Ocean Magic Grand
- Ocean Magic software by IGT has all the colour and fun you can expect from a 5-reel game with 4 rows. We love the underwater creatures which were creatively designed.
- The Wizard ran a simulation & did his own analysis of perennial AP favorite Ocean Magic. You can read all about it by clicking on this link here & maybe you’ll be able to take your Ocean Magic hustling skills up to new heights.
- Ocean Magic is one of the most common & easiest to learn advantage slot machines. Ocean Magic is a popular machine made by slot manufacturer IGT. It’s also one of the most widely hustled machines by advantage slot players around largely because it is simple to spot opportunities.
Ocean Magic is what some would call a 'variable state' slot machine by maker IGT. It is characterized by wild bubbles that move up one row after each play. If it is only played when the previous player abandons bubbles in good positions, it can result in a player advantage.
Ocean Magic is a popular machine made by slot manufacturer IGT. It’s also one of the most widely hustled machines by advantage slot players around largely because it is simple to spot opportunities. We’ll examine how it plays and what advantage players look for to make money on it.
Starting off when looking down at the betting choices on Ocean Magic you’ll see two sets of options. They are regular play up top & the more expensive “bubble boost” on the bottom. With regular play, wild bubbles will periodically rise up from the bottom of the screen & will proceed to move up one spot with each subsequent spin until they reach the top & disappear.
When bubble boost is on, bubbles will still periodically rise from the bottom. However every once in a while a horn will sound that will add one to several bubbles on the screen. Bubbles from the horn will too stay & rise on the screen with each spin until they reach the top.
What is the significance of the bubbles & what are advantage players looking for?
In addition to being wild, if a bubble lands on an ocean magic symbol, the wild will expand to every adjacent spot on the screen which could potentially lead to big wins. What an advantage player wants is to find a machine with leftover bubbles on the screen that have not yet reached the top row. The exception is any bubbles leftover on column 5. Because Ocean Magic pays left to right bubbles on column 5 are useless for the most part. Also be sure to go through each & every betting option as the play screen is different for each one. Repeat this process if the machine is multi-denominational
At the end of the day Ocean Magic is a solid machine that many hustlers have made good money on. I think we’ll all agree that having multiple bubbles land on Ocean Magic symbols & hearing the mermaid say “magic” followed by a huge win is a great thrill.
Just like Golden Egypt was tweaked in the form of Golden Egypt Grand, the same can be said about Ocean Magic with Ocean Magic Grand. The gameplay between Ocean Magic and its Grand version is basically the same with both featuring the randomly appearing wilds & expansion when said wilds land on an Ocean Magic symbol.
There are two notable differences between the games. First is that OM Grand has introduced a giant wild bubble that periodically shows up when Bubble Boost is active. This giant wild takes up 4 character spaces & can turn up to 12 spaces wild when it comes into contact with the Ocean Magic symbol.
The other difference is that OM Grand has 6 rows compared to the 4 in the standard Ocean Magic. However, despite the additional rows, there are fewer paylines. Ocean Magic Grand has 37 paylines as opposed to Ocean Magic’s 50.
How to advantage play & “beat” Ocean Magic Grand?
Just like in the original, any bubble seen in the 1st three columns is playable. Continue playing until wild bubbles reach the top row. Column 5 bubbles are useless. The topic of debate when advantage playing OM Grand is what to do with bubbles on column 4?
Ocean Magic Grand Free Game
Some hustlers will play column 4 bubbles like those on 1-3 to the top. Some treat them like those on column 5 & don’t even touch them. Others will do something in between.
My approach is when Bubble Boost is off I’ll play column 4 bubbles up to the second row from the bottom in hopes that another bubble will rise from another column to link up. If it doesn’t, I stop. With Bubble Boost on I’ll give it one extra spin to the third row from the bottom.
Ocean Magic Grand Free Play
I’ve had success with this approach but hopefully someone smarter than me will do an analysis in the future & come up with a more definitive answer. But for now that’s how I play OM Grand. As always make sure you touch each betting option for any available advantage plays.