it has decent winning potential with a max win of 3,000x the bet.

There might not be any features to keep things entertaining in the base game, but the bonus round in Mighty Munching Melons is a blast. It’ll remind you of Pacman and other vintage games while offering much higher winning potential. Everything in this slot is oriented toward the bonus, so paying a bit more for the Ante bet is worth it.

If you like what you’re seeing and you’re in for more Reel Kingdom madness at legit online casinos, there are many options to pick from. Those include Big Bass Bonanza and Sweet Bonanza, or the likes of Floating Dragon Megaways.