Rise of Maya

Go on a quest to find long-forgotten treasures of the Mesoamerican civilization on the slot from NetEnt. Rise of Maya will take you back in time to find a hidden temple of the Mayan people with four different wilds, a random Scatter Nudge, a Bonus Bet with respins and a free spins round that can lead to wins of up to 5,000 times your bet in a single round.

Slot Details

Rise of Maya is a video slot with five reels, three rows and 10 fixed pay lines. Wins are awarded for two to five matching symbols on a line from left to right only. Venture into the Mesoamerican rainforest on desktop or mobile from 0.10 to 75 credits per spin. The game has medium volatility with a default RTP of 96.12%. Using the Bonus Bet will raise the stake sizes to 0.20 to 150 credits and the RTP to 96.42%.

The translucent reels are set inside a Mayan temple, flanked by two eternal flames and backed against a wall with a giant golden mask, which will open in the free spins to unveil the staircase to the hidden treasure chamber. Colourful masks populate the reels together with a golden serpent that will have a significant role in the gameplay.

The pay symbols start at the low end with the card royals from 10 through to A in Mayan style, awarding 6x to 15x your bet for a single five of a kind. They are followed by five differently coloured Mayan masks at the high level. Hit five on a line to win 30x to 500x your stake.

A golden icon with a red background and a rolled-up red-eyed serpent acts as the wild symbol, substituting for all symbols including the scatter, which is the same golden mask but without the red background and marking. A five of a kind wild symbols will also pay 500x your bet when they land on a line.

Rise of Maya Slot Features

Mayan-themed or for a matter of fact also Aztec-themed slots are usually intense affairs with plenty of action and features on the reels. Netent tried to match that to the largest part with a range of wilds and a free spins round with hot reels. Plus, they allow players to activate a Bonus Bet at a cost to improve the chances of triggering the main feature.

But let’s start with Serpent Wilds. There is a standard single wild, two expanding Serpent Wilds and last but not least a Serpent Stack. The latter can appear in the Free Spins only. No need to explain the single wild as it performs the usual substitution duties. The two expanding Serpent Wilds will expand either up or down and may cover the entire reel. In turn, the Serpent Stacks will always expand to cover the entire reel when they land on a hot reel (more to that in a moment).

Hitting any combination of three, four or five Serpent Wilds and scatters anywhere on the reels in one spin will trigger 10, 15 and 20 Free Spins, respectively. which cannot be retriggered. All reels where a Serpent Wild landed on the triggering spin will turn into Hot Reels. Any Serpent Wilds appearing on a Hot Reel will expand to cover the entire reel. Serpent Wilds landing on a non-activated reel will turn it into a Hot Reel as well as awarding +2 free spins. This is the moment where you can hit the maximum win in a single spin. A full screen of expanded Serpent Stacks will pay a cool 5,000x your bet.

It’s not over yet as NetEnt incorporated a few extras into the gameplay that can have quite an impact. First is the Scatter Nudge which can trigger randomly on a losing spin in the base game and free spins to nudge Serpent Wilds or scatters into view.

The other extra is the Bonus Bet: Second Chance Scatter option which you can activate or deactivate on any spin in the main game. It will double the cost per spin, e.g. from 1 to 2 credits, and in return will increase the chance to land additional Serpent Wilds or scatters, potentially triggering the Free Spins more often and that with more hot reels. According to the game sheet, the free spins trigger on average 1:125 spins in default mode and 1:46 spins with the Bonus Bet. Certainly, something to consider if the balance allows it.

And there is one more advantage when activating the Bonus Bet. The Second Chance Scatter Respin will trigger on any spin the base game where only two Serpent Wilds or scatters land on the initial spin. The reels without them will spin one more time for another chance to land the missing third Serpent Wild or scatter.

Final Verdict

Not sure whether I like this slot or how to rate it. We had only the game sheet for this review, hence, we couldn’t give it a proper test run to get a better feeling how it all performs over a few thousand spins. On the surface, it looks like an interesting game although the visuals are somewhat below the usual NetEnt standard.

It hinges to a large part on the Serpent Wilds and hot reels in the free spins to score sizeable wins that go over the normal line pays. Having all five reels as hot reels will surely make a big difference but knowing slots maths that case will be as rare as snow in the desert. Well, maybe a bit more often as the game sheet reveals a 1:20.7 million chance to hit an overall win of 5,000x bet in the free spins round.

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Comments

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