Ancient Egypt Slot Review
Torches flicker over heaps of gold coins, hieroglyph-carved pillars glow against dark temple walls, and gold-winged scarabs perch on the corners of the reel frame. It’s lavish dressing for a game that’s more interesting than it looks, because Ancient Egypt is one of the few slots that hands you a real decision: a bonus game where you pick your own prize, and can leave with a flat 1x of your bet for picking badly.
Pragmatic Play have built Ancient Egypt as a straight take on the theme, and the dressing isn’t the interesting part. That’s a bonus game where you pick your own prize from three items, one of which can be a flat 1x of your bet.
It’s a 5×4 grid with 10 paylines, 96.13% RTP, low volatility and wins up to 10,400x the bet, with bets from 0.10 to 250 per spin. For more Egyptian gold from the same studio there’s Cleocatra, John Hunter & the Tomb of the Scarab Queen and Eye of Cleopatra.
Base Game & Features
This is classic five-reel territory. All symbols pay left to right on adjacent reels from the leftmost one, across the game’s 10 fixed paylines, and wins are multiplied by the bet per line. Free spins winnings get added to the payline win.
The total bet is built from two dials: coins per line and coin value. With 10 lines always in play, the same stake can be reached several ways, and the paytable’s coin values shift with it. Cash and coin views are both available on the main display.
The bet menu opens from the plus and minus buttons beside the stake, and spin speed cycles between normal, quick and turbo. Autoplay is on the same row: pick a number of auto-spins from the menu and press the button again to stop it early. A skip option is available for feature intro and end screens.
The paytable keeps things simple, with a familiar cast of Egyptian icons over the card royals. Cleopatra is the only symbol that pays for two of a kind; everything below Anubis needs three:
- Cleopatra: 1x, 10x, 100x and 500x the total bet for two, three, four and five of a kind
- Anubis: 0.5x, 4x, 40x and 200x the total bet
- Ankh and Eye of Horus: 0.2x, 1.5x, 10x and 50x the total bet
- A and K: 0.5x, 4x and 15x the total bet for three, four and five
- Q, J and 10: 0.5x, 2.5x and 10x the total bet for three, four and five
- Scarab: 1x, 10x and 50x the total bet for three, four and five
All of these values are multiples of the total bet, not the line bet, which is worth knowing on a 10-line game: a 500x top award is 500x what’s on the counter, not 500x a tenth of it.
The Scarab does double duty as both wild and scatter: it substitutes for every symbol in the game, and landing three or more anywhere on the reels is what opens the bonus game.
Volatility is low, which shapes what a session here looks like. Smaller payouts arrive at a steady pace rather than in rare bursts, and the low-value royals carry plenty of the load.
That steadiness is the point of the design. The 96.13% RTP sits close to the industry norm, and the paytable’s shape – modest tops, frequent small combinations – matches the low-volatility label exactly.
Ancient Egypt Bonus Game & Free Spins
Three or more Scarabs anywhere on the reels trigger the Bonus Game, and it starts with a choice: pick one of three items, each hiding a different prize. What’s on offer:
- Free Spins with a random expanding symbol
- High Award – a money prize ranging from 10x to 500x the total bet
- Low Award – a money prize of 1x the total bet
The pick is where the tension sits. One item can hand over 500x on the spot; another can hand back your stake and nothing more.
There’s no skill to it, only the hope that the tile you choose was the generous one. The third item, the free spins, is the one that opens the door to the game’s larger combinations.
Free Spins with Expanding Symbol
Choosing the Free Spins prize awards 10 free spins. Before the round begins, a special expanding symbol is selected at random, and it changes how the round pays: the special symbol pays according to its paytable on all reels, even on non-adjacent positions.
During the round, after regular symbols have paid out, the special symbol expands vertically to cover all positions on its reel. The expansion only happens when enough symbols are present to form a win, and special reels are in play throughout the feature.
Which symbol gets picked matters a great deal. A paying icon like Cleopatra expanding across a 5×4 grid can stack up combinations across every payline at once, while a low royal doing the same work pays far less. The draw is random, so the round’s ceiling varies from trigger to trigger.
The order of events inside a spin is fixed: regular symbols pay first, then the expansion is checked. Only the highest combination on each payline counts, and because the special symbol pays anywhere, a win doesn’t depend on the usual left-to-right adjacency.
Retriggers are on the table too. Three or more Scarabs during the free spins award 10 more spins, keeping the same expanding symbol for the extended round. A retrigger after a good symbol draw is where this game’s 10,400x ceiling becomes reachable.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.1/10
Playing Ancient Egypt is a steady, unhurried grind through a torchlit temple: small wins tick over, the royals do most of the paying, and every so often the scarabs line up and hand you a decision. That decision is the reason to be here – a pick that can pay 500x or hand back your stake makes the bonus feel like something you did rather than something that happened to you.
The expanding-symbol round is the game’s real strength, because a symbol that pays anywhere on a 5×4 grid can turn one good draw into wins across all 10 lines at once, and the retrigger keeps that draw alive. The weakness is just as clear: the base paytable tops out at 500x for five Cleopatras, so between bonuses there’s rarely anything dramatic on the reels.
This suits players who like long, low-stress sessions with regular small returns and one genuine moment of choice – anyone after violent swings will find the temple too calm. For what it sets out to be, a polished low-volatility outing, it does its job well, and the gold gets counted out patiently.
Ancient Egypt FAQs
-
What is the RTP of Ancient Egypt?
The RTP is 96.13%. -
Is Ancient Egypt high volatility?
No. It’s a low volatility game, so it pays out more often in smaller amounts while still offering the chance of a bigger win. -
How do you trigger the bonus game in Ancient Egypt?
Land three or more Scarab symbols anywhere on the reels. The Scarab acts as both wild and scatter, and three or more of it starts the Bonus Game, where you pick one of three items for a prize. -
What are the prizes in the Ancient Egypt Bonus Game?
You choose one of three items, which can award either 10 free spins with a random expanding symbol, a High Award ranging from 10x to 500x your total bet, or a Low Award of 1x your total bet. -
How does the expanding symbol work in the free spins?
A special expanding symbol is chosen at random before the round starts. It pays on all reels, even non-adjacent positions, and after regular wins are paid it expands to cover its whole reel when enough symbols are present for a win. -
Can free spins retrigger in Ancient Egypt?
Yes. Three or more Scarab symbols during the free spins award 10 additional spins, and the same expanding symbol stays in play for them. -
How many paylines does Ancient Egypt have?
It has 10 paylines on a 5×4 grid, with all symbols paying from left to right on adjacent reels. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on Ancient Egypt?
Bets run from 0.10 to 250.00 per spin. -
What is the maximum win on Ancient Egypt?
The maximum win is 10,400x your bet.
