First up, the Web site. While the appearance itself was a little bland, I was pleased to find a wealth of information about their casino, and everything was very easy to find and navigate through. Live support was linked from every page on the site (an encouraging sign), both the download and 'instant play' casino links were prominent, and everything from current promotions and loyalty programs to frequently asked questions were available. Some of the information seemed a little dated upon further inspection; there was no mention of the 'Instant Casino' in the F.A.Q. for example, and the game previews seemed to be missing some of the newer additions. Some further information on each of the games would have been welcome as well, though it seems to be common these days for many casinos to simply show screenshots to visitors rather than provide any real information on the games they'll find once they register and start playing.
As is usually the case, I elected to try out the downloadable version of the casino, which normally offers the full range of games and the a better presentation than Flash or Java based (no-download) alternatives. The initial download was fairly quick; though the majority of games still had to be installed through the casino lobby before play began, and while my connection may have been partially at fault - some of these seemed to come in a little slow. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, first I had to register an account and make my first deposit.
Registering an account was straight forward, and I made a $300 deposit using my credit card. At the time of review King Solomons was offering a 100% match bonus on first deposits up to $100, as well as a second bonus on a deposit up to $500 (for a possible additional bonus of up to $250.) I'm not normally one to take bonuses in the first place, because of the playthrough requirements attached to most (if not all) of them, and if you're considering taking one from King Solomons note that the playthrough requirements are 20x the bonus and deposit, and the terms state "Play on Craps, Baccarat, Roulette, ALL Video Poker, Tri-Card Poker, Caribbean Hold'em Poker, Blackjack, Perfect Pairs, Sic Bo, Vegas Three Card Rummy, Red Dog Poker and War prior to meeting wagering conditions will void all winnings and the account will be reset to the original purchase and bonus amount.". Ouch - be careful! For some reason, players from Ireland, Scotland and United Kingdom were also ineligible for the bonus at the time. Fortunately, bonuses are not automatically added to your account after a deposit, you have to use a promotion code when depositing to claim one.
With my account funded I decided to start off at the tables, and began with a few hands of Blackjack. There was a $1 minimum bet and a $250 maximum at the table, and I was flat betting $5 a hand with my bankroll taking only a slight dip. While I've seen better looking games elsewhere, the game actually looked pretty good for an RTG, and as is always the case with RTG casinos the gameplay was nice and fast (which I like). For those of you not content with regular Blackjack, King Solomons also offered Perfect Pairs, as well as a variety of other '21 Games' such as Face Up 21, Match Play 21, Pontoon and Super 21.
Solomons offered a pretty good variety of table games; in addition all the blackjack variations there was also Caribbean Stud Poker, Caribbean Hold'em Poker, Pai Gow, Casino War, Red Dog, Let 'Em Ride, Tri Card Poker and Vegas Three Card Rummy. All of the table games had a similar look and feel, and they all played nice and fast. After a quick tour through some of the less popular table games offered I tried my luck at some Baccarat.
Baccarat had a nice $1 minimum, which I appreciated as many casinos have a $5 or $10 minimum bet per spot (keeping up with the games 'high roller' mentality). On that note, while it's certainly more than enough for a player like me, there was a $500 maximum at the same table - which may be a little low for true high rollers.
Roulette was available in both American and European versions, both with a $1 minimum and a $250 maximum per spot (both inside and outside). While the tables themselves looked good, some of the wheel graphics seemed a little 'jagged' compared to the rest of the presentation. I wasn't enough to send me running from the tables, but it would have been nice if they smoothed up some of those edges.
The Craps tables had a $1 minimum and a $500 maximum bet per spot, and while the static portion of the table again looked good - the dice animations suffered again from the jagged edges as the roulette wheel, and for some reason they cast a red 'shadow' on the felt underneath them (felt isn't reflective, so it looked a little odd).
After getting though the table games I was down about $100 on my initial deposit, and decided to see what was available in the video poker department.
Video Poker was next on the list, and was available in a very wide variety of types; Jacks or Better, Joker Poker, Loose Deuces, Deuces Wild, Bonus Deuces Wild, Aces and Eights, Sevens Wild, All American Poker, Mystery Bonus Poker, Double Jackpot Poker, and Double Double Jackpot Poker (and a couple more!) were all available in single hand, 3, 10, 52, and 100 hand variations. Single hand games can be played with 5 cent coins up to $5 coins, and multi-hand varieties are available with 1 cent coins all the way up to $1.
There was also a couple of alternative video poker games that were only available in single hand machines, Pick'em Poker and 7 Stud. While the variety was fantastic and there was nothing wrong with the gameplay itself, in my opinion the games aren't particularly attractive. That said, if you're not concerned about the aesthetics, Solomons seems like a great place for video poker fans based on the number of game types.
There were plenty of slot machines available, including 7 progressive slot machines, three reel classics, and a good number of video slots. Some of the newer games are listed under 'Real Series Video Slots', and these were my favorite of the bunch. Most of the reel series offer bonus rounds (more than one on many), and seemed to be treating me fairly well. While I didn't have any big wins, I spent a good amount of time playing while managing to hold on to the majority of my bankroll, which seemed a good sign that the machines had respectable payouts.
On top of the standard fare King Solomon's offers a few different 'Specialty' games, including European Slot Poker, Bonus Bingo and Keno. European Slot Poker (as the name implies) plays somewhere between a slot machine and video poker, using 141 cards in a deck made up of fruit symbols. Bonus Bingo plays a little bit like Keno, using 4 cards at a time. Completing various patterns on a card has corresponding payouts, and there are additional 'special balls' that award a bonus round once 5 of them have been accumulated.
After my tour of the casino was completed I ended up revisiting some of the slot machines I had enjoyed the most, and my luck went south pretty fast. I ended up losing what was left of my bankroll, but I did get a good few hours of play in before that happened - and all in all I had a good time (not that I wouldn't have preferred cashing out a win!)
Would I recommend King Solomon's Casino? As far as RTG's go, Solomon's has one of the best reputations around with players, and I did enjoy my time at the casino. While I would have liked to test out the cash out process myself, I have no reason to believe there would have been any issues had I managed a win. Just be careful about the terms if you're considering taking any bonus.
King Solomons Blackjack
Baccarat
Casino Holdem
Craps
Sic Bo
Keno
Joker Poker
Jacks Or Better Video Poker
Red Dog
Card Sharks Slots
Light Speed
Honey To The Bee
- Good variety of games to choose from.
- Lots of fun slot machines to choose from.
- Nice low limits for more casual players on most of the games.
- Bonus terms are not only restrictive, they're a little concerning.
- Some of the game graphics appear a little 'dated'.
