Gods of Giza (Pragmatic Play) Slot Review

Gods of Giza: Slot Overview

A common theme found throughout online slot games are gods. Most of the time online slot providers design their games around various gods from different mythologies, like Thor or Odin from the nordic mythology, or Zeus and Hades from the greek mythology. But the probably most used mythology is the egyptian one. And that’s where we will take a trip to in Pragmatic Play’s Gods of Giza.

Playing Board

Gods of Giza is played on a 5×5 grid, which means that there are always 25 symbols present at a time. As for the paylines, this is a bit tricky. Officially, Gods of Giza features 10 paylines, 5 vertically and 5 horizontally. But in fact, every combination of 3 or more of the same symbol from left to right or from up to down counts as a win. Additionally, the game uses Tumbling Wins, which means that symbols, that were part of a winning combination, will be destroyed and new ones fall onto the grid. Bet sizes in Gods of Giza range from 0.20€ to 100€, but can vary depending on where you play.

Winning Symbols

The game from online slot provider Pragmatic Play features only 6 different winning symbols, which is way less than the average of around 8 to 10. In Gods of Giza you will find 3 low paying symbols as well as 3 higher paying symbols. Let’s take a look at the low-tier symbols first. Here you will find ancient gems. So first we have the blue Sapphire, paying 2 times your bet size for a full line of 5. Next up is the green Emerald, netting you 2.5 times your bet size. And the last low paying symbol is the Purple Gem, clocking in at 3 times your bet size.

Next we will examine the high-tier symbols. These actually resemble old egyptian gods. So for the lowest high-tier symbol you will find the Eye of Horus, netting you 10 times your bet size for a full line of 5. Second to last is the Head of Anubis, paying you 15 times your bet size. And last but not least, you will find the Purple Bird, which is probably a reference to the sun-god Ra, clocking in at 20 times your bet size. But although these gods are powerful, they are not our top symbols.

The most impressive thing about the payouts is actually the difference between 4 of a kind and 5 of a kind. To give you an example, the 4 of a kind of the Ra premium symbol is worth 1 time your bet size, while the 5 of a kind is worth 20 times more.

Gods of Giza: Special Symbols and Stats

Even powerful gods need some assistance from time to time, that’s why you will find a few Special symbols that will help you out.

Scatter Symbols

First we will take a look at the Scatter symbol. This symbol is portrayed by another Purple Gem, but with the label „SCATTER“. It can appear on all reels. If you manage to land 3 or more Scatter symbols in the same spin, you will be granted access to the Free Spins Feature. If you want to know how this feature works, keep on reading, everything will be explained in the Feature Overview section of this online slot review.

Wild Symbols

Of course one of the most important Special symbols is also present, the Wild symbol. This symbol is displayed by a Red Orb with phoenix flames and a big „W“ in the middle. Wild symbols will substitute for any winning symbol except for Scatters. Wilds actually have their own payout, paying you 25 times your bet size for a full line of Wilds, making it our top symbol in this case. Additionally, Wild symbols cannot land naturally. How to get them will be explained in the Feature Overview section.

Stats

Alright, after going through the Special symbols it is time to look at the stats for Gods of Giza. The game comes with a base RTP of 96.01%, barely making the average. Pragmatic Play rates their game with a 5/5 volatility, making it a highly volatile slot. The max win potential of Gods of Giza is capped at 5,000 times your bet size, which is round about the average of most Pragmatic Play games. Your chances of winning the max win potential, however, are not that big. The max win occurs after 2,045,408 spins on average. Not the best we’ve ever seen, but definitely also not the worst. A win will occur once around every 3.6 spins. And your chances of getting a Free Spin Feature are 1 in 390 spins. As always, these are just the average numbers, you can always get lucky.

Gods of Giza: Feature Overview

Now that we know what the Special symbols are good for, let’s see how the game actually works.

• Depleting Wilds

As we mentioned before, Wilds cannot occur naturally. Instead you have to get them through two different game mechanics. On of the game mechanics is a random feature, where Wilds will be placed at random on the grid. And the other game mechanic is just as simple: winning. Whenever, during a spin, there is at least one winning combination without a Wild, a Wild symbol will spawn in a random free spot before the symbols tumble. When this happens, Wild symbols will tumble just like any other symbol. Additionally, Wild symbol can only appear at spots of its corresponding winning combination. So for example, if you have a combination with a Wild symbol and one without, it cannot land on a free spot of the winning combination that had a Wild symbol in it. It sounds more complicated than it actually is, we promise.

But that’s not everything about the Wilds. They can also come with a multiplier. Every Wild, that comes onto the grid, will have the chance to receive a multiplier of x2, x3, x5, x7 or x10. If more than one Wild with a multiplier is part of a winning combination, their multipliers will multiply each other and then be applied to the win. The Wild symbols will keep their multipliers until they deplete.

And now we get to the point of the Depleting Wilds. Every Wild symbol will have 3 open slots at the bottom. With every win (not winning combination) they tark part in, they will fill up one slot. Once they filled up all of their free slots, they will deplete and be destroyed.

• Free Spins Feature

We also mentioned this one before, 3 or more Scatter symbols in the same spin will grant you access to the Free Spins Feature. You will be granted 10 Free Spins, with every additional Scatter you trigger with granting you 5 additional Free Spins. The maximum amount of Scatters you can trigger with is 25, allowing for up to 120 Free Spins, although this is highly unlikely to happen.

The difference between the base game and the Free Spins Feature is actually not that big. There are no new game mechanics or symbols whatsoever. The only, actually really important difference, is that Wild symbols don’t have 3 open slots now, but 5, allowing for longer chains of winning combinations. Also, although it is not specifically stated in the game rules, it feels like you are more likely to get higher multipliers on your Wild symbols. Of course this can just be imagination, but this is what the testings showed.

Retriggering the Feature is also possible, if you land 3 or more Scatters in the same spin you will be granted 5 additional Free Spins. The Free Spins Feature will end once you have used all of your spins or if you reach the maximum win potential of 5,000 times your bet size.

• Bonus Buy Feature

Just like many other modern Pragmatic Play games, Gods of Giza comes with a Bonus Buy Feature. If you don’t want to wait for Free Spins, which can quite possible happen with an average of 390 spins for a bonus, then you can just pay 100 times your bet size and get direct access to the Free Spins Feature. You are guaranteed to get 3 Scatter symbols, but you also have the chance to trigger with more than 3.

Gods of Giza: Conclusion

Gods of Giza is certainly an interesting game. Not because of its innovative game mechanics or massive amount of features. But because it is one of the few attempts that we have witnessed so far to clone a game from their fellows over at Play’n Go.

Pragmatic Play obviously tried to create a game that is similar to Moon Princess and Rise of Olympus, both from the swedish online slot provider Play’n Go. And they actually did a good job. Pragmatic Play managed to not fully copy the game, but mix their own little touch in. Gods of Giza has a very nice design and ambience, not quite like the original games, but still not too shabby. And the game mechanics complement it greatly. Something like the depletion of Wild symbols is a well made game mechanic that perfectly fits.

With that being said, Gods of Giza is a wonderful approach to adapt to one of the most popular games in recent years, and Pragmatic Play have done a wonderful job with the game. This concludes our online slot review. It was fun testing the game and we’re sure that many of you will have just as much fun as we had.