Age of Egypt Slots
It seems that online casino players can’t get enough of slots based on ancient Egypt and the popular Playtech developer has added another game that features pyramids, all-seeing eyes, Pharaohs and Gods to their collection, with the Age of Egypt video slot joining their range. The reasons for so many games following this topic have been lost in the sands of time, but when so many punters are looking for slots of this type, who can blame the developers for catering to an eager market? Certainly not us, and certainly not when the game comes with features like free spins, where all wins are tripled, and a special pick-a-prize round that takes players through the Temple of Anubis, looking for lost treasures.
Online casino games from Playtech all tend to have top-notch graphics and gameplay, so we shouldn’t be surprised to see that the Age of Egypt video slot has sharp images, smooth animations to the reels and a design the heightens the theme, and where even the lower-value playing card symbols have been given an Egyptian style.
These well-designed symbols appear over 5 reels, and there’s 20 paylines to land them across, all playing out against a backdrop of pyramids and giant statues lit up by a setting sun. It looks great, although the accompanying soundtrack didn’t sound very Egyptian to us, more like elevator music, but we can’t have everything. What we can have though, is a high return to player ratio, and the independently certified guarantee of fairness and reliability that comes with all Playtech online games.
Reeling in Winnings
In common with most other slot machines, the aim is to spin the reels and land the same type of symbol across a payline, from the left side, with longer runs equalling higher prizes. Although the playing card symbols are the least valuable, you can expect them to complete the majority of winning combinations and a review of the paytable reveals that the 10 symbol returns 5x, 15x, or 50x the amount staked per line when it’s seen on 3, 4, or 5 reels. J, Q, K and A icons are worth steadily more, and the bigger rewards come from the Egyptian-themed symbols.
A jewelled beetle pays out 20x, 70x, or 200x the line stake, and the top-paying icons are only needed on reels 1 and 2 for rewards of 2x, with full lines of the hawk being worth 400x, and the all-seeing eye is worth 500x.
A golden Pharaoh mask is valued at 10x when it’s on 2 reels, but fill a payline with this classy-looking symbol and you’re in for a massive reward equal to 10,000x the amount wagered on a line. It’s also a wild symbol which can act as others and boost the frequency of winning combos being formed.
The Queen of Free Games
The Queen graces players with some royal rewards, paying out 2 coins when she’s in any 2 places at once, and 500 when she’s in any 5 or more spots on the reels, without needing to be across a defined payline to do so. If you landed 3 or more of this scatter symbol, a Royal Treasury free spins bonus game is triggered, with an initial 10 spins playing out, although should this symbol appear in 3 or more places in a single bonus spin, another 10 are added on to the end.
In theory, it’s possible to retrigger the spins indefinitely, which would be nice but somewhat unlikely, although any wins during this round are subject to a 3x multiplier, so there should still be some great rewards before the round ends.
Doggy Treats from Anubis
Anubis is the dog-headed Egyptian God, and this creature helps spinners to fetch some more rewards when he’s seen in any 3 or more consecutive places across a payline. Players are taken to the Tomb of Anubis, where they will see 6 golden artefacts lined up on the coin-covered steps, each of which contains a mystery prize amount.
The number of artefacts that can be clicked depends on how many Anubis symbols triggered the round, so you could get 3, 4, or 5 choices, but they all contain some sort of reward, turning this into a round with guaranteed payouts.
Betting Options
Free Age of Egypt video slots are available at Playtech-powered online casinos, although if you want to take advantage of the great winning potential of this game, you will need to make real cash wagers, which start at just 0.20 to have all lines in play. The maximum stake is 1000.00, so it’s going to suit the bankrolls of casual gamers as well as high rollers, and the bigger the stakes, the bigger the potential payouts are going to be.
A Turbo mode speeds up gameplay and if you want to sit back and watch the reels spin on their own, then an Autoplay button sets them off for up to 99 times without needing any input.
Take your pick of Egyptian slots
There’s so many slots based on ancient Egypt that it’s hard to pick a favourite, but among the best-known, we have Ramesses Riches, from NetxGen Gaming and Novomatic’s Book of Ra.
The Ramesses Riches video slot sets the action firmly back in the old days and sees Cleopatra, black cats, and the Ankh appearing over the 5 reels and 20 paylines, while a slightly scary-looking Pharaoh will pay out the top prizes, acts as a wild symbol, and even doubles the base value of any win-lines he completes. Enter a free spins round and have all winnings tripled, while you can also gamble any win if you want to try multiplying a prize up to 3,125 time over.
Book of Ra is an Indiana Jones style game which features a rugged explorer searching for treasures in an ancient tomb. He’s even wearing a Fedora hat and designer stubble, so there’s no doubting where Novomatic got their inspiration from. Alongside classic symbols of beetles and winged gods, there’s the mysterious book itself, which triggers 10 free spins, during which a random symbol will expand to fill entire reels and hopefully land some coins for anyone spinning the 5 reels of this popular game.
Top of the Pyramid?
There’s so many comparable online casino slot machines on the market that Age of Egypt needs to be something special to make it stand out. It’s certainly got a nice design, and classic images that fans of the subject will appreciate, and it comes in a mobile optimised format that’s going to appeal to punters who use smartphones and tablets to play their games on.
Bonus rounds with tripled payouts and the promise of some big coin awards when the Tomb of Anubis is opened, should help to ensure the success of this game, but it’s such a popular theme that just about any slot that features pyramids, Pharaohs’, scarab beetles and a dog-headed god is going to be a big hit.
