Golden Wheels of Egypt is a NetEnt slot that fits right into the popular Egyptian niche. This 20 paylines slot has medium to high volatility features scarabs, ankhs, and all kinds of Egypt-themed symbols set against a glimpse of the scorching hot desert. The slot mostly sticks to classic slot gameplay, with a few random features and mini and regular free spins rounds.

The action takes place on a 5x3 grid with the classic NetEnt layout. Thanks to it, it was easy for me to start the adventure. I was impressed by the number of random features on offer. From symbol transforms and super stacks to wild modifiers and a global win multiplier on top, Golden Wheels of Egypt shines in this department without making things too complex.

Thankfully, it doesn’t rely on any kind of “Book of…” mechanic. Those are getting a bit stale, in my opinion, and there are simply too many "Book of..." online slots for real money without any real innovation. Golden Wheels of Egypt is trying to bring back good ol’ fun to the Egyptian niche. Read my detailed Golden Wheels of Egypt review to learn if it succeeds.

Golden Wheels of Egypt has a standard 5x3 layout with controls beneath the reels. You can adjust your bet in a few simple clicks and play the slot by hitting the spin button in the center. If you prefer to let the slot do all the work for you, choose up to 100 automatic spins. As mentioned earlier, the slot has 20 fixed paylines to win across.

NetEnt slots are always visually impressive, and this one is no different. The reels are set in beautifully carved stone with hieroglyphs and Egypt-themed symbols. Those include ankhs and scarabs as well as other antiquity symbols associated with this ancient culture. In the background, you can see a settlement in the desert. When the reels switch to 3x3 in one of the bonus rounds, you’ll see Anubis flanking them on the wall behind.

The soundtrack is right on point too. This adventure’s sound effects are excellent so the overall audio-visual quality is at a high level.

Before you delve deep into Egypt’s mysteries, you should set your bet. Choose between 20c and $100 per spin and hit the spin button that’s right in the center beneath the reels. The reels will turn with a nice animation and hopefully deliver a win. You need 3 or more matching symbols for a win, and wilds can step in to link them. The base game itself doesn’t bring anything new, but you can still hit a few decent wins if you’re lucky to land the high-paying symbols.

As always, the low-paying symbols are card royals. The action that really turns the wheels forward in this slot is the two bonus rounds – one regular and a mini-bonus game too.

Golden wheel scatters can appear on the middle reels at any point during the base game. Landing 2 of them triggers the mini free spins while 3 trigger the regular bonus round. This is where the aforementioned multipliers kick in, boosting the action during the bonuses.

The mini free spins feature starts on a 3x3 playing field with 4 free spins. One or two special reels can award a pair of modifiers active for the duration of the bonus. Those modifiers include:

• Sticky wilds
• Walking wilds
• Super stacks
• Symbol transforms
• Global multiplier

You have no control over which features you get, as this is completely random. On the positive side, they can nicely boost your wins.

You’ll receive 10 free spins when you land 3 golden scatters. This bonus round is played on a 5x3 area. Three reels will receive up to 3 random features, with two of them possibly being the same. The only exception to this rule is the super stack.

You can use the bonus buy feature if you don’t want to wait for the bonus triggers. It costs you 100x for the regular bonus and 150x for mini free spins with 2 random features and stacked wilds.

Golden Wheels of Egypt surprised me with its bonus rounds and the random modifiers. I initially started playing with a bet of $1 and I have to say the base game wasn’t impressive. After around 30 free spins I had no luck with the bonus features. I decided to use the bonus buy feature for both the mini and regular free spins.

Thanks to super stacks and sticky wilds, I managed to hit more than a few decent wins. Golden Wheels of Egypt’s random features make the slot worth your while, even if you have to pay serious bucks for the bonus buys.

The Golden Wheels of Egypt slot RTP is set to 96.05%, which is spot on for a medium volatile slot. You can win a maximum of 5,000x the bet in the bonuses.

Golden Wheels of Egypt is an entertaining Egyptian slot with surprises in the mini and regular bonus rounds. The base game itself isn’t very innovative, but the bonuses come with several random modifiers that pack quite a punch. The two bonus rounds are mini and regular free spins, the difference being in the number of extra spins and the available modifiers. Nevertheless, they offer quite the winning potential and are fun to experience.

If you want another type of Egyptian slot, there are plenty of options. Book of Dead and Legacy of Dead by Play’n GO are your classic "Book of…" tales. If you want something a bit more attractive, you can go for ELK Studio’s Nitropolis slot series.