Description
Played on an unconventional 7×7 set-up, Golden Glyph from slots geniuses Quickspin transports you to the wonders of Ancient Egypt. You’ll get to become Indiana Jones for a while!
There’s no bog-standard candle-lit temple or tomb background here – instead, the reels float high above the clouds.
Because this slot works with a Cluster Pays mechanic, to get a winning combo you’ll need to have at least five matching symbols in neighbouring spots (i.e. a cluster). Any symbols forming part of a successful cluster are taken off the reels, to be replaced by fresh ones tumbling down from above.
And this carries on as long as fresh winning clusters are being created.
How to play
Prices per spin kick off from 20p, but you can spend as much as £100 a go if you’re feeling lucky. Play on any device you wish. (And, incidentally, Golden Glyph suits this operator’s new portrait mode for displaying games.)
Among the icons on the reels are the lesser-paying hieroglyphs, while the more lucrative symbols incorporate the falcon god Horus, Tutankhamun and Cleopatra. Land 15 or more of the highest-paying Horus symbols and you’re in line for a payday of a mahoosive 250x stake.
Special features
Special symbols
The W symbol here serves as the Wild and fulfils its usual role of replacing all the regular icons. Wins to which the Wild contributes are subject to a multiplier, starting at x1 and rising at x1 per tumble if the Wild is part of more than one winning cluster. It stays in place after a reel tumble.
Bonus features
Power Wild feature
This affects the main game, plus the free spins round described below. Following a win, as the cluster is taken away, a Power Wild gets placed in one of the vacant spots, boosting your chances of creating a new winning cluster.
Power-Up feature
This is initiated with every Power Wild taken off the grid and in all it incorporates four different Power-Ups. Ahead of every spin, the Power-Ups are chosen at random to display in the golden wheel you’ll notice at the side of your screen.
When a win involves a Power Wild, these Power-Ups are charged up until either you get a non-winning tumble or the free spins Power-Up launches.
The other three offer you the following:
- Golden Scarab Power-Up: Between four and 10 Wilds spread at random across the reels.
- Blaze of Fire Power-Up: This burns regular icons which stand in the way of wins. Each icon removed returns you a twentieth of your stake. It works at random on the grid, with Wilds unable to be removed.
- Eye of Horus Power-Up: All occurrences of one particular lesser-paying symbol are swept off the grid, and, again, each symbol removed yields a twentieth of stake.
Free spins feature
The free spins Power-Up launches this one. Enjoy nine freebies, plus three more each time it’s initiated via the Power-Ups feature. On your initial free whirl, a special Golden Glyph Wild goes randomly onto the reels.
Jackpot
While there isn’t a progressive jackpot, the game can shell out 13,185x stake maximum on every free spin.
Return to Player (RTP)
You should find Golden Glyph a mid-variance affair, plus there’s a none-too-shabby RTP or Return to Player of 96.19%.
Verdict
We all know how extensively Ancient Egyptian slots have been done before. But Golden Glyph, Quickspin’s first Cluster Pays game, is genuinely different with a sophisticated look, and it’s packed with innovative features.
Additionally, it’s really not hard to wrap your head around it once you get turning the reels. (That said, it may not be the ideal game for beginner players.)
So give it a go, ideally in demo mode in the first instance – and let us know what you thought.
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