The Hand of Midas

The Hand of Midas Slot Review

The Hand of Midas hides its money where most slots keep their filler. In a flooded Greek grotto, all turquoise water and broken marble, a burning golden hand rises beside reels slung from a vine-wrapped crossbeam, and the truth about this game sits in that plinth: nothing here pays properly until the golden hand touches it. Pragmatic Play have built a paytable that’s quietly modest and then handed every big result to a wild that multiplies.

The game runs on a 5×4 grid with 20 paylines, at 96.54% RTP with high volatility, a 5,000x win cap and stakes from 0.20 to 240 per spin. It’s the original that Hand of Midas 2 built on in 2024, and it sits comfortably alongside sticky-wild favourites like The Dog House in the studio’s catalogue, alongside Gates of Olympus. The golden touch, then, with the curse left in the small print.

Base Game & Features

All symbols pay left to right on adjacent reels from the leftmost, across 20 fixed paylines. Only the highest win counts per line, and wins on multiple lines add together. Standard stuff, and the grid’s extra row gives it a bit more room than the usual 5×3.

The wild appears on reels 2, 3 and 4, stands in for everything except the scatter, and adds a random multiplier of up to 3x to the spin’s total win. Multiple wilds in one spin add their multipliers together. That single mechanic does most of the work in the base game, and a spin with two or three wilds in the frame changes character completely.

The scatter is the hand symbol itself, and it appears only in the base game, never during free spins. Three or more of them trigger the bonus round. Symbol pays are quoted as multiples of the total bet:

• Red/Gold King: 2x, 6x, 20x for three, four, five
• Blue-Green King: 1.5x, 4.5x, 15x
• Golden Woman: 1.25x, 3.5x, 12.5x
• Treasure Chest: 1x, 2.5x, 10x
• Fruit Bowl: 0.75x, 1.75x, 7.5x
• Golden Cup: 0.5x, 1x, 5x
• A and K: 0.25x, 0.5x, 2.5x
• Q, J and 10: 0.1x, 0.25x, 1.25x

Those are modest numbers on their own, and the royals at the bottom of the table are token payers. The wild multipliers are what lift an ordinary spin into something worth watching. The backdrop keeps pulling its weight as well: the reels hang from a rough wooden crossbeam, trailing green vines spill over the frame corners, and gold flakes off the burning hand into the dark water below.

Ante Bet

There’s a bet multiplier choice before you even spin. At the default 20x multiplier it’s normal play.

Bump it to 25x and more scatters appear on the reels, doubling the chance of triggering free spins naturally. It costs a quarter more per spin for roughly double the trigger odds, which is decent value if you’re chasing the bonus without buying it.

The Hand of Midas Free Spins & Bonuses

Three or more scatters trigger the free spins round, and the opening is more theatrical than most. For every scatter that landed, 3 mini reels appear, each awarding 1, 2 or 3 free spins. All the mini reels spin at once and the totals are added up, so a 5-scatter trigger rolls 15 mini reels.

The round carries a general win multiplier that applies to every spin’s total win. Each wild that lands turns sticky until the round ends and raises that multiplier by a random 1x, 2x or 3x.

Wilds only land on the middle three reels, so the sticky coverage builds across the centre of the grid. The multiplier never resets. A round that runs long accumulates both locked wilds and a growing multiplier on every remaining spin, which is where the big results come from.

There’s a guaranteed minimum too. Trigger with 3 scatters and the round guarantees at least 10x the total bet, 4 scatters guarantee 20x, and 5 scatters guarantee 30x.

If the spins run out without reaching the minimum, the round retriggers: each triggering scatter produces another mini reel awarding 1, 2 or 3 extra spins, and there’s no limit on how many times that can happen. Special reels are in play throughout.

That floor matters in a high volatility game. A bonus round that can’t pay less than 10x the bet takes some of the sting out of a long chase, and the unlimited retriggers mean a bad round can keep extending itself until it clears the bar.

Buy Free Spins

The bonus can be bought outright from the base game, at three tiers that mirror the natural trigger:

• 100x total bet: trigger with 3 scatters, 10x minimum win
• 200x total bet: trigger with 4 scatters, 20x minimum win
• 300x total bet: trigger with 5 scatters, 30x minimum win

Special reels are in play for every bought round, same as the natural one. Note the arithmetic: even the top tier only guarantees 30x back on a 300x outlay, so the buy is a volatility play, not a shortcut to profit.

Winnings are capped at 5,000x the bet in both the base game and free spins. A free spins round that hits the cap ends immediately, the win is awarded and all remaining spins are forfeited.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7.7/10

Playing The Hand of Midas is mostly waiting for the golden hand to do something. Long stretches of the base game are exactly that, and the reason somebody picks it anyway is the bonus, where every wild that lands stays put and the multiplier only ever climbs. It’s a round that gathers its own momentum, and when a handful of sticky wilds stack up across the middle reels, few bonus games feel better value for the wait.

The weakness is real, though: 5,000x is a ceiling newer high volatility games have pushed well past, and this one can’t follow them. The rest of the maths is honest, with a guaranteed minimum on the bonus softening the chase.

Suits players who enjoy a build, who want their bonus rounds to snowball rather than firework, and who don’t need a five-figure ceiling to make the wait worthwhile. Anyone chasing the biggest possible number in Greek myth should look at the sequel instead. This grotto pays best to the patient.

The Hand of Midas FAQs

• What is the RTP of The Hand of Midas?

  The Hand of Midas runs at 96.54% RTP.
• Is The Hand of Midas high volatility?

  Yes, it’s a high volatility game, meaning payouts come less often on average but the chance of a big win in a short span is higher.
• How does the free spins round trigger in The Hand of Midas?

  Three or more scatter symbols trigger the round. Each triggering scatter produces 3 mini reels that each award 1, 2 or 3 free spins, and the totals are added together.
• What do wilds do in The Hand of Midas free spins?

  Wilds only appear on reels 2, 3 and 4. In the bonus they lock in place until the round ends, and each one raises the running win multiplier by a random 1x, 2x or 3x.
• Can free spins retrigger in The Hand of Midas?

  Yes. If the spins run out before the guaranteed minimum win is reached, the round retriggers, with each original scatter producing a mini reel awarding 1, 2 or 3 extra spins. There’s no limit on retriggers.
• Can you buy the bonus on The Hand of Midas?

  Yes. The free spins round can be bought for 100x total bet with 3 scatters, 200x with 4 scatters, or 300x with 5 scatters.
• What is the maximum win on The Hand of Midas?

  No single round can pay more than 5,000x the stake, whether the win comes in the base game or the bonus. Reaching that figure ends a free spins round on the spot, with the win awarded and leftover spins forfeited.
• What is the minimum and maximum bet on The Hand of Midas?

  Stakes run from 0.20 to 240 per spin, across 20 fixed paylines on a 5×4 grid.