Wonders of the Ancient World slot review

You can visit ancient Babylon, the Pyramids at Giza, the Parthenon and touch Zeus’ golden statue at Olympia all in the same breath. While you are visiting the magnificent ancient wonders, you may also chance upon cash prizes of up to 10,000x your bet from a single turn of the reels.

The game at hand is called Wonders of the Ancient World and comes with three rows and five reels, but unlike most of Tom Horn's productions from around the same period, players can land winning outcomes on 15 paylines and trigger two bonus features.

I didn't find the game’s graphics particularly engaging but it isn't a complete disaster either. If I have to describe it in two words those would be "light-hearted" because the theme is quite neutral and painfully motionless too.

So why did I ever bother playing Wonders of the Ancient World? I'd say it's because of the low volatility and the paytable structure. In this regard, I think that the game has a unique potential because there are several symbols that can pay amounts that are more than decent.

Theme and Graphics

As the name suggests, Wonders of the Ancient World is about the megastructures that date from BC times. These are the game's high-paying symbols that barely succeed in grasping the dramatic appearance of those buildings. The symbols are not three-dimensional and I don’t think the designers could have done much in terms of animation around buildings, towers and statues.

Nevertheless, I don’t remember seeing or hearing about any other games that have put into motion the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Parthenon of Athens, the Temple of Artemis, the Colossus at Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria and so on. Because of this, I consider the game to be somewhat unique, however, players who are looking for a full-blown video slot aren’t going to find Wonders of the Ancient World as thrilling as any of the games that have been made in 2020.

Extra Features

• The game lacks pep in the graphics department but it’s pretty well-versed in the language of bonuses. I was thrilled to find out that there are two extra features and a wild symbol that can both substitute for any of the standard symbols and pay cash prizes.
• The wild symbol is represented by the towering lighthouse of Alexandria. A list of pretty amounts can result from having the wild land on a payline in more than one position:
• Two of a kind pay 10x payline bet
• Three of a kind pay 100x payline bet
• Four of a kind pay 1,000x payline bet
• Five of a kind pay the biggest instant prize of the game - 10,000x payline bet
• Another set of instant payouts can crop up during the pick-me bonus feature. The Colossus of Rhodes is the symbol that triggers that game and it itself hints at what you'll be doing in it. There are twelve galleys that you have to choose from, each weighing a certain prize.

• I like it that the paytable shows you the kind of prizes you can expect from the bonus, depending on the number of symbols that trigger it. All prizes are multiplied by the payline bet and schedule goes like this:

  Three symbols for a range of prizes between 10x and 160x; four symbols for a range between 20x and 600x and five symbols for a range between 100x and 2,500x.

• I think it's strange enough that I got the pick-me bonus within a short number of spins but my hopes of hitting the boat with the good amount of loot were dashed. It may have been my personal luck at the end, but it looks like the game is keener on rewarding prizes from the lower end of the ladder, unless your bonus game is triggered by five Colossuses.

• Although mulling which of the boats to choose can be exciting, this bonus is no match for the good old free spins feature because it comes with a 3x multiplier on all wins and because the bonus can retrigger with another set of scatter symbols.

  You need three of Zeus' enthroned golden statues to get the ten spins and a cash prize of 3x your bet. Landing two, four or five symbols also comes with a prize. 100x your bet can be won in exchange for five scatter symbols but I've never more than three thus far in my experience with Wonders of the Ancient World.

This is one of those games that you can play not only for the bonus features. The base game is good enough in terms of prizes that you can land appetizing wins even for three matching symbols. As I said earlier, I think it's strange that it didn't take so many spins between either of the bonuses to trigger, but then you have to remind yourself that this is a low variance game so it’s natural for the winning outcomes to match that volatility level, more or less.

Bets and Payouts

Another fun part for me was considering the paytable structure. It doesn't take a lot of scrutinizing to realize that Ton Horn has shrouded a seriously benign paytable behind a lacklustre graphic design.

In addition to the wild's and the bonus symbols' payouts, there are few other symbols that can arrange for a pleasant surprise, that is if the random number generator doles out four or five matching symbols on a payline.

Yeah, the game really makes it worth seeing the temple at Ephesus or the hanging gardens at Babylon because these symbols can pay 100x and 200x for four of a kind and 500x and 1,000x your payline bet for five of a kind, respectively.

The cards' symbols have the following range:

• 10x to 15x your payline bet for three of a kind
• 25x to 50x your payline bet for four of a kind
• 100x to 200x your payline bet for five of a kind.

All of the above makes Wonders of the Ancient World a game that I don't mind playing despite getting plenty of wins for two and three matching symbols. These can prop up your balance so it doesn't sink way below your initial deposit and that's all towards the possibility of landing a big win either during the bonus features or by getting some five symbol wins.

Conclusion

I think that most of the games that I've played and enjoyed had better graphic design than Wonders of the Ancient World, but as I said, the symbols aren't an eyesore, they are just, well, not very entertaining.

My bottom line is, the game isn't going to hold your attention for too long so if you can overcome the snooze you may get to see some of the world's ancient architectural marvels convert your bets into a decent cash prize.