Marco Polo Deluxe Slots
Although famous explorer Marco Polo had to go across the known world to find his fortune, luckily for us, we can now try to land our own (small) fortune without leaving the couch. The Marco Polo Deluxe video slot from Novomatic is an adventure-themed game that takes place over five reels and ten paylines, where you can find rich rewards such as free spins with rising win multipliers and wild camels. Land our intrepid explorer right across an active payline to collect a prize of 500x the total stake. It might not make you quite as wealthy as Marco Polo, but it gives you a pretty decent payout nonetheless.
Anyone who has played a slot machine from Novomatic will know that this Austrian developer lags a little behind some others in terms of its games’ visual appeal. Marco Polo Deluxe gives you a few semi-realistic character symbols plus maps, treasure boxes and the high-card icons, but it’s not exactly state-of-the-art. If you were hoping for an impressive soundtrack that captures the adventure of exploring new lands, think again. It’s just a generic fruit machine-type series of noises. But if you look beyond these, we think Marco Polo Deluxe has a lot going for it.
Like all Novomatic games, it’s completely fair and reliable, with a high return-to-player percentage of over 95%. You can collect regular wins as the reels spin up matching symbols from left to right across any payline, and while the features might not be particularly innovative, there’s the chance to claim some big wins in the free game.
A Journey of a Thousand Miles
The only steps you will need to take to embark on this adventure is join a safe, recommended casino that uses Novomatic software, make a deposit and load up the game. You can also test out the free Marco Polo Deluxe video slots, but the starting point to play for real cash is only 0.10 per spin. In common with many slot machines, the smaller but more frequently seen winning combinations are created by the playing card symbols 10, J, Q, K, and A. These are all colorful icons that have been given a subtle Chinese style to help them fit in with the overall theme.
Each of these symbols will need to land on reels one, two and three across a line to be worth anything, but the higher-paying picture symbols only need to be seen on the first two reels to pay a prize. The map pays up to 25x the stake, the treasure chest is worth up to 50x, and Kublai Khan – the emperor who hosted Marco Polo on his travels – pays up to 100x. The top prizes come from Marco Polo himself, who shares his wealth with you by paying a high limit of 500x the stake when he crosses a payline.
Marco Polo is also a wild symbol. He’s able to substitute for all symbols except the camels if he can then complete a combination for you, or extend a win across more reels for a higher payout.
Getting Over the Hump
Camels are notorious for being moody creatures, but the delightful dromedary on these reels should brighten your day when it lands in any three or more places in a single spin. It’s a scatter symbol that initially awards you with ten free spins. Any wins during these games are doubled in value, and with another camel acting as a second wild symbol, it’s a little easier to collect some prizes.
If the bonus round gets retriggered by any three or more camel scatter symbols in view, all wins in the next ten games will be tripled in value. Retrigger them again to have prizes quadrupled, and so on. There’s no upper limit to how many times the free games can be retriggered. But being realistic, you’ll be fortunate to have more than 20 or 30 bonus games playing out in total.
Double or Nothing Round
Wins can be gambled in an optional feature where the triggering bet is doubled in value if you predict the color of a playing card that’s flashing between red and black. Correct picks give you the further choice of playing again or collecting the win. But get it wrong at any stage in the feature, and you lose the initial prize along with anything gained so far in the gamble round.
Exploring the Betting Options
With a bet range that goes from 0.10 with all lines active, to a maximum of 100.00, most players will find a level that’s ideal for them when spinning the reels of Marco Polo Deluxe. It’s a simple command button that you just click until the desired bet size is reached, and there’s a similar button to determine how many of the ten paylines you want to activate. If it’s at all possible, you should always play all lines and adjust the amount staked to suit your own budget.
The Marco Polo Deluxe slot also comes with an Autoplay option. This is another very simple command function that starts with a click and just runs on and on until you decide to stop the spins with another click.
More Adventures
If you like the style of this game, then you should spin the five reels of The Voyages of Sinbad, an online casino slot from 2x2 Gaming that takes the theme of exploration to new levels. It’s filled with mythical creatures, plus free spins with wins doubled in value and an extra scatter symbol in play throughout the feature.
But if it’s the gameplay that attracts you to Marco Polo Deluxe, then the Hat Trick slot, also from Novomatic, has virtually identical bonus rounds, along with the five-reel, ten-payline layout. It’s also got a magical theme that will appeal to many players.
A Rewarding Trek
While the design of the Marco Polo Deluxe video slot is pretty average, we liked the gameplay and features. It’s a medium-volatility slot machine that spins up winning combinations for you, helped by the cheerful camel wild symbol. Free spins with rising multipliers are a nice extra treat, although you must be careful in the gamble round. The playing card flashes so quickly between the colors that it’s just a game of chance, not skill; and we found it very difficult to get through more than a couple of picks before losing the gamble.
Marco Polo is fully mobile-optimized, so you can join in the explorer’s adventure via iPhones, iPads, plus Android and Windows devices, as well as on desktop PCs. Check it out at Novomatic-powered online casinos, and see where this exciting journey takes you to.
