| Slot detail | |
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| Provider | Ainsworth |
Mayan Gold slot summary
Mayan Gold slot is one which really brings to us players the grand scale of Mayan architecture, especially in the bonus as we shall find out shortly. There is no change to the standard Ainsworth trotting sounds as we spin but we get our reels set over a dramatic background of a golden Mayan Temple surrounded by fire and all the appropriate icons of the theme. The Gods seem to be pretty angry in this game, so will we have to make the sacrifice of our own balance to appease their wrath?
On the reels...
As with Ainsworth's Stormin' 7's and Mustang Money games they give us 100 pay lines here but unlike those two which have the usual 5x3 grid we have a 3-3-4-4-4 arrangement here with no stacked icons except the Wilds appearing on all reels bar the first.
We do get a special red 'W' symbol on reel 3, called the 'Whopper Wild' in good old Australian parlance and when appearing it will make the last 3 reels one giant 3x4 Wild. If any scatters are present on the last 3 reels when this occurs they still count but become '$ Wild' icons. Now as you may expect with this mechanic, the line pays aren't going to be great - okay, you get 100x bet for 5 of the Silver $ scatters, but the top-paying 5-of-a-kind is the Golden Temple paying 100 coins which is what we pay to play, so 1x bet. There is a dramatic drop to the Parrot at 50 coins, Mask or Emerald 20, Flower 15 and then card values paying 10 coins for all six of them.
Giant free spins
I did mention the grand scale of Mayan architecture above, so when you see 3 or more Silver $ scatters you'll understand why! You will trigger 8 free games and retriggers add 5 more, but more importantly the reels will now transform to a 9-9-12-12-12 Giant Grid, something you may be familiar with in WMS slots like KISS.
You lose the Wilds from reel 2 but get Mystery Rose icons added to reels 1 and 2 which remain sticky for the duration, and will all transform to the same icon after each free spin. You get expanding Wild single icons on reels 3, 4 and 5 with reel 3 awarding either a 2 or 3x multiplier and any Wilds appearing on reels 4 and/or 5 will become sticky Wild reels for the next two free games.
Our View...
Mayan Gold slot is well designed and quite good as far as the base game goes despite the small pays and RTP of only 94.13%. The graphics aren't bad and sounds are easy on the player but yet again we see the classic Ainsworth 'Giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other' dynamic in the free games. Yup! you guessed it, the pays are reduced by half to two-thirds for the premium icons during the free games thus negating the effect of the multiplying Wilds third reel and making the whole idea completely pointless. It's for this single and very frustrating reason we get a low-volatility game so I won't be trekking through the sweltering jungle to play Mayan (fool's) Gold again...
