Rich Wilde — pretty much the Indiana Jones of the online slot world — is back for more adventure, this time in a Play’n GO game titled Pearls of India, which is exclusive to BetMGM for Michigan iSlot players.
From his debut in Aztec Idols to Book of the Dead to Tome of Madness, Wilde’s adventures have certainly proven popular, and Pearls of India might be the most fun adventure to date.
The facts
Quite simply, there are a lot of ways to win on Pearls of India.
With a healthy RTP of 96.87%, Pearls of India is a 5×4 cascading slot. Win on the first spin and the winning symbols are replaced on the now-free second spin. Win there, get 2x your money. Rinse, repeat, winning symbols disappear, new symbols cascade down, win again, get 4x — then 6x, then 10X.
And then once the spin is over, you have the opportunity to “gamble” your winnings by picking a card from a deck. Pick red or black to double your win, pick a suit and get four times the winnings.
If you win, you can do it again, up to a limit of 2,500 coins. Of course, you’re risking everything with this feature — and that’s just the basic game.
The bonus game occurs after you collect 25 temple symbols. There’s a handy counter that keeps track of how many temple symbols you’ve collected, and once you hit the magic number, you’re taken to the bonus round, where you have the choice of three games.
There’s Statue of Vishnu, in which you try and choose pearls from the hands of the statue, keep getting pearls, and keep going until you get an empty hand. The Wheel of Brahma spins around once and how it lands determines your prize, and the Wall of Shiva allows you to crack open tiles on a wall to reveal prizes — and you keep going until you get an empty one.
In addition to the bonus round, there is also a free spins feature.
Get three pearls on any spin and it opens up the free spins round, in which you get 10 spins (the multiplier is doubled to 2x, 4x, 8x, 12x, and 20x). And while in the free spins round, if you get five more pearls, you unlock five extra bonus spins (and the multiplier goes up again, to 3x, 6x, 12x, 18x, and 30x). This can happen up to a maximum of 30 spins.
There are the requisite wild symbols, some even feature the dashing Mr. Wilde. And addition to India-themed symbols, there are the standard A-10 symbols.
Look and feel
The music is India temple-light; the only thing missing is some incense wafting up to your nostrils. (Side note: Slot smell-o-vision should be a thing.)
The cascading slot feature is fun and reminds the player of the Megaways feature from Big Time Gaming. Additionally, the graphics have a somewhat Disney-like feel to them, like you’re visiting India World at Epcot, which is really just a booth, but you get the idea.
The results
Well I certainly had a — ahem — wild time. I hit the free spins bonus and kept getting those pearls, turning a 20-cent spin into a $35.32 victory. So that was nice.
I also got the 25-temple bonus, winning $5 there.
I guess if there’s one complaint, it’s the temple bonus. Once you get a few temples, you want to keep spinning to get to 25. Obviously there’s value in getting to that bonus, but there’s obvious risk in spinning to reach it. And really, once you get to 14 or 16 or 18 — or whatever number triggers the risk/reward button in your brain — you’re going to keep spinning to get to the bonus.
Overall, though, a very, very fun title with plenty of ways to — I’m going to do it again — get wild.
