Mystery of the Orient Slot Review
A sword-bearing warrior woman fills the left of the screen, hair pinned with pink blossoms, painted as though she’s leaning in front of the reels, with an orange-and-crimson sunset burning over the cliffs behind her. Underneath all that gloss, Mystery of the Orient is really a game about one icon: almost nothing here pays seriously until a Mystery symbol flips over.
That’s a bolder design than the artwork suggests, because it means Pragmatic Play have built a 5×4 grid with 243 ways, a 96.00% RTP, high volatility and an 8,035x ceiling that all waits on a coin toss. The Mystery reveal is also what puts it in similar territory to 5 Lions Megaways and Dragon Tiger Fortunes in the studio’s Asian-themed catalogue.
Few games in that bracket hide so much behind one icon.
Base Game & Features
All symbols pay from left to right on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost one. Wins are awarded for adjacent symbol combinations across 243 ways. Only the highest win is paid per combination on any one payway, and wins across multiple payways all add together.
Every value below is a multiple of the total bet, so the figures hold at any stake. The paytable stretches from royals up through themed premiums, and it’s the premium end where the real money sits.
- Woman – 1x, 2x and 4x for three, four and five
- Tiger – 0.8x, 1.6x and 3x
- Treasure Chest – 0.6x, 1.2x and 2.4x
- Sword – 0.48x, 1x and 2x
- Banjo – 0.4x, 0.8x and 2x
- Free Spins (Yin Yang) – 1x, 1.2x and 2x
- A – 0.32x, 0.6x and 1.6x
- K – 0.2x, 0.48x and 1.2x
- Q – 0.2x, 0.4x and 1.2x
- J – 0.08x, 0.2x and 1x
- 10 and 9 – 0.08x, 0.2x and 0.8x
The wild is a coin symbol that substitutes for everything except the Free Spins symbol and the scatter, and it only lands on reels two, three and four. It’s a deliberately modest wild in its natural form.
The interesting version arrives through the Mystery symbol, which can turn that plain coin into a multiplier wild worth up to x25. That exchange between ordinary and special is the game’s whole engine.
Mystery Symbol
This is a special icon that lands on every reel, in both game modes. Once it hits in the base game it reveals one of three symbols at random: the scatter, the wild, or the Free Spins symbol. That single reveal is what the whole game turns on.
A revealed wild can carry a random multiplier of x2, x3, x4, x5, x8, x10, x15, x20 or x25, applied to every winning combination that passes through it. Wilds revealed in the same combination add their multipliers together.
Two x10 reveals on one win therefore pay at x20, and two x25s pay at x50. Because the wild only sits on the three middle reels, those stacking reveals have to land where the winning lines pass through, which is what keeps the big combined multipliers rare enough to matter.
Scatter Pays
Scatters pay on their own ladder, separate from the ways. Three pay 10x the total bet, four pay 40x, and five pay the GRAND award of 8000x the total bet – a prize that sits just under the game’s overall win cap.
Scatters can land naturally or be revealed by Mystery symbols, so a cluster of reveals can build the ladder spin by spin. The Free Spins symbol works the same way, and three or more of those on screen after a reveal starts the bonus.
Mystery of the Orient Free Spins & Bonuses
Landing three, four or five Free Spins symbols awards 15, 20 or 25 free spins respectively. Special reels are in play throughout the round. Free spin wins are added to the payline win, and the round’s total is paid once it completes.
Reel Size Increase Symbol
Two extra symbols appear during the round, again either hit naturally or revealed by Mystery symbols. The first is the Reel Size Increase symbol: whenever it lands, the reel it hit on grows by one vertical position for the rest of the round, up to a maximum of six positions per reel.
Each growth is permanent for the round, so an early cluster of these symbols keeps paying off on every spin that follows. Growing the grid from 5×4 towards 5×6 is where the round’s win potential compounds.
Additional Free Spins Symbol
The second is the Additional Free Spins symbol, which awards a random one, two, three or five extra spins to the current round. The feature also retriggers on its own terms: hitting or revealing two, three, four or five Free Spins symbols during the round awards two, three, four or five additional spins respectively.
Between the two symbols, a generous round can run for a long time. One hard limit applies everywhere, in both the base game and free spins: wins stop at 8,035x the bet. If a free spins round reaches that figure, the win is paid, the round ends immediately and all remaining spins are forfeited.
Buy Free Spins
The impatient route is a straight purchase. Buying the free spins round costs 100x the current total bet and triggers it instantly, and on the triggering spin three, four or five scatters can hit at random – so the buy can start paying before a single free spin plays out.
The RTP when buying is the same 96.00% as the base game. Stakes run from 0.25 to 250 per spin, which gives the buy button a wide price range depending on your level.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.2/10
Beneath the artwork, this one’s a waiting game. The reels turn, small wins trickle in, and every so often a Mystery symbol flips and the whole picture changes – that flip, more than the blossoms framing the reels, is why anybody loads this one up.
Its strength is the free spins round, which grows instead of firing once: reels that expand towards six positions and spins that keep arriving reward a round that gets going early, and the 8,035x ceiling gives those long rounds something real to chase. Its weakness is everything before that – the base paytable is thin, so the stretches between reveals pay very little, and patience runs out faster than the blossom stays on the trees.
This is a game for people who enjoy a slow build towards a round that compounds, and it isn’t for anyone chasing frequent payouts to keep a session ticking over. Buy the bonus at 100x and it’s the same 96.00% either way. For the patient, the Orient rewards the wait.
Mystery of the Orient FAQs
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What is the RTP of Mystery of the Orient?
The RTP is 96.00%, both in the base game and when buying the free spins round. -
Is Mystery of the Orient high volatility?
Yes, it’s a high volatility game, so payouts come less often on average but with a higher chance of big wins in a short space of time. -
How many ways to win does Mystery of the Orient have?
There are 243 ways to win, with wins awarded for left to right adjacent symbol combinations starting from the leftmost reel. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on Mystery of the Orient?
Stakes run from 0.25 to 250 per spin. -
What is the maximum win on Mystery of the Orient?
Wins stop at 8,035x the bet, wherever they land. If a free spins round hits the ceiling, the payout is made and the round ends at once. -
Can you buy the bonus on Mystery of the Orient?
Yes. The free spins round can be bought for 100x your current total bet, and on the triggering spin three, four or five scatters can hit at random. The RTP when buying is the same 96.00%. -
How does the Mystery symbol work?
Whenever one of these icons lands, on any reel and in either game mode, it flips over to show a scatter, a wild or a Free Spins symbol. Revealed wilds can carry multipliers up to x25, and multipliers on the same win add together. -
What do five scatter symbols pay in Mystery of the Orient?
Five scatters pay the GRAND award of 8000x the total bet. Three and four scatters pay 10x and 40x respectively.
