Egyptian Sands

Egyptian Sands Slot Review

A carved sandstone wall rises out of the dunes, faint hieroglyphs traced along its upper edge, and two small golden figures stand guard over the title plaque. Egyptian Sands, from Spinomenal, dresses its reels in warm sepia and gilt trim, with a parchment-coloured panel behind the columns and gold rope dividers marking each one. The theme is the most familiar setting in slots, and the studio gives it a painted, ornate treatment rather than a minimalist one.

It’s a 6×4 grid on 20 fixed lines, running at 96.16% RTP with mid to high volatility. There’s no free spins round and no bonus game; the paytable is built on wilds and scatters, and the way those two interact is the whole of what makes this game different. Spinomenal have covered this ground before, with Ra’s Golden Loot, Story Of Egypt Egyptian Darkness and Times Of Egypt Egyptian Darkness already in the catalogue. This one is leaner than any of those.

Symbols and Pays on the 6×4 Grid

All symbols pay from left to right, starting on the leftmost reel, and only the highest win on each line counts. Wins are multiplied by the bet per line. Every qualifying combination in a single round is added together for the total win, so several lines landing at once all contribute.

Two symbol groups sit above the royals. The Pharaoh head is the richest of the regular symbols, followed by the Anubis or jackal head. The A shares its pay tier with the jackal head, which is an unusual pairing, and K, Q and J fill out the bottom of the table.

• Wild: 3 pays 100, 4 pays 300, 5 pays 1,000, 6 pays 3,000 (only when followed by a scatter)
• Pharaoh head (light): 3 pays 40, 4 pays 100, 5 pays 250, 6 pays 800
• Anubis/jackal head: 3 pays 20, 4 pays 40, 5 pays 200, 6 pays 400
• A: 3 pays 20, 4 pays 40, 5 pays 200, 6 pays 400
• K and Q: 3 pays 10, 4 pays 20, 5 pays 70, 6 pays 140
• J: 3 pays 6, 4 pays 10, 5 pays 30, 6 pays 100
• Scatter: 3 pays 2x, 4 pays 10x, 5 pays 250x, 6 pays 500x the total bet

The gap between the wild’s 3,000 top line and the Pharaoh’s 800 is wide, and the drop after that is steep: the second tier tops out at 400, the K and Q at 140. Where the money in this game is meant to come from is no mystery.

Wilds, Scatters and How They Interact

The Wild’s Pay Condition

The wild substitutes for every symbol except the scatter, which is standard enough. The twist is in its pay condition: a run of three to five wilds only pays when it’s followed by a scatter symbol.

On a six-reel grid that makes the trailing reel matter a great deal. A wild line running from the leftmost reel is worth nothing on its own; a scatter landing on the reel behind it is the difference between a 3,000 multiple and no wild win at all. It inverts the usual logic of a six-reel game, where the sixth reel is often just extra length.

Scatter Pays Anywhere

The scatter pays on any position, with prizes multiplied by the total bet rather than the line bet. Anything it awards is added on top of any payline wins from the same round, so a good scatter spin can pay twice over once the lines are counted.

Six of them are worth 500x the total bet, which is a serious hit for a symbol that doesn’t need to line up on anything. Even four scatters return 10x the total bet, which is a fair return for symbols that ignore paylines entirely.

Bets, Autoplay and Turbo

The bet is set per line, using the plus and minus buttons, and the twenty lines stay fixed at all times. Because the scatter is multiplied by the total bet while line wins use the bet per line, the same spin can pay out on two different scales at once.

• Bet: chosen per line with the plus and minus buttons; the 20 lines stay fixed
• Spins: the spin button or the space bar starts a round
• Autoplay: opens a configuration screen to choose the number of automatic spins
• Pause: stops an autoplay run at any point
• Turbo: shortens each game round, via the rabbit button on desktop or the settings menu on mobile, and can also be switched on from the autoplay configuration screen

Wins for each round are displayed in the win field as they land, and the full set of winning combinations and payouts is available in the paytable at any time outside a spin. During a spin the help and settings buttons are disabled, so any rule check has to wait for the round to finish.

One other term worth having in plain view: a malfunction voids all pays, and the English version of the game rules is the one that prevails where several language versions exist. Neither will shape a session, but both settle disputes.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 6.1/10

Egyptian Sands is a game with one idea, and it’s a decent one: the wild only pays when a scatter trails it, so the reel that usually doesn’t matter becomes the whole drama. That’s a genuinely interesting condition for a six-reel slot, and it’s the reason somebody would pick this over the studio’s other Egyptian titles.

Everything else is thin. There’s no free spins round, no bonus game, no feature beyond the wild-scatter interplay and a scatter that pays anywhere at up to 500x the total bet. The paytable drops off steeply after the Pharaoh, and the J paying 6 for a three-of-a-kind tells you what the small wins look like.

It suits players who want a quick, uncomplicated spin with mid to high volatility and no feature rules to learn, and the sepia-and-gold presentation does the theme justice without overworking it. Anyone after depth, bonus rounds or a chase worth settling into will find the sands shift under them fast here. As a short-session game dressed in hieroglyphs, it holds up; as a main event, the tomb is mostly empty.

Egyptian Sands FAQs

• What is the RTP of Egyptian Sands?

  Egyptian Sands runs at an RTP of 96.16%.
• Is Egyptian Sands high volatility?

  Egyptian Sands is rated mid to high volatility, so wins can be sized generously but spaced out.
• How many paylines does Egyptian Sands have?

  The game is set to 20 fixed paylines, and all of them are active on every spin.
• What is the grid size of Egyptian Sands?

  Egyptian Sands uses a 6×4 grid, with six reels and four rows.
• Who makes Egyptian Sands?

  Egyptian Sands is made by Spinomenal.
• How does the wild symbol work in Egyptian Sands?

  The wild substitutes for all symbols except the scatter. A run of three to five wilds only pays when it is followed by a scatter symbol, which makes the trailing reel critical to wild wins.
• How do scatter wins work in Egyptian Sands?

  The scatter pays on any position, with prizes multiplied by the total bet. Scatter winnings are added to any payline wins from the same round.
• When is Egyptian Sands released?

  Egyptian Sands’ release date is 18 July 2022.