Rubies of Egypt Slot Review
A faceted ruby the size of a shield rests on outstretched wings in a niche of dark red stone, and Just For The Win Studios have hung Rubies of Egypt on that single jewel harder than most Egyptian slots lean on their whole pantheon. The bet the game makes is that counting matters more than spectacle: two collection meters fill quietly across the base game, and the free spins pay out only what those meters have banked. It’s a patient design in a theme usually built for spectacle, and that tension is the most interesting thing about it.
It runs on a 5×4 grid with 30 paylines, at 96.06% RTP and high volatility, with wins up to 5,000x in the free spins round. The studio’s catalogue is a broad church – Scarab Kingdom covers similar ground, while Deco Diamonds Elite shows off their jewel-box instincts elsewhere. Here the question is whether the collecting can carry a whole bonus round, and the answer is a qualified yes.
Base Game & Features
Wins pay the traditional way: matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left, with only the highest win per line counting. Simultaneous wins on different lines add together. Stakes run from 0.20 to 50.00 per spin, and the hit rate sits at 24.31%, so roughly one spin in four connects somewhere.
Four things make up the game’s feature set, and three of them are on show before a single scatter lands:
- Ruby Respin – a sticky-wild respin that can trigger whenever a wild lands
- Both Ways pay on Pharaoh symbols, left to right and right to left
- Wild multipliers that grow through the free spins round
- Free Spins with the Pharaoh Power and Ruby Upgrade features inside
Pharaoh Symbols
The Pharaoh is the one symbol that breaks the left-to-right rule. In a winning combination on adjacent reels it pays both ways. Only the highest of the two directions is paid per line.
That’s a small mercy in the base game and a much bigger one once the free spins start collecting them. Stacked Pharaohs are a recurring sight on the reels, which is exactly what the collection meter wants.
Wild Symbols
Wilds can appear anywhere on reels 2, 3 and 4, and substitute for everything except the Free Spins symbol. Each wild starts with a multiplier of 1, which the Ruby Upgrade feature can push as high as 5.
Any line win that includes a wild is multiplied by the current wild multiplier. Multiple wilds on the same line apply it only once, so two wilds in a win don’t stack their multipliers. In the base game the multiplier never moves – it sits at 1 until the free spins begin collecting.
Ruby Respin
Every wild that lands carries a chance of setting off the Ruby Respin. It awards one extra spin, and any wilds on the visible reels when it fires become sticky for its duration.
The respin also adds between 2 and 9 extra wilds at random, placed only on reels 2, 3 and 4, and never on positions already holding a wild. A respin board can therefore carry a dozen wilds at once across those three middle reels, every one of them locked in place for the single spin. There are firm boundaries on when it can happen:
- It cannot trigger on a spin that awards the Free Spins feature
- It cannot trigger during Free Spins
- It cannot trigger during another Ruby Respin
- Free Spins cannot trigger during a Ruby Respin
So the respin is strictly a base-game event. It’s also the only thing breaking up the base game’s rhythm, and a board that fills with sticky wilds for a single spin can pay far above the norm.
Rubies of Egypt Free Spins & Bonuses
A pyramid BONUS icon is the scatter. Land three, four or five anywhere on the reels and the free spins begin:
- 3 Free Spins symbols award 8 free spins
- 4 Free Spins symbols award 12 free spins
- 5 Free Spins symbols award 16 free spins
The round runs at the last bet placed in the game. After each spin, every Pharaoh and wild symbol that landed is collected into two separate meters, and that’s where the two inner features live.
Each one adds a free spin every time it fires, so the round grows the longer it runs. The whole thing ends when there are no free spins left, and no scatter can retrigger it – the extra spins come only from the meters. The two systems run like this:
- Every Pharaoh that lands is added to the Pharaoh meter
- Every wild that lands is added to the wild meter
- Wins pay out before either feature is awarded
- Surplus symbols beyond a trigger’s ten carry over towards the next one
Pharaoh Power
Collect 10 Pharaoh symbols and the Pharaoh Power triggers. It upgrades a symbol to the next more valuable one on the paytable, and the upgrade holds for the rest of the free spins. A low symbol becomes a higher one, that symbol becomes the next, and each successive trigger climbs the same ladder.
Each trigger also awards one extra free spin. Once every upgradable symbol has been raised to a Pharaoh, the collecting stops – the well runs dry by design, not by bad luck.
Ruby Upgrade
The wild meter works the same way. Collect 10 wilds and the Ruby Upgrade fires, raising the wild multiplier by 1 and awarding one extra free spin. Surplus wilds carry over towards the next upgrade.
The multiplier caps at 5, at which point no more wilds are collected. Because the wild applies its multiplier to any line win it forms part of, a 5x wild sitting across a paytable that the Pharaoh Power has already raised is where this round’s biggest line wins come from. So a long round climbs in two directions at once – richer symbols from one meter, bigger wild multipliers from the other.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.7/10
Playing Rubies of Egypt is mostly waiting, but it’s honest waiting: the meters tell you exactly where you stand, and that visibility is the one reason to pick it ahead of the glossier Egyptian slots sitting next to it. The tomb doesn’t hide its arithmetic.
The free spins are the best thing here, and not by a little. A round that runs long keeps adding spins while raising its own payouts, so momentum and ceiling are the same property – a design most collection games promise and few deliver this cleanly.
The weakness is the price of that. Ten symbols per trigger is a steep ask, and a short round can end with neither meter firing once, leaving eight plain spins and nothing banked for the wait. It suits players who like watching a build take shape and can fund the quiet stretches; it doesn’t suit anyone chasing frequent bonus rounds. The rubies here sit deep, but they’re real ones.
Rubies of Egypt FAQs
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How do you trigger free spins in Rubies of Egypt?
Land 3, 4 or 5 pyramid BONUS symbols anywhere on the reels to win 8, 12 or 16 free spins respectively. Free spins cannot trigger during a Ruby Respin. -
What does the Pharaoh Power feature do?
During free spins, Pharaoh symbols that land are collected. When 10 have been collected, Pharaoh Power upgrades a symbol to the next more valuable one on the paytable, awards one extra free spin, and the upgrade lasts for the rest of the round. -
How does the Ruby Respin work?
A wild landing anywhere on reels 2, 3 or 4 carries a chance of starting the Ruby Respin. It awards one extra spin, makes any wilds on the reels sticky, and adds between 2 and 9 extra wilds. -
Can free spins be retriggered in Rubies of Egypt?
No. Scatters don’t retrigger the round. Extra spins come only from the Pharaoh Power and Ruby Upgrade features, each of which awards one additional free spin every time it triggers. -
What is the RTP of Rubies of Egypt?
The RTP is 96.06%, and that figure covers the total expected return. -
Is Rubies of Egypt high volatility?
Yes. Rubies of Egypt is a high volatility slot, with a hit frequency of 24.31%. -
What is the maximum win on Rubies of Egypt?
The maximum win is 5,000x your bet, achievable in the free spins round. -
What are the minimum and maximum bets on Rubies of Egypt?
Stakes run from 0.20 to 50.00 per spin.
