Mayan Temple Riches Slot Review

While less common than Aztec slots, Mayan-themed slots are still relatively commonplace. Mayan Temple Riches takes place in a dense jungle amid Mayan ruins. The reels are carved from stone and show symbols like Mayan temples, a priestess, and daggers.

Not surprisingly for a Yggdrasil-affiliated slot, the graphics are high quality and the design is conventional and user-friendly with the spin button found to the right of the screen and the + and - buttons are easily accessible below the reels.

A rousing soundtrack accompanies gameplay with various sound effects used to immerse players and enhance the Mayan theme. Of course, if you would prefer to add your own soundtrack then the audio can easily be muted. One thing mobile players will appreciate is that when the game loads a screen appears asking whether you wish to play with audio on or off - neatly avoiding the embarrassment or the jumpscare that comes with sudden blaring music when gaming on the go.

The paytable for the slot features low-paying playing card symbols and thematic symbols including a dagger and priestess. The full paytable is as follows:

• J, Q, K, A: 3, 4, or 5 matching symbols across an active payline awards 0.1, 0.5, and 2x the total stake, respectively.

• Dagger: 3, 4, or 5 matching symbols across an active payline awards 0.5, 1, and 4x the total stake, respectively.

• Necklace: 3, 4, or 5 matching symbols across an active payline awards 1, 2, and 6x the total stake, respectively.

• Headdress: 3, 4, or 5 matching symbols across an active payline awards 1.5, 3, and 8x the total stake, respectively.

• Priestess: 3, 4, or 5 matching symbols across an active payline awards 2, 5, and 10x the total stake, respectively.

• Wild: Looks like a golden temple and can stand in for all other symbols aside from the bonus scatter. It also awards 2, 5, and 10x the total stake, 3, 4, or 5 matching symbols across an active payline, respectively.
• Bonus Scatter: Looks like a golden carving of a deity with red eyes. This symbol can land on reels 1, 3, and 5 and landing three will activate the Keys to Riches Bonus

The Mayan Temple Riches slot has three bonus features; base game modifiers, reel rewind, and the Keys to Riches Bonus. Let’s take a look at these more closely.

Base Game Modifiers

There are three base game modifiers which can be randomly activated when the reels spin. The Temple Wilds modifier will turn between one and five reels fully wild, while the Wild Spirits feature adds random wilds to the reels. Lastly, there is the total bet multiplier, which can multiply your payout by 2-50x. The base game modifier feature can also trigger the Keys to Riches Bonus, but more on that later.

Reel Rewind

Should the Bonus Scatter symbols land on reels 1 and 3 on any spin, the Rewind feature could activate. Reel 5 will rewind and potentially cause a third Bonus Scatter symbol to set off the Keys to Riches Bonus.

Keys to Riches

Land three bonus scatter symbols on reels 1, three, and 5 to activate the Keys to Riches Bonus. Alternatively, this may be achieved by using the reel modifier or reel rewind feature.

When the feature begins players are shown a set of eight keys and eight chests. During the bonus round, the aim of the game is to match every one of the eight keys with its corresponding chest.

Every successful match will move you one level up the ladder and increase the win multiplier on offer. Starting at 10x your wager, your multiplier rises to 20x, 30x, 50x, 75x, 100x, 1000x, and 10000x every rung up the ladder.

Once you have attempted all eight keys or once you have attained the maximum multiplier—whichever one comes first—the bonus round finishes.

While it may look polished on the outside, to me, the Mayan Temple Riches slot feels half-baked. There are great elements, but also some glaring missteps such as that catastrophic maximum RTP of just 94%. I have not seen even a retro slot or a progressive jackpot slot go that low; usually sticking to at least 94.6%, so to see this in a recent release seems like complete insanity. There is not even low volatility or very high-paying symbols to help mitigate this, with the top-paying symbol only awarding 50x and the volatility set to very high. 

The base game modifier is a nice touch, and the Keys to Riches bonus is a unique take on the classic ‘pick and win’ feature, but it feels like this game is crying out for at least one more feature such as frees spins. 

Overall no matter how good a slot looks or how optimised it is, if the math model sucks then the game instantly becomes less appealing, especially considering how saturated the online slot market is. For these reasons, I rate the Mayan Temple Riches slot at a mediocre 5/10.

Rating: 5.0