Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma (Pragmatic Play) Slot Review

Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma: Slot Overview

Every famous person needs a sort of sidekick. Batman has Robin, Sherlock Holmes has Dr. Watson, Han Solo has Chewbacca. But what about Pragmatic Play’s John Hunter? Does he have a sidekick? Well, sidekick might be the wrong word, but he has a sister that loves to go on her own adventures. So this time, Pragmatic Play will introduce us to Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma.

Playing Board

In Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma you will play on 5 reels with 3 rows and 10 set paylines. Pragmatic Play themselves give the game the highest possible volatility rating with a 5 out of 5, making it a highly volatile slot. Bet sizes range from 0.10€ to 100€ (or equivalent), but vary depending on where you play.

Winning Symbols

As for the winning symbols, Pragmatic Play didn’t go too much out of their way and worked out the winning symbols in their usual scheme. So, in Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma you will find 9 different winning symbols, with 5 of them on the lower end and 4 on the higher end, by far.

Let’s take a look at the lower tier symbols first. These are, as with many Pragmatic Play games, portrayed by the usual winning symbols of 10 to A. And they all share pretty much the same payout. All 5 low-tier symbols come with 10 times your bet size per full line. The only differences are in the 3-of-a-kind and 4-of-a-kind. While 10’s, J’s and Q’s pay 0.5 times/1.5 times your bet size for 3OAK/4OAK respectively, K’s and A’s will clock in at 1 time/2.5 times your bet size respectively.

So what about the high-tier symbols? Are they actually far better as their lower counter-part? Well yes indeed, they are, and you will see why. So first you will find the Binoculars and the Digging Tools, both coming in at 50 times your bet size per full line. Now the second to last symbol in the line will be the Explorer’s Bag, already paying you 100 times your bet size for a full way. And our last high-tier symbol will be Jane Hunter herself, paying you a whooping 200 times your bet size for a full way. So you might see why the higher tier symbols are far better than the lower ones. But of course it’s going to be way harder to get them.

Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma: Special Symbols and Stats

Even John Hunter’s sister will need some Special symbols to help her on her journey. Here are all of the available symbols.

Scatter Symbol

The Scatter symbol is portrayed by an ancient golden aztec temple and the label „SCATTER“. For two of those, anywhere on the screen in the same spin, you will be paid 1 time your bet size. But if you manage to hit 3 or more in the same spin, you will be granted access into the temple and receive free spins. What exactly makes this feature special, will be covered in our Feature Overview section of this online slot review.

Bonus Symbol

There’s not only a Scatter symbol, but also a Bonus symbol. This symbol is represented by none other than Montezuma himself. You will easily recognize him by his pompous headdress. Furthermore, this symbol can only land on reel 5. What exactly this symbol does will also be covered in our Feature Overview.

Wild Symbol

The Wild symbol plays a pretty big role in Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma. That is because it probably is the aforementioned mask. At least we think it is, since the symbol is displayed with a golden aztec mask. The Wild symbol will substitute for any winning symbol except Scatters and Bonus symbols. But not only that, it also has its own payout. If you manage to get 5 Wild symbols in a line, you will be paid 500 times your bet size. This makes Wilds by far our top symbol. But Wild symbols play another important role in the Free Spins feature.

Stats

In Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma you will play with an RTP of 96.02%, barely on the edge of the average. The maximum win potential is capped at 5,000 times your bet size, pretty standard. The chances of getting one of these, however, are slim. On average it will take you 18,518,519 spins to get a max win. Not that big of a chance. Base game hits occur every 5 to 6 spins. And your chance of getting a Free Spin trigger are round about once every 120 spins. As always, these are just the average numbers and a result of many simulated spins.

Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma: Feature Overview

Now that we have got to know every single Special symbol, let’s see what they actually do and how to utilize them.

Pick Bonus

Whenever Montezuma lands on the 5th reel, you will be able to pick one of 5 chests. These chests contain rewards. And these rewards can be either direct money prizes or a Free Spin trigger. The direct money prizes can range from 2 times to 40 times your bet size, and the Free Spin triggers can be 10, 15 or 20 Free Spins. The Bonus symbol and therefore the Pick Bonus can only ever appear in the base game.

Free Spins Feature

As we mentioned before, 3 or more Scatter symbols in the same spin will let you enter the Free Spins feature. Depending on your trigger you will start with 10, 15 or 20 Free Spins for 3, 4 or 5 Scatters respectively. Now things will get a bit crazy. Because you see, the 4 high-tier winning symbols will now also be treated as Money symbols. Every one of the 4 symbols will have a determined starting value. What you will now need to do, is landing as many of them as you can. Because if you land enough of one symbol, you will upgrade its value. But how do you collect the money values? That’s rather simple, this is where our Wild symbol will come in play. Everytime a Wild symbol lands, it will automatically collect any money values in sight. The money values will increase by a set parameter. Here is a list of how they will upgrade and what is needed:

Retriggering this feature is possible, hitting 3, 4 or 5 Scatter symbols in the same spin while in the feature game, will reward you with 10, 15 or 20 Free Spins respectively. The feature will end once you have run out of free spins or the max win cap of 5,000 times your bet size has been reached.

Bonus Buy Feature

Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma comes with a bonus buy feature. If you don’t want to wait for 120 spins on average, you can just pay a fee of 60 times your bet size and get directly into the bonus game. You are guaranteed to get 3 Scatter symbols and 10 Free Spins with that, but you can also trigger with 4 or 5 Scatter symbols, granting you more free spins for your money. The RTP of the bonus buy feature is the exact same as the base RTP of 96.02%, which is a little odd, as bonus buy options tend to have a slightly higher RTP.

Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma: Conclusion

This one is actually tough. Our main problem with Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma is that it is pretty stale. The base game has nothing more to offer than a pick feature, and even this one seems to only exist because otherwise the base game would be boring as hell. The pick feature has no other relevance than giving you a chance for a free bonus and maybe a big win from time to time. And without the pick feature you’re just waiting for a line hit or a free spin trigger to happen.

So is Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma a bad game? Not necessarily. The free spins feature can be quite entertaining, although most of the time you will just hope for many Wild symbols. And if you don’t get them, it is pretty underwhelming. But if you are lucky enough and hit multiple Wild symbols that will collect any money value on the screen, it will definitely bring some joy to you.

In the end, Jane Hunter and the Mask of Montezuma is a pretty standard and mediocre game. It definitely has its moments, but most of the time these moments are nonexistent and you will just look at reels spinning, without anything interesting happening.