Samarkand S Gold Slot Review
Tiled blue facades climb either side of the reels, pointed archways frame the view, and a violet dusk sky settles over a dimly glowing dome behind the gold frame. Samarkand S Gold paints its Central Asian setting with real care, but the most interesting thing about it isn’t the view. It’s a slot that gives more back than almost anything else you’ll sit down at: 98.05% RTP, which leaves the house edge under two percent.
Endorphina built this one on a 5×4 grid with 1024 ways to win, alongside a free games round where wilds turn into multipliers and a classic card gamble. The studio’s catalogue ranges across the likes of Joker Ra, Riches Of Caliph and Crystal Skull, so the ornate-Asian-market aesthetic is well-trodden ground for them. Worth a spin for the return alone, then, and the question is whether the features hold up around it.
The Base Game and Its 1024 Ways
With 1024 ways across five reels and four rows, there are no paylines to follow. The number isn’t decoration: four positions on each of five reels gives four to the power of five, which is exactly 1024. Any matching run of three or more symbols on consecutive reels from the left pays, and every position on a reel counts, so a four-high stack of the same symbol can complete several runs at once.
The wild is an archway that substitutes for everything except the scatter, and it only lands on reels two, three and four. That’s the standard spot for a middle-reel wild, but on a ways grid it does real work: with four rows per reel, a wild in the middle of the grid can stand in for a lot of positions at once.
The scatter is a gold coin bearing a horse, and it’s the game’s route into the feature round. It pays as well as triggering: three coins return 2x the total bet, four pay 10x and five pay 20x. All symbol values below are multiples of the total bet.
- King (crowned red figure) – 2: 0.25x, 3: 1.25x, 4: 2.5x, 5: 7.5x
- Horse (purple) / Phoenix (orange bird) – 3: 1.25x, 4: 2.5x, 5: 3.75x
- Globe and sword / Bow and arrow – 3: 0.5x, 4: 2x, 5: 3x
- A / K – 3: 0.25x, 4: 1.25x, 5: 2.5x
- Q / J – 3: 0.125x, 4: 0.5x, 5: 2.5x
- 10 – 3: 0.125x, 4: 0.25x, 5: 2.5x
- 9 – 2: 0.05x, 3: 0.125x, 4: 0.25x, 5: 2.5x
The shape of that table is wide rather than tall. Wins come from the ways mechanic doing the work across many positions, not from any single symbol carrying the load.
Two of the symbols start paying from two of a kind: the King and the 9. Everything else needs three. On a 1024-ways grid that’s a small mercy, because short runs land far more often than five-of-a-kind lines.
Free Games with the Wild Multipliers Feature
Three or more scatter coins trigger the free games round, and the award scales with the count that lands:
- 3 scatters – 8 free games
- 4 scatters – 15 free games
- 5 scatters – 20 free games
The twist sits with the wilds. During free games, any wild that substitutes in a winning combination turns into a multiplier, and every wild on the spin carries the same value: either 2x or 3x. Multiple multipliers all apply, so the win per spin can climb to 27 times its base amount when enough of them stack.
Because the wild only exists on the middle three reels, 27x is also a hard ceiling rather than a distant dream. Two wilds at 3x already triple the win twice over, and even the 2x tier on a single wild doubles a combination that would otherwise pay flat.
Free games run at the triggering bet, so there’s no decision to make about stake going in. The round keeps whatever bet was active when the scatters landed.
Retriggers are unusually generous here, because two scatters are enough. A pair adds five more games, three adds eight, four adds fifteen and five adds twenty, and there’s no stated limit on how often the round can extend itself.
The Risk Game
After any base game win, before collecting, the Risk Game offers a card gamble. Four cards lie face down; beat the Dealer’s card and the win doubles, with the option to go again up to ten attempts in total. Lose any round and your winnings are gone.
A matching card is a draw: the win stands and another attempt is allowed. TAKE WIN banks it at any point. The Joker beats everything and can never be the Dealer’s, so a Joker among your four options is a guaranteed win. The closed cards aren’t dealt with equal probability either, and cards can reappear from round to round, so the four face-down options aren’t four identical chances.
The odds swing with the Dealer’s card, and knowing the split changes how the gamble plays:
- Dealer shows 2 – 162% return on the round
- Dealer shows 3 – 121%
- Dealer shows 4 – 113%
- Dealer shows 5 – 101%
- Dealer shows 6, 7 or 8 – 100%
Taking the risk regardless of the Dealer’s card averages an 84% return on the round. Beating a weak Dealer card is the profitable side of the ledger; challenging an eight is a coin flip, and the discipline to walk away is what separates a useful gamble from a donation.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.7/10
This is a slot to settle into rather than chase something through. The reels turn under that violet dusk, small wins arrive often enough through the 1024 ways, and the reason to pick it is simple: a 98.05% return is territory almost nothing else visits. You’re choosing it for the maths and the view.
The free games round is the strongest thing here. Equal 2x or 3x multipliers that all apply give a single spin a genuine 27x ceiling, and retriggers on just two scatters can stretch a round well past where it started. The weakness is everything around that round: the paytable is flat, the base game is wilds and scatters and not much else, and there’s no jackpot or stated maximum win to aim at.
It suits players who want a long session and a thin house edge rather than a big prize to hunt. If you play for the chase, this isn’t your game. For a patient evening on the Silk Road, few slots give more back for the walk.
Samarkand S Gold FAQs
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What is the RTP of Samarkand S Gold?
Samarkand S Gold runs at 98.05% RTP, one of the more generous returns you’ll find, leaving a house edge of under two percent. -
How many paylines does Samarkand S Gold have?
The game uses 1024 ways to win rather than paylines. Any three or more matching symbols on consecutive reels from the left will pay. -
What is the grid size of Samarkand S Gold?
Samarkand S Gold plays on a 5×4 grid: five reels and four rows, which is what makes the 1024 ways possible. -
Who makes Samarkand S Gold?
Samarkand S Gold is made by Endorphina, a studio whose catalogue also includes Joker Ra and Riches Of Caliph. -
When is Samarkand S Gold released?
Samarkand S Gold’s release date is 30 August 2022. -
How do you trigger the free games in Samarkand S Gold?
Three or more scatter coins trigger the Free Games with the Wild Multipliers Feature, awarding 8 free games for three scatters, 15 for four and 20 for five. -
Can free games be retriggered in Samarkand S Gold?
Yes, and unusually the round retriggers on just two scatters, which award five extra free games. Three scatters add eight more, four add fifteen and five add twenty. -
How does the Risk Game gamble work in Samarkand S Gold?
After any win you can gamble it by beating the Dealer’s card from four face-down cards, doubling the win each time with up to ten attempts. The average return on the round is 84% if you always take the risk, but the odds range from 162% against a Dealer’s two down to 100% against six to eight, so it pays to be selective.
