Egyptian Ways

Egyptian Ways Slot Review

Camels drift along a desert ridge in warm ochre light behind the reels, date palms crowding in from both edges of the frame and a calm blue waterway running along the bottom. Egyptian Ways is a prettier game than it is a busy one. Almost everything it has to offer is saved for a single free spins round, and the base game you grind through to reach it is one of the plainer Egyptian builds you’ll spin.

It’s a Spinomenal build, sitting in the middle of a deep Egyptian catalogue alongside Egyptian Rebirth II Frozen Flames, Times of Egypt Pharaoh’s Reign and Story of Egypt Egyptian Darkness. The game runs on a 5×3 grid with 243 ways to win and an RTP of 95.14%, and what the bonus round asks of you when it finally arrives is the reason to keep reading.

243 Ways and the Paytable

Wins land when matching symbols appear on adjacent reels from the leftmost reel onwards, anywhere on those reels, and only the highest win per way is paid. With three positions on each of five reels, that works out to 243 possible ways. Symbol positions matter more than lines here, and a way only needs the symbols to be adjacent, not stacked in any particular row.

Every value below is a multiple of the total bet, paid per winning way. So at a total bet of one credit, five pharaoh heads on a way return 15,000 credits; scale the bet up and every figure scales with it. Nothing in the paytable is tied to a coin denomination you can’t see on screen.

• Scarab/phoenix bird: 5,000x for three, 10,000x for four, 30,000x for five
• Pharaoh head and Ankh: 5,000x for three, 10,000x for four, 15,000x for five
• Sarcophagus and Hourglass: 2,000x for three, 8,000x for four, 12,000x for five
• A and K: 1,000x for three, 5,000x for four, 10,000x for five
• Q and J: 500x for three, 2,000x for four, 10,000x for five
• 10: 500x for three, 1,000x for four, 10,000x for five

The reel set splits into three tiers. Up top sit the scarab/phoenix bird, the pharaoh head and the ankh; the sarcophagus and hourglass fill the middle; A, K, Q, J and 10 make up the royals. It’s the five-of-a-kind premiums that carry the real weight, and the gap between the top two tiers at five symbols is where the ladder gets steep.

An Egyptian queen serves as the wild, standing in for every symbol except the free spins scatter. Five of her on a single way pay 300 times the coin value for that way. She does nothing else, and doesn’t need to.

Win Multiplier

While the reels are spinning, a win multiplier can appear. When it does, any win in that round is multiplied by x2 or x3, applied to everything the round pays rather than a single way. It only happens in the base game, and it’s the single piece of variety the base game has beyond the wild.

Stakes and Controls

Your stake is set through the coin value, adjusted with the plus and minus buttons, and all wins are multiplied by that coin value. Every win in a round is totalled into the win field as it lands. The stake buttons are disabled once free spins begin, so the bet you’re carrying into the round is the one you set beforehand.

Spins fire from the spin button or the space bar. Auto play opens a configuration screen where you set the number of spins and let them run at the coin value you chose, pausable at any time, and Turbo Mode shortens each round for faster sessions. Neither affects the maths; they’re pace options, nothing more.

Free Spins and the Power Spin Choice

Three or more scattered free spins symbols trigger the free spins game, and the scatter only counts during the base game. The scatter itself is a winged scarab, sitting alongside the queen as the only two symbols with jobs beyond paying. Land three of them anywhere on the reels and the round is on.

The Power Spin Options

On winning free spins, you choose between three ways to play the round. Each option strips a different number of the lowest-paying symbols off the reels:

• 20 free spins without 2 of the lowest symbols
• 10 free spins without 4 of the lowest symbols
• 5 free spins without 5 of the lowest symbols

The mechanics of the choice are simple: the symbols that are removed can’t land, so every position the removed symbols would have taken is filled by something that can still pay. More spins means a busier reel set; fewer spins means a cleaner one where the premium symbols dominate.

The five-spin option is the punchy pick. Stripping five low symbols leaves a reel set where almost everything that lands pays properly, so each individual spin carries more weight, and a lucky chain of premiums across five spins can outdo twenty on the cluttered board. The twenty-spin option spreads the same idea thin, which suits a player who’d rather grind out the round than bet on it.

Ten spins without four low symbols sits between the two. The round stays long enough for several winning ways to stack up, and with most of the filler gone the premium tier gets more total chances than either extreme hands it. For most players it’ll be the sensible default.

Buy Feature

The Buy Feature lets you purchase a free spins round outright and trigger it immediately. Clicking the button opens a window where you can modify the total bet you’ll play the round with, and the buy price is set according to that total bet. Pay the price and the free spins round begins, Power Spin choice and all.

Because the price scales with the total bet you select in the window, the buy doubles as a stake decision: set a bigger bet in the window and both the cost and the potential returns move with it. Once you’re inside the round the stake is locked, as it is with a scattered trigger, so the number you settle on in that window is the number the free spins play at.

It’s the same round the scatter gives you, minus the waiting. Nothing about the free spins themselves changes, and the three Power Spin options are still yours to pick once the round opens.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7/10

Most of your time in Egyptian Ways is spent watching a handsome desert scene and waiting. The base game is thin, and it stays thin right up until three winged scarabs land. What justifies the wait is that the round it buys you is one of the few bonus games that asks a real question before it starts.

The Power Spin choice is the best thing here, and it’s a proper decision: twenty spins on a cluttered board, ten on a leaner one, or five where nearly everything that lands can pay. Picking well matters, and more Egypt slots should give their players that.

The weakness is everything around that idea. The base game offers a wild and an occasional multiplier and nothing else, so the stretch between bonuses can feel long even with the palms swaying. This one is for players who value a bonus round worth thinking about over constant action; anyone who wants the reels themselves to entertain will find the desert quiet.

Egyptian Ways FAQs

• What is the RTP of Egyptian Ways?

  The RTP of Egyptian Ways is 95.14%.
• How many paylines does Egyptian Ways have?

  Egyptian Ways has 243 ways to win. Matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left form a winning way.
• What is the grid size of Egyptian Ways?

  Egyptian Ways plays on a 5×3 grid with 243 ways to win.
• What does the wild do in Egyptian Ways?

  The Egyptian queen wild replaces any symbol other than the free spins scatter, and a full way of five wilds pays 300 times the coin value for that way.
• How does the Power Spin choice work in Egyptian Ways?

  When you win free spins, you choose one of three options: 20 free spins without 2 of the lowest symbols, 10 free spins without 4 of the lowest symbols, or 5 free spins without 5 of the lowest symbols. The removed symbols can’t land during the round.
• Can you buy the bonus on Egyptian Ways?

  Yes. The Buy Feature lets you purchase a free spins round and trigger it immediately, with the buy price set according to the total bet you choose in the buy window.
• Does the win multiplier appear during free spins?

  No. The win multiplier, which multiplies any win in a round by x2 or x3, only appears during the base game.
• When is Egyptian Ways released?

  Egyptian Ways’ release date is 17 March 2022.
• Who makes Egyptian Ways?

  Egyptian Ways is made by Spinomenal.