If Pragmatic Play is going to be lazy when it comes to online slot development, then I may as well follow an example with this review for their Rise of Pyramids slot. In this review, I play the game inside my real money online casino and report my experience. This review covers all subject matters, including “how to play”, bonus features, software programming, and jackpot payout. 

That’s the intro because, like Pragmatic Play, I cannot be bothered to be creative and put more into it. 

Rise of Pyramids is yet another ancient Egyptian slot that is taking the route of design that plays on science fiction and advanced technology. It’s not new, and it’s not clever. The slot itself takes on the shape of a hexagon, leading to a massive layout of rows and reels. Rise of Pyramids has 7 reels, with row formations that go 3-4-5-6-5-4-3. To the left of the slot is some futuristic-looking pharaoh hovering up and down. 

The Rise of Pyramids game carries a minimum bet value of $1 per spin. The max bet clocks in at $250. Set your bet cost to suit your budget. When ready to play, press the spin or autoplay button. Now, Rise of Pyramids is a Tumbler slot game, so the reels don’t actually spin. Instead, the symbols drop off the game as new ones enter from above. When wins are formed in clusters of matches, in this case, 8 or more. Those winning symbols are removed from the reels. The symbols above them drop into the space, while new symbols also drop into the game. This can form a chain reaction of consecutive wins should the symbols change position and join the game to help form new clusters. 

To give players the illusion of a specialty feature, Rise of Pyramids comes with a respin trigger. This is tied to the Money symbol. This feature triggers when 4 or more of the Money symbol land. They come with values that range from 0.5x to 1000x your wagering value. During the respin, only Money symbols and blank spaces are in play. You have 3 respins, and when Money symbols land, they stick. You will also reset the spin counter back to 3. The aim is to fill the spaces with Money symbols. Otherwise, the round ends once your spins are over.

Rise of Pyramids also comes with a free spins bonus round. To trigger this area of play, you need to land 4 or more scatter symbols. In return, you will be rewarded with 10 respins. Each scatter after 4 returns 2 additional spins. The free spins round hosts a multiplier that is given to all wins. This multiplier starts at x1, and increases by a factor of +1 with each Tumble played. Further spins can be won with 4 or more scatters landing during the round.

The game also comes with a Buy Feature. Players can purchase either bonus respins or free spins. The bonus respins cost 30x your wager, and the free spins cost 80x your wager. To be fair, this is cheaper than most other slot games that come with the Buy Bonus feature.

Everything about this game highlights my absolute hatred of lazy development and Egyptian-themed slots. Do not be fooled by the shape of the slot; everything you see has been done before, and the features, and lack of them, go to show that this game took onboard very little creative input. 

But, for me to justify my very damning comments, I indeed play the game in my online casino and for real money. I played my usual $2 per spin wager over 50 spins. The results were as expected. I landed several wins, but 90% of them were all well below the value of my $2 bet. This is the other issue I have with Tumbler games; the symbols hold little value. You often need to hit clusters of 15+ symbols to see a worthy return, and that’s just the lower-valued symbols. 

Long story short, my 50 spins ended with me being unable to cash out anything.

The max payout of this game is 5,000 times the amount you wagered per spin. With a max bet of $250, the jackpot would be capped at $1,250,000. The RTP is 95.97% and the volatility is programmed at a medium/high setting.

Something strange is going on in the world of Pragmatic Play and a few other once-great slot developers. Recently, the more I have seen Tumbling Reel features being used, the more I have seen it as an excuse not to come up with anything new when it comes to the creative process. 

Casino slots rarely expand on the concept they are designed around. Instead, developers will make 100 slots, all with the same mechanics but with 100 different skins if we’re lucky. Futuristic pyramid designs aren’t new. Changing the layout of the slot to a hexagon shape isn’t new. The Tumbling Reel feature isn’t new. And the lazy features of respins and free spins are nothing new. At no point did the design of futuristic pyramids even play a part.

The hovering pharaoh may as well have been sitting on a futuristic toilet.

But, hey, I might be wrong, and you might get something out of the Rise of Pyramids game that I didn’t. If you like futuristic pyramid slot games, then you may also like the following:

Astros by Red Tiger Gaming

Sanctuary by Big Time Gaming

Guardians of the Pyramids by Games Global

Inside these slot reviews, you can play the free demo games. You will also find ties to the best casinos online that host these slots and real money features.