To Egypt and beyond

18 March 2018

By John Grochowski

Anyone who's spent much time playing video slots has encountered ancient Egyptian themes. When it comes to pyramids, the Sphinx, scarabs and asps, there seems to be a strong archeologist strain among slot players.

Incredible Technologies is the latest slotmaker to delve into the ancient mysteries with its new game, Rays of Egypt.

The sun god Ra comes to the fore in a 40-line video slot in Incredible's GoldLink game family. High-definition graphics and stacked symbols come to life on the vertical 55-inch touchscreen monitor in Incredible's new Infinity V55 platform,

During regular play, any Sun Scatters that land on reels open the Eye of Ra at the top of the screen, and the Eye adds shimmering stacked gold wilds to the reels.

Three scarab beetles unlock the GoldLink Progressive Bonus. Select a beetle to reveal a number of spins on bonus reels where all the symbols are Egyptian coins. Look for four different colored halos around the coins — they not only award additional free spins but lock onto the screen for remaining free spins.

Collect the halos to unlock one of five progressive wheels. The final award of any progressive wins plus credits from the coin scatters can create huge payoffs.

The stacks and wilds keep you going in regular play, and the progressives plus payoffs on scattered coins make bonus time an event to savor.

• Before exiting this series on new slot games, let's take a look at three from Konami Gaming.

In Mammoth Power, Konami takes its popular five-reel Xtra Reward format to the ice age in a game that gives operators plenty of options to offer players of different bankrolls. Mammoth Power is available as a 10-, 20-, 30- or 40-line payline game in denominations from 1 cent to $5.

Stacked wild cave symbols can boost wins during regular play, and three or more arrow symbols trigger up to 30 free spins. You'll also see Konami's Action Stacked Symbols for multi-payline wins throughout play.

On the free spins, those wild cave symbols carry 2x or 3x multipliers, and you can win additional free games during the feature. Those multipliers and plenty of free spins can bring some Mammoth wins,

The other two are a pair under the Star Watch theme — Star Watch Fire and Star Watch Magma. Both are five-reel, 25-line video slots with progressive jackpots is on its way in a multi-denomination format for 1-, 2-, 5- and 10-cent play.

The Star Watch games have a galaxy's worth of features, instant-win credit prize symbols, a wheel spin feature, free games, full-reel nudging prize symbols, two fixed bonus awards and two progressive jackpots.

Both games showcase Konami’s new Strike Zone feature, allowing you to activate special areas of the reel frame for extra bonus events at different extra bet amounts. Depending on your bet, you can cover reels from left to right, up to the entire screen. Every star prize symbol that lands in the Strike Zone awards a random credit prize, jackpot, or wheel spin bonus with guaranteed mini, major, mega, or maxi jackpot.

The Strike Zone is cool in itself, but you'll really love it when you've activated the Strike Zone and get free spins. At free spin time, prize symbols nudge to the fill the entire reel with individual prizes, bonuses and/or progressives — get those prize symbols at the right time, and your credit meter soars like a shooting star.

Your credit meter won't soar every time, of course. As always in any casino game, enjoy the best of the new slots, but be careful with your bankroll.

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