Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Casino Game Review

BetMGM Aug 13, 2025, 9:18 PM
min read
The Diamond Tales: Ugly Duckling title screen featuring a cartoonish duckling with downy white feathers standing on the left-hand side of the screen. The background is a lakeside shore of green grass, with pine trees covering the rest of the sunlit landscape. The title is visible on the right.
  • A 5x4 slot with 40 paylines
  • Jaw-dropping wins of up to 50,000x the bet
  • Collect heart symbols to progress through chapters with increasing rewards

Playing online slots for real money can be a magical experience. Transform the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan and trigger thrilling features in the Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling slot game. Progress through five chapters of the famous fable by Hans Christian Anderson, with special mechanics like the Diamond Tales feature, the Snap Drop feature, and more, enhancing this unique Novomatic slot game. Explore the game’s captivating spin action in this online slot review.

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Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Game Highlights

Here’s why Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling is one of the best slots to play online:

  • Five chapters of fun: Immersive gameplay with gorgeous graphics and story-chapter progression.
  • Big win potential: Up to 50,000x the bet up for grabs in the Diamond Tales feature.
  • Respins with prize multipliers: Diamond heart multipliers stack wins sky-high during the Snap Drop feature. 

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Slot Quick Facts and Features

Software Provider Novomatic
RTP 96.01%*
Volatility High
Jackpot Type N/A
Paylines 40
Reels 5×4
Max Wager $40
Max Win 50,000x

* Note that the return to player (RTP) rate for this slot game may differ from one jurisdiction to another. 

Does the Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Slot Pay Real Money?

Yes, you can win cash prizes in Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling when you play at a licensed online casino in states where online gambling is legal. Play online slots for real-money wins at BetMGM Casino if you’re located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, or West Virginia.

How To Play the Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Slot

  1. Read the rules: Check the paytable and feature mechanics in the Help section of the main menu.
  2. Choose the wager: Use the bet controls to set the total stake per spin. You can adjust your wager incrementally using the plus and minus signs or select the bet to open the Total Bet menu.
  3. Spin the reels: Press the “Start” button to play one round or turn on Autoplay for automatic spins. 

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Game Features

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling adds wilds, scatters, and bonus symbols to the reels, ensuring there’s plenty of excitement for fans of features and bonus mechanics. Wilds substitute for pay symbols to improve the odds of landing winning combinations, while scatters and bonus symbols trigger the Heart Collection, Diamond Tales, and Snap Drop features.

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Wild Symbol Feature

The wild symbol can appear on the reels and substitute for all paying symbols. The symbols that it doesn’t substitute for include the Heart, Book Bonus, and Snap Drop symbols.

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Heart Collection Feature

When you play slots online, most games offer win/loss outcomes on every spin, without any progressive element carrying over to the next round. While this game has the standard setup of landing winning combinations, there’s also a satisfying sense of progression, whether you win or lose, thanks to the Heart Collection feature and five story chapters.

Red diamond Heart symbols can drop on all reels, and when they do, they get added to the special reel above the grid. Every consecutive spin where at least one Heart appears will keep adding to the special reel totals. If no Hearts appear on a subsequent spin, the Hearts are removed from the reel and added to the Heart Collection meter.

The aim is to collect enough hearts to progress through the story, or transfer the number of hearts on the special reel to the Diamond Tales and Snap Drop features. There are five chapters in the game: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and the Swan feature. The number of Hearts needed to reach the next chapter is shown on the collection meter. Each chapter adds a gold diamond Heart to the Diamond Tales feature, with the final chapter adding five possible drops of this powerful scatter. 

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Diamond Tales Feature

The Diamond Tales feature offers the maximum slot payout, with up to 50,000x the bet awaiting lucky players. Land three bonus book symbols on reels 1, 3, and 5 to trigger the feature and receive three respins. A red diamond heart is added to every space on the special reel, guaranteeing that you begin the bonus with at least one heart on every reel. 

Every new heart symbol resets the spin count, with the multipliers on new red diamond hearts matching the number of hearts on the special reel. While red diamond hearts add to the number on the special reel, gold diamond hearts multiply it by the value displayed. 

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Snap Drop Feature

Landing the Snap Drop symbol on reel 5 while there are diamond hearts on the special reel triggers the Snap Drop feature, where you get one respin with only diamond heart multipliers appearing on the reels. The special reel must contain at least one heart to spin the reel below, with the multipliers on new heart symbols matching the number of hearts in the special reel. 

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Slot Bonuses and Jackpots

Although there are no jackpots in Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling, the Diamond Tales feature offers wins of up to 50,000x the bet.

How To Win With the Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Slot

Land three, four, or five matching symbols on a payline, starting from the left reel, to win a prize. Collect heart symbols to reach new story chapters. Although the season chapters save your progress (allowing you to continue where you left off the next time you play), the Swan feature only lasts for seven days before the game resets. 

Trigger the Snap Drop and Diamond Tales features to add prize multipliers to diamond hearts. To make the most of free spins in the Diamond Tales feature, trigger it when you’ve reached the final story chapter, or hit the “Bonus Buy” button and hope to land in the Swan feature right from the get-go.

The best strategies for slots start with the basics, namely bankroll management and practice. Try the demo version of this slot before you play for real money, as the unique mechanics of the features and bonuses can be confusing for new players. Gamble responsibly if you place cash bets, and avoid bets that risk more than you’re willing to lose.

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Slot Graphics and Design

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling is a stunning slot with premium production quality, from the captivating hand-drawn style of the painterly graphics to the high-quality animations of spins and wins. Symbols are rendered with meticulous attention to detail, and the distinct design of every chapter delivers a satisfying sense of progression. It’s a prime example of how engrossing and entertaining slots can be, with features and bonus mechanics fitting the theme in a way few other slots can emulate.

The music and sound effects enhance the picture-perfect visuals, creating a one-of-a-kind experience as you immerse yourself in the fairytale of the ugly duckling. 

Diamond Tales: The Ugly Duckling Slot Symbols

Low-paying symbols are the J, Q, K, and A, with all four awarding max payouts of 0.5x the bet. The chicken and the dog up the ante with 1.25x for five of a kind, followed by the turkey and the cat with up to 2.5x for winning combos. The ugly duckling is the top pay symbol with 12.5x. The swan replaces the ugly duckling during the swan feature, matching its payout with 12.5x for a full payline.

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