The Museum Slot
Ancient artefacts fill the reels of The Museum video slot from Malaysian-based developer Vela Gaming, digging up some bonus features such as wild substitutions, scatter awards and a history-making free spins bonus round where gamblers get to pick how many games play out along with a choice of which symbols are in play throughout them.
Vela Gaming have filled the game with various shades of brown to give it an eerie atmosphere. The museum pieces are picked out in muted gold colours, while high card symbols are in equally restrained purples, blues and pinks. It’s an unusual colour scheme that make the whole game look like a big bar of chocolate, but read on to see if the way it plays is just as sweet.
Punters have the option of trying out The Museum free slots, or placing real wagers for as little as 0.25 per spin. This can be raised to a high limit of 25.00 and standard win-lines come from landing 3 of a symbol kind across a payline, running in an unbroken sequence from the leftmost reel.
Exploring the Museum
The columns of the museum stretch into the background behind the 5 reels, each of which looks like a picture frame, and there are spotlights illuminating the game title to complete the scene. A paytable takes players to a different exhibit, where they will see how many coins are won each time symbols line up favourably.
If either the 10, J, or Q land across a payline, the rewards are 5x, 25x or 100x the line stake, while the K pays out 5x, 50x or 100x and the top-value card icon is the A, which is worth 10x, 50x or 125x when it stops on 3, 4, or 5 reels across a line.
The unique picture symbols include a slightly creepy mask that’s worth 10x, 75x, or 200x the line stake, plus an ancient vase, lion statue, and winged sculpture. The highest-paying standard symbol is a gold necklace, and when this stops on 3, 4, or 5 reels, gamblers win 50x, 200x or a huge 1000x the amount staked on the line.
Wild Hieroglyphs
A stone tablet, embellished with gold hieroglyphics is a valuable piece in the collection at this museum, as it’s a wild symbol that creates additional winning combinations by acting as any other, apart from the scatter. If players have a gap in a run of matching symbols and the wild is in the right place to fill the gap, it will substitute, and it will still count as a winning line.
As a bonus treat, the basic value of the win will be doubled, although the wild only appears on reels 2, 3 and 4, so can’t make up a win on its own.
Free Spins on Display
A patterned coin pays out 5x, 10x or 50x the total bet amount when it lands in any 3, 4, or 5 places at once. This scatter symbol also takes players to a free spins bonus game, but before they begin, there’s a choice of how many spins play out and which symbols are on the reels throughout them.
The options are for just 5 spins, but where only the high-paying picture symbols, wild and scatter are in play, 8 extra games where the necklace, playing cards, wild and scatter are on the reels, or 15 bonus spins with just the playing card icons, wild and scatter appearing.
There’s also the Mystery option, where a maximum of 20 bonus spins can be awarded, and any of the combinations above will be on the reels. It’s a bit more risky to take this option, but all free spins rounds should see a few winning lines formed, as having fewer symbols on the reels makes it easier to land matching ones across the reels.
Any bonus round can be retriggered if 3 or more scatters land in a single free spin, with a new set playing out as soon as the current ones are done.
Is it Worth a Trip to the Museum?
This distinctive game has an original theme and a nice set of bonus features and options. It’s mobile-optimised for use on all compatible devices, and has a high return to player percentage.
Some may be put off by the muted design, but others will like the subdued colours and the symbols are all nicely presented, while triggering the bonus features of this slot should please everyone. Having the option to decide which symbols are in play is a nice touch, so players who like a high volatility with the chance for bigger wins should choose just 5 spins, while those who want to see more play out will prefer the 15 games, or could go for the Mystery spins.
