Egyptian slots aren’t exactly hard to find, so what is it about Eye of Horus that made it such a hit? Well, it probably helped that the game was used a lot by online casinos with their daily free game promotions. If you ever won free spins on them, there was a decent chance that Eye of Horus would b the game you had to use them on.
It wasn’t simply about exposure though. The game was chosen because it was already popular, largely due to the wild which fills the whole reel when it lands, then takes on an additional role during free spins. During this round, the picture symbols can be upgraded as you go, so the reels can be much more valuable at the end of the round than they were at the beginning.
Here is everything you need to know about Eye of Horus, a game originally developed for terminals by Reel Time Gaming, then adapted for online casinos by Blueprint Gaming, a studio which is owned by Merkur.
Eye of Horus Free Play
Game Features
Like many of the most popular slots, Eye of Horus is nice and simple on the surface. It’s a 5 reel slot with three rows and 10 paylines running left to right, and you need at least three symbols on a payline for a win.
It’s a very high volatility game, but it has a nice balance of extra features between the base game and the bonus round.
The symbols you will see on the reels are fans, ankhs, scarab beetles, falcons, Anubis, and the Eye of Horus itself. Then you have the regular J, Q, K and A card symbols too. The Eye is the highest paying symbol, while the temple doors are the scatter and the winged Horus symbol is the wild – but more on that shortly.
The games comes with a default RTP of 96.31%, although lower RTP versions are available so do check wherever you like to play.
Expanding Wild
The winged Horus symbol I mentioned is the wild, and it can only land on reels two, three, and four. When it lands, it expands to cover the whole reel, so essentially every symbol on that reel becomes a wild.
This has obvious benefits in that it can create many more winning combinations than a single wild symbol could. However, it can not replace the scatter. The game isn’t that generous.
This feature occurs in the base game and during the free spins round, so it gives the game a bit of extra punch throughout, not just during the bonus round. Oh, and these wilds can land on multiple reels on the same spin too.
Free Spins Round
If you land three or more temple door scatter symbols on a single spin, you enter the free spins round. You aren’t rewarded with extra free spins for landing more than three scatters, although the free spins round can be extended once it gets underway.
You start with 12 free spins, but this is where the wild has another job, because whenever a wild symbol lands during the bonus round, extra free spins are added to your tally. The number of free spins you get depends on how many wilds land per spin:
- 1 Horus wild = 1 extra free spin
- 2 Horus wilds = 3 extra free spins
- 3 Horus wilds = 5 extra free spins
On top of this, each wild that lands also advances the symbol upgrade bar. So the lowest paying picture symbols on the reels are replaced with the next highest paying symbol. Then when another wild lands, those symbols are all replaced by the next highest paying picture symbols, until eventually, all the picture symbols on the reels are the highest paying symbol, the Eye. Changes remain for the entirity bonus round.
The card symbols aren’t included in this, but it’s still a brilliant feature that gives the round a real sense of progression.
Verdict
The extra interest added to the base game by the expanding wilds gives Eye of Horus a bit of edge over many other slots of its type. Biggish wins are possible without the free spins round, but this is still where you ultimately want to end up.
The upgrading symbols coupled with the ability to continually extend the free spins round provides a real sense of urgency. Having extra chances to win on upgraded reels is very exciting. On the flip side, if Horus hardly appears during free spins the round can finish before the upgrades have a chance to help you.
Ultimately, Eye of Horus has enough going on to keep a player interested and see them into the free spins round without making things overly complicated, as well as the ability to provide some real thrills if and when they get there.
Other Eye of Horus Games Worth Knowing
Most successful slots are built on and improved upon by their developers, and Eye of Horus is one of them:
Eye of Horus Megaways
Replacing the original 10 paylines with the popular Megaways mechanic gives Eye of Horus Megaways 15,625 ways to win. The expanding wilds and symbol upgrades remain, so it feels familiar, but the reel layout is different.
Eye of Horus Golden Tablet
Golden Tablet changes how the upgrades work, but otherwise, the game remains the same. Here, when a wild lands in free spins, the upgrades work backwards. So the second highest paying picture symbols become the highest paying ones, and so on.
Eye of Horus Legacy of Gold
Legacy of Gold is the most far removed from the original. With 4,096 ways to win, 6 reels, a cash collection mechanic, and several upgrades to unlock, there is lots going on here. The separate Legacy Gold feature, when triggered, gives a cash collection on every spin