Gold of Persia Slot Review

Taking on an almost ‘Aladdin’ looking theme, Gold of Persia will transport you back to the days before Iran became the country it is today. The dusky rooftops of the buildings in the background present players with a world of mystery and wonder, as the deep amber-coloured tones offer up a dawn-approaching day. When playing the game, you’ll get the sense that you’re almost walking through the sand dunes of the desert, in search of buried treasures or an oasis to quench your thirst. There is a lack of soundtrack, which is a shame as there are multiple options the type of music that could be incorporated into this one. Instead, Merkur Gaming have chosen to add nothing more than a generic set of arcade tones when you press the ‘Spin’ button.

Drifting Through the Reels of Time…

This game offers up a selection of five different reels, which are combined with three rows to create the interface. These reels, while containing symbols of the regular sort in A, J, K, Q, 9 and 10, also has a few different icons relating to its Persian theme. Therefore, you’ll be able to spin your way through golden genie lamps, curled-toe shoes, a gong and what would appear to be either a jewelled bracelet or some kind of shackle. All in all, the graphics in this game are designed in a pleasant enough way, animating themselves whenever they’re included in a winning combination.

Alongside the reel layout, you’re presented with five fixed pay lines, which are offered in the standard Merkur way. However, players do have the opportunity of changing the amount they gamble per spin, with the minimum amount for this being $0.05 and the maximum amount being $10. Players can utilise the ‘Max Bet’ button to increase the wager amount up to the very highest point in one go, and an ‘Auto Start’ button allows for up to 100 consecutive spins of the reels at the same wager level to be set in motion.

…Such Golden Treasures, You May Find

Such a great theme provides Merkur with the opportunity to fill this game with a multitude of special features, and they’ve worked their way towards doing so. The highest paying symbol in this product is the Persian man wrapped in a blue cloak. Should you manage to spin five of these on a pay line, you’ll be rewarded with 10,000 coins. This icon also acts as a wild symbol, substituting for all others on the reels, except scatters, to form a winning combination. Any wins that are formed with this icon incorporated into it will be doubled.

In addition to this, there is a scatter icon, represented by the Persian woman, also called ‘Sheherazade’. You only need to spin two of these anywhere on the reels to receive a pay out, and being scatters they are exempt from the pay line rule. However if you spin three, four or five of these icons, you’ll be rewarded with 15, 20 or 25 freespins of the reels, respectively. The freespins round is played at the same wager level as that which triggered it, and all wins during this particular round are tripled.

There is also a gamble feature integrated into the game, much like many other Merkur products. This is activated after any win which is less than $140, allowing you the opportunity to increase your funds a little more. If you do decide to do this, you will have the choice of playing the ‘Card Gamble’ game or the ‘Ladder Gamble’ game. The former requires you to correctly guess the colour of the next-turned-over playing card, while the latter provides a ladder with various values on it. Your job is to stop the flashing light on a higher value than your current winnings equate to. A maximum of $140 can be won from the gamble rounds.

A Golden Theme in the Middle East

This game has a great theme to work with, and while it has had several great features instilled into it, you can’t help but feel that there’s still something missing. Gold of Persia could benefit from a bonus round or even the inclusion of a decent soundtrack to build on some type of atmosphere. However, it’s graphically quite pleasing, and game play is very fluid. The ability to trigger freespins and the incorporation of scatter and wild icons makes for a genuinely decent product, although if you’re going to provide such a game, using the arcade music very much takes away from its theme.