Artifacts Slot Review
A cluttered curiosity shop lit brown-gold, shadowy figures crowding in at either side of the cabinet, and a thin lilac glow along the top of the screen as the only cool light in the room. Peter & Sons have built Artifacts as a treasure-hunter’s den of a slot, and the murky hand-painted look suits the maths underneath. This is a game about hoarding small things until they’re worth something.
It runs on a 5×3 grid with 243 betways, high volatility, a 96% RTP and a win cap of 20,000x the bet. The hoarding is the whole design. Small gains stack up, hold their value through the bonus round and only really pay off once they’ve compounded.
It’s the same instinct the studio worked in Abrakadabra and Barbarossa Revenge DoubleMax, with the persistence turned up. The shop is worth a rummage.
How the Base Game Pays
Wins are evaluated across 243 betways from left to right on the five reels. A symbol pays when three or more consecutive reels carry it, counting from the left. If the run stops at two reels, there’s no win for that symbol, however many copies sit further along the row.
To work out a single symbol’s win, count the consecutive reels carrying it from the left, then find that count in the paytable. Total betway wins are summed after the spin, and simultaneous wins are added and paid. Only the highest combination counts per way.
Scatters are the exception. They don’t need to be part of a winning way at all, they can land on any reel, and they carry no payout of their own. Their only job is to trigger the free spins round.
The paytable is modest at the top and thin at the bottom, with values as multiples of the total bet:
- Anatomical Heart: 1x for five, 0.8x for four, 0.5x for three
- Potion and Key: 0.8x for five, 0.5x for four, 0.3x for three
- Dice: 0.5x for five, 0.3x for four, 0.2x for three
- Star and card-suit Heart: 0.3x for five, 0.15x for four, 0.1x for three
- Diamond, Spade and Tile: 0.25x for five, 0.1x for four, 0.05x for three
Cascading wins do the rest of the work. Winning symbols are removed, new symbols fall into the empty spots, and the cascade runs as long as it keeps producing fresh wins. A single spin can chain several payouts together, each one feeding the next.
Wilds substitute for any symbol except the Scatter. They arrive through the Golden Symbols mechanic: paying symbols outlined in gold on the initial spin turn Wild on the next cascade if they formed part of a win. Scatters can’t be outlined.
The effect keeps a winning run alive one step longer than the cascade alone would manage. A gold-outlined Heart that wins on the spin becomes a Wild when the replacements fall in, ready to stand in for anything that arrives next to it.
Reel Multipliers and Feature Boxes
Each reel carries a multiplier of its own, and the multiplier applies whenever a win covers that reel. When a win stretches across every reel, the multipliers are added together before being applied. A full-width win is where the numbers move.
Multipliers can stack up during a round as powerups land, and every cascade inside that round benefits from whatever’s been built. In the main game the reset comes at the end of each round, so the base game’s ceiling stays low. Nothing carries over from one spin to the next outside the bonus.
The Feature Boxes do the building. They sit under the reels and dispense powerup symbols at random, four kinds in all:
- Regular adding powerup: adds its value to one reel multiplier, up to +10
- Special adding powerup: adds its value to all reel multipliers, up to +10
- Regular multiplier powerup: multiplies one reel multiplier, up to x2
- Special multiplier powerup: multiplies all reel multipliers, up to x2
The regular versions touch a single reel; the special versions touch all five at once. That’s a meaningful difference when a cascade is already covering the width of the grid. A special x2 on a full set of stacked multipliers doubles everything in one move.
Free Spins
Three or more Scatters trigger the round. Three of them award six free spins, and each additional Scatter in the trigger adds two more. The bet that triggered the feature carries through the round, so the spins play at the stake they were won at.
There’s no conventional retrigger; instead, each additional Scatter landing during the round awards two extra spins directly. Scatters keep counting after the feature has started, just through a different door.
The important part is what doesn’t change: the reel multipliers persist between spins rather than resetting. The whole round is one long build. A cascade-heavy opening can carry a stacked set of multipliers deep into the bonus, while a quiet start leaves six spins to do all the work from scratch.
Golden Bet and Bonus Buys
Golden Bet is an opt-in that costs 1.5x the base stake per spin and doubles the chances of triggering free spins. It’s a straightforward price for a straightforward effect, and it pairs with the high volatility rather than fighting it.
There are three buy options:
- Buy Free Spins: 90x the bet for six free spins
- Buy Random Free Spins: 180x the bet for six to ten free spins
- Buy Power Free Spins: 270x the bet for six to ten power free spins
All three buys can be taken at any bet size you choose. Power Free Spins can’t be triggered any other way. The mechanics match regular free spins, with one difference: both the adding and multiplying powerups can reach values of up to 20x, well beyond the x2 ceiling of the standard round.
At 270x the bet, that ceiling is what’s being paid for. The cheaper buys don’t carry it, so the standard powerup limits apply to any free spins won or bought the ordinary way.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.7/10
Most of a session on Artifacts feels like tending a stall in that dim little shop: dusting the stock, adding a coin to a jar, knowing the whole point is the one buyer who eventually walks in. The reason to choose it is the bonus round, where everything you’ve been counting suddenly counts double.
The free spins build is genuinely strong, because the multipliers keep what the base game keeps throwing away, and a hot start can snowball across every remaining spin. The weakness is just as real: six spins with no retrigger means a cold start stays cold, and the base game offers nothing but rehearsal in the meantime.
It’s for the patient kind of player who enjoys watching a number climb and doesn’t need a payout every few spins to stay interested. Anyone after constant action will be bored before the good stock comes out. For the rest, the shop rewards a slow browse.
Artifacts FAQs
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What is the RTP of Artifacts?
Artifacts runs at a 96% RTP. -
Is Artifacts high volatility?
Yes, Artifacts is a high volatility slot, with the longer dry spells and bigger swing potential that brings. -
How many paylines does Artifacts have?
Artifacts uses 243 betways on a 5×3 grid, evaluated from left to right across the reels. Only the highest combination is paid per way, and simultaneous wins are added together. -
How do the reel multipliers in Artifacts work?
Each reel has its own multiplier, applied to any win covering that reel. If a win covers every reel, the multipliers are added together first. They reset after each round in the main game but stay persistent throughout free spins. -
What are Golden Symbols in Artifacts?
Paying symbols can arrive highlighted with a golden outline on the initial spin. If they form part of a win, they turn Wild on the next cascade, standing in for any symbol except the Scatter. Scatters can’t be outlined. -
Can you buy the bonus on Artifacts?
Yes. Free Spins cost 90x the bet for six spins, Random Free Spins cost 180x for six to ten spins, and Power Free Spins cost 270x for six to ten spins. -
Can free spins be retriggered in Artifacts?
No. Scatters landing during the round still count, though: each one adds two extra spins to the tally rather than restarting the feature. -
What is the maximum win on Artifacts?
The game has a win cap of 20,000x the bet, and further spins are forfeited once it is hit. -
What does Golden Bet do in Artifacts?
Switch it on and every spin costs half again as much, in exchange for twice the chance of landing the free spins trigger.
