Mayan Adventure

Capecod Gaming is “notorious” for blessing us slot lovers with some high-quality output over the period of years. They often explore exciting themes and topics and dare venture into some pretty elaborate gaming scenarios. In this instance, we are confronted with a 3x5 reel, 15 paylines game that is disarmingly simple in its core but does hide a few nuggets of surprises along the way. We are thrilled to present them to you in details as we unravel the mysteries of Mayan Adventure!

Theme

Game title is a bit of a giveaway: namely, this video slot is inspired by Mayan civilization. We bet you didn't see that coming! Anyhow, this mysterious and, in many ways, an unparalleled ancient culture whose place of origin was in present-day Central America has been a recurring theme for many a slot games in the past. And it's the inexhaustible nature of Mayan people and their creative and mathematical genius that makes it such a cool subject to revisit.

Mayan Adventure has all the works and visual cues borrowed from culture's urban design, objects of worship and principal aesthetics and have implemented them all to make a well-rounded appearance teeming with authenticity. Set against a simple backdrop of thick rain-forest foliage and high cliffs, the reels are constructed out of trademark building blocks used to create Mayan temples. Low-value symbols are A, J, K, Q, 9 and 10 – each painted in its own vibrant color and decorated in ornaments and stone carvings in typical Mayan style. Symbols of higher worth are a young priestess and, presumably, a shaman, as well as a palm tree and a stone head statue. There are two types of scatter symbols (a statue and a temple with a word “bonus”) and the equal amount of wilds (a golden Mayan wheel and a statue of the sitting ruler), with one being the expanded version that covers the entire reel. Both wilds substitute all symbols except scatters.

Game's soundtrack is present constantly throughout the game and is a contemporary take on the traditional ethnic music of Maya, with trademark flute and water drums sound playing to upbeat modern score. In all honesty, while not exactly bad at all, it does get too repetitive after a while and not varied enough.

Betting Options and Functions

Winnings in this game are paid out on all paylines with a winning combination from left to right and vice versa, with only the highest win per line paid. The player can change a coin denomination size from 0.01 to 1. they can also choose on how many lines they'd like to play (from 1 to 15). To the right is the display with an insight of how much the player is betting with the bet and lines amounts set. And on the left the Win display indicates the amount won on the spin. Even further below are smaller buttons that open a window that shows the exact value of each symbol, the payline diagram and the explanation on how each special feature works. The question mark button opens a game Help center with all the rules accounted for.
Player's panel/toolbar is located at the very bottom of the slot and is elegantly and seamlessly incorporated into the design of the slot with leaves and branches swerving around it, a very clever and eye-pleasing solution.

Features

It is up to scatter symbols to bring up the sparks of ancient magic and spruce up this slot game. As we've said before, there are two kinds of scatters: a pyramid with a yellow background and a totem-like statue with a blue backdrop. Together, they can trigger three different bonus features, but there's a catch – you need to land all five of them on reels to activate those. Landing 5 scatter symbols of any kind – which means 5 mixed scatters, it can be two temples and three statues or 1 statue and four temples, any combination will do the trick – will launch the Magicspin Bonus in which you get three extra spins. In it, Golden Coin and Mystery symbols are only accompanied by additional scatters, while the rest of the slot spaces are empty. Golden coin corresponds to a payout twice the bet and mystery symbol yields a random cashout. Magicspins can be retriggered during this feature by landing five more scatter/bonus symbols.

Temple Bonus is activated when 5 statue symbols land on reels. In it, you will be presented with five statues and you need to guess which hold the random win. Those giving away wins will emit a green flame, and if you get it wrong, red flame will let you know. You will have three attempts to get it right.

Similarly, Pyramid Bonus is only triggered if 5 pyramid symbols land on reels. You will be taken to a screen with a Mayan pyramid, with three levels and 5, 3 and 1 chamber on each level respectively and three lives. Starting at the botton, you need to click the chambers and collect wins until you hit a Level Up sign and move to the upper level of the pyramid. You can keep winning and moving up until you either reach the last level or hit the You Lose sign, that will take away one life from you and return you to the base of the pyramid.

Our Take

Mayan Pyramid is a decent-looking game with some very cool bonus features. Only trouble is – the potential wait for those features to be triggered can be long and dreary. Landing a scatter symbol on each of five reels just isn't easy and will not happen often enough, up until which point you may lose interest and patience. Let's face it, small wins during the main gameplay just won't cut it and keep you seated for hours on end. Even so, the theme, design and three different features of the game are the strong points so – if you have the time and patience, you have a winner on your hand.