Casino Bonuses
| Provider | Pragmatic Play |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 243 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.25 - 125 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 8,035x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.00% |
| Our Rating | 7.1 |
Latest Slots
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Game Overview
When I first read the title of this game, my brain played a bit of a trick on me as I somehow interpreted it as ‘murder on the orient’ instead! I’m sure that a slot machine interpretation of the world-renowned Agatha Christie novel from 1934 could be pretty cool, but that’s not what we have on this occasion. This new Pragmatic Play online slot is titled ‘Mystery of the Orient’ and features 243 payways, an 8,035x jackpot, and a 96% RTP. Oh, and please don’t ask what the mystery of the orient might be – I have absolutely no idea!
Opening the paytable of this game reveals plenty worth getting excited about, starting with an 8,000x bet GRAND jackpot that is awarded whenever all five scatter symbols land on the reels. Next, the wild symbols that appear on all five reels come with multipliers of up to 25x attached to them, which guarantees that even a base game spin can turn into a monster win if lady luck is on your side. Still not impressed? The free spins feature can award up to 25 free spins on an enlarged playfield filled with additional mystery symbols and even better odds. Finally, a bonus buy facility allows you to skip the base game altogether if you wish.
I may not be able to reveal the secret of the mystery of the orient, but I can offer you a few spins on our free demo slot of Mystery of the Orient. Isn’t that more or less the same thing?
Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Gambling is big business in the Far East, most notably in the Chinese special administrative region of Macau. The gambling revenues generated there dwarf those of even Las Vegas, and all of those Asian gamblers love their oriental-themed slot machines! There seem to be two distinct categories of these games – Chinese-style machines such as Fortune Tiger and Fu Fortunes Megaways and Japanese-style ones such as this one. I much prefer the latter personally, and Mystery of the Orient is an excellent example of the genre with bright colours, smooth animations, and a very attractive maximum jackpot.
You wouldn’t guess that this was a great paying slot from looking at the paytable alone, as the highest-paying Female Character symbol is only worth 4x the total bet for a full payway of five of a kind! Instead of relying on simple line hits, this game requires you to win on a whole bunch of pay ways simultaneously – preferably with a large multiplier wild – for a chance of reaching its biggest payouts. The Tiger is worth 3x for all five of its symbols, whilst the Pile of Gold offers 2.4x, and the Sword and Sitar are each worth 2x the bet for a complete payway. There are six low-paying royal symbols, which have returns of between 0.8x and 1.6x the current stake for a five of a kind combination. A final note – I nearly missed the 50x payout attached to the Yin & Yang symbol! This is the scatter which triggers the free spins and appears in addition to the ones which award the games jackpot prizes.
I always appreciate Pragmatic Play’s wager selection setup. There are three separate controls available for choosing the bet, coin value, and total bet amounts, and these allow you to play any multiple of the €0.25 minimum bet up to the maximum of €125.00 per spin.
Base Game & Modifiers
After loading Mystery of the Orient for the first time, you will be greeted with a standard 5×3 reel set. This is a 243-way machine, meaning there are no pay line arrangements to remember – any combination of three or more matching symbols in adjacent columns, starting from the left, will award a win. The reel set can grow larger during the bonus round, but we’ll discuss that aspect of the game in the next section.
Mystery Symbols
Every reel is packed with these special symbols, which take the appearance of Japanese blinds or doors. Unlike the mystery symbols which feature in most other slots, the ones included in Mystery of the Orient can transform into scatters, multiplier wilds, or jackpot symbols, in addition to the regular paytable symbols.
Jackpot Scatter Symbols
There are two sets of scatter symbols included in this game – the first is the regular bonus triggering variety which feature the yin/yang symbol, but the second simply says the word ‘SCATTER’ and is used to award the game’s jackpot prizes.
Three of these symbols will award 10x the total bet, while four or five will give you 40x or an unbelievable 8,000x your total stake, respectively. Wow!
Multiplier Wilds
Even the wilds included in this machine have special abilities, but they aren’t easy to come by – the only way to hit them is via the mystery symbol deciding to transform into a bunch of them for you.
It’s well worth the wait though – wilds can award a multiplier of 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 8x, 10x, 15x, 20x, or 25x, and multiple wilds featuring in a single round are added together before their total is applied to your total win.
Mystery Of The Orient Slot Bonus Features
The main free spin bonus round is triggered by landing three, four, or five yin/yang scatter symbols, awarding either 15, 20, or 25 free spins, respectively. There’s also a cash prize to look forward to 25x, 30x, or 50x depending on the number of triggering symbols.
Free Spins
The base game already included a whole bunch of great features, but somehow Pragmatic Play has still managed to save a bit of RTP to spice up the free spins aspect of the machine!
The reels used in the bonus include some extra symbols; the up-facing arrow will extend the playfield with an additional row, simultaneously bumping up the number of available payways. The reels can reach a maximum height of six symbols each via this feature.
There are also free spin prize symbols available, which can even be revealed by the mystery symbol. Each free spin symbol can add 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 free spins to the remaining total.
Bonus Buy
I can’t imagine too many players being desperate to skip the base game of this machine, but if you really must go straight to the bonus round, then there is a bonus buy facility available at the cost of 100x, the normal price per spin.
The number of triggering scatters is determined randomly after making the purchase, so there’s a possibility that you may receive your buy-in back immediately if the game gives you a maximum five-scatter trigger!
Pros
- The maximum win of 8,035x is higher than many other games from Pragmatic.
- An expanding playfield which increases the win potential.
Cons
- If Eastern-themed slots are not your thing, the theme won't be of an appeal.
Mystery of the Orient Slot Review Final Thoughts
I was really surprised at just how much effort has been put into this release – the theme isn’t really my cup of tea, but the feature set is top-class and is more than enough to make me excited to play this game for real money as soon as I can.
Good
- Game Types:
- Asian Slots
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