Quick Stats
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Provider | High 5 Games |
| Game Type | Video Slot |
| RTP | 94.9% |
| Volatility | Medium |
| Reels / Rows | 5 × 3 |
| Paylines | 99 Fixed |
| Min Bet | $0.99 |
| Max Bet | $198.00 |
| Max Win | 5,000x line bet |
| Features | Wilds (×2), Scatter, Free Spins, Tumbling Reels |
| Theme | Fantasy / Fairytale / Nature |
| Release Date | 4 January 2017 |
| Platform | Desktop & Mobile |
What Is Secrets of the Forest?
Secrets of the Forest is a fantasy-themed online pokie where three named forest nymphs — Beatrice, Katrina, and Pandora — double as your premium-paying symbols. The setting is a dimly lit woodland glade with ivy-wrapped reels and a starry backdrop. It’s a straightforward game by today’s standards: no pick-me bonus, no multipliers, no progressive jackpot. What you get is a solid base mechanic, a free spins round that adds an extra wild, and the tumbling reels feature that can chain consecutive wins off a single paid spin.
This pokie suits players who prefer a calm, feature-light experience with moderate risk. It’s not right for you if you’re chasing a massive jackpot or expecting a modern multi-bonus extravaganza. The graphics show their age — released in 2017, this is a nine-year-old game — but the core mechanics hold up, and the 99-payline structure keeps the base-game win rate ticking along at a comfortable pace.
Start with the demo version to get a feel for how often the tumbling reels chain before committing real money.
RTP and Volatility
The RTP sits at 94.9%, which is below the current industry average of around 96%. Put in real-dollar terms: over millions of spins, the game returns roughly $94.90 for every $100 wagered. That doesn’t mean you’ll lose $5.10 per spin — it means the house edge is about 5.1% across an enormous sample of play. In a single session of 200 spins at minimum bet, your results will swing much more wildly than that theoretical figure suggests.
Medium volatility means wins land with moderate frequency and at moderate size. You won’t go 80 spins without a payout, but you also won’t be banking 200x hits regularly in the base game. The sweet spot here is the tumbling reels feature, which can stack multiple wins on top of one another without costing an extra spin. For a $20 budget, medium volatility gives you enough runway to hit the free spins trigger before your balance runs out — though it may take a while.
The RTP of 94.9% is worth factoring into your casino choice. Some platforms offer higher RTP configurations for certain slots, so check whether your casino lists an alternate figure before you start.
Betting Range
All 99 paylines are fixed and active on every spin. You can’t reduce the number of lines, which means your minimum cost per spin is $0.99 — that’s $0.01 per line across all 99 paylines. The maximum bet is $198 per spin, placing $2 per line. This structure makes the game genuinely accessible to casual players at the low end, while still giving high rollers meaningful stakes at the top.
Every prize in the paytable is stated as a multiplier of your line bet, not your total bet. Keep that in mind when reading the paytable. A 5,000x win on your line bet at minimum stake ($0.01) returns $50 — a strong result proportionally, but not a life-changing sum in dollar terms.
Set your bet before you hit spin, and treat the max-bet option with respect. At $198 a spin, even a short session can move through a budget quickly.
How to Play Secrets of the Forest — Step by Step
- Set your bet. Use the Bet control to choose a wager between $0.99 and $198. All 99 paylines are always active, so you cannot reduce payline count.
- Check the paytable. Access it via the menu icon at the top of the screen. Note the symbol values — all prizes are multiplied by your line bet, not your total bet.
- Hit Spin. Press the central Spin button to start a round. You can also set the Autoplay feature for 10 to 100 uninterrupted spins.
- How wins are determined. Land 3, 4, or 5 matching symbols anywhere across the 99 paylines. Wins pay from left to right.
- Watch for the tumbling reels. After any winning combination, winning symbols are removed and new ones drop in from above. If the new symbols form another win, the process repeats — all at no extra cost.
- Triggering free spins. Land 3 Free Games scatter symbols on reels 1, 2, and 3 across an active payline. Each triggering line awards 1–4 free games, so multiple qualifying lines mean more free spins at once.
Try this: Start at minimum bet ($0.99 per spin) and play 50 spins to observe how frequently the tumbling reels chain. That’s a $49.50 sample that gives you a real feel for the game’s rhythm before you increase your stake.
Symbols and Paytable
Secrets of the Forest uses 10 symbols across its reels: three nymph characters, the game logo, and six royal card symbols (A through Q). Here’s what the top symbols pay for a five-of-a-kind combination, expressed as a multiplier of your line bet:
The game logo is the highest-paying regular symbol and doubles as the wild, paying 5,000x your line bet for five of a kind. The purple-haired fairy Pandora pays 1,000x, the blonde fairy Katrina pays 400x, and brunette Beatrice pays 300x. Royal card symbols — Ace, King, and Queen — pay 200x, 150x, and 100x respectively at five of a kind.
Note: paytable values are fixed and scale with your line bet, so a $0.01 line bet returns $50 for a logo five-of-a-kind, while the same win at $2 per line returns $10,000.
Bonus Features
Base Game Wild (Circle Wild)
In the base game, a circular wild symbol can appear on reels 2, 3, and 4. It substitutes for all symbols except the Free Games scatter, stepping in to complete paylines where a single matching symbol is missing. It does not pay independently as a scatter — its only job is to substitute. When it appears in conjunction with the tumbling reels mechanic, it can chain wins across multiple successive drops.
Free Games Scatter
The Free Games symbol is the scatter in this pokie. It appears exclusively on reels 1, 2, and 3, and it only triggers the free spins round when three of them land on the same active payline — not just anywhere on those three reels. This is a stricter trigger condition than most modern pokies, where scatters activate bonuses regardless of payline. Each qualifying payline awards 1–4 free games, so if two different lines trigger simultaneously, you can stack up to 8 free spins at once.
The free spins round cannot be retriggered during play.
Square Wild (Free Games Only)
When the free spins round activates, all Free Games scatter symbols on the reels are replaced by a second wild — the square wild. This symbol appears on reels 1, 2, and 3 during free games, while the circular base game wild still appears on reels 2, 3, and 4. Together, both wilds cover reels 1 through 4, leaving only reel 5 without a potential wild position. The overlap on reels 2 and 3 significantly increases the chance of completing multiple paylines per spin during free games.
There is no guaranteed payout from free games — the added wild improves your odds, but wins still depend on which symbols drop.
Tumbling Reels
This is the mechanic that gives Secrets of the Forest most of its value. After any winning spin, the symbols that formed the winning combination vanish in a burst of fairy dust. Symbols above them drop down to fill the gaps, and entirely new symbols fall in from the top. If the new arrangement produces another winning line, those symbols vanish too — and the process continues until no new wins appear. All of this happens at no additional cost; you only pay for the initial spin.
The tumbling reels apply in both the base game and the free spins round, which means a well-placed wild during free games can potentially chain several consecutive wins from a single triggered free spin.
Is Secrets of the Forest Worth Playing?
Pros:
- 99 fixed paylines give frequent base-game wins that keep sessions feeling active
- Two distinct wilds during free spins meaningfully improve the win rate in the bonus round
- Tumbling reels can produce multiple wins off a single spin at no extra cost
- Wide bet range ($0.99–$198) accommodates both casual players and higher rollers
- Fully mobile-compatible via HTML5 — no download required
Cons:
- RTP of 94.9% is below the modern industry average of ~96%, making it a slightly worse long-run proposition than most contemporary pokies
- Free spins trigger requires scatter symbols on a specific active payline, not just anywhere on reels 1–3 — this makes the bonus harder to hit than it first appears
- No jackpot, no bonus game, no progressive feature — the feature set is lean by 2026 standards
- Graphics show their age; the background in particular looks flat compared to recent releases
- Free spins cannot be retriggered, capping the upside of each bonus round
Secrets of the Forest is a decent, no-fuss fantasy pokie that rewards patient play. The tumbling reels mechanic is its strongest card, and the free games round — when the scatter finally cooperates — can produce solid returns thanks to the dual wilds. The 94.9% RTP is the main drawback; if your casino offers a slot with comparable features at 96%+, that’s probably the better pick. For players who enjoy the fairy-forest theme or who want a straightforward medium-volatility session, this one still holds up after nearly a decade.
Responsible Gambling
Secrets of the Forest uses a random number generator (RNG) to determine every outcome. No spin is influenced by previous results, and no strategy can predict or change what lands on the reels. Set a session budget before you start playing, and stop when you reach it. If gambling stops feeling like entertainment, reach out to a local responsible gambling support service for help.