Gears of Horus

Theme and Design

An Original Spin on the Classic Egyptian Slot With Steam Punk Elements

The idea of another Egyptian-themed cluster pays slot might not sound exciting, but Pragmatic Play have definitely found a way to breathe life into this well-worn theme by mixing in some steam-punk stylings which look very cool. The setting is the desert at night, pyramids and temples in the background, and a 6x6 grid in the foreground. So far, so normal. But look to the left and right of the grid and you’ll see steam-powered mechanical apparatus including cogs – the gears of the title - that turn to expand reels and rows after every tumble. It looks great and with a grid housing bright, shiny gems and a mix of hieroglyphs the picture is complete. Your soundtrack is a dramatic orchestral score that builds in time with the wins. Overall, a surprisingly fun and original production.

RTP and Variance

Gears of Horus has 3 available RTP settings which is standard for Pragmatic Play slots. They are 96.09%, 95.09% and 94.06%. It will at your casino’s discretion which rate they set the game to. Whilst there is not much difference between 96.09% and 94.06% it always makes sense to play at the highest rate so look for slot sites where Gears of Horus runs at 96.09%.

You can check the RTP on the game info screen by clicking the ‘I’ button under the reels then scrolling through until you find it. In my experience, MrQ from Lindar Media is your best bet. It is their policy to always offer slots at the best rate.

This is another highly volatile slot from Pragmatic Play with a high win potential, so expect an uneven win distribution, but it has the capacity with wilds, multipliers and free spins to go off at any time.

Maximum Win

The top payout in Gears of Horus is 10,000x. That is about average for a high risk slot from Pragmatic. If you want better potential you can check out recent release, Strawberry Cocktail, which has a 16,000x max win, or check our article on Pragmatic’s highest max win games.

Symbols and Paytable

This is a cluster pays slot which runs on a 6 reel and 6 row grid. Wins are triggered by landing 5 or more identical symbols in horizontally or vertically adjacent positions anywhere on the grid. With a 6x6 configuration it is therefore possible to build clusters as big as 36 symbols in size.

However, Gear of Horus is also a Tumble Wins game (see more on that below) and after each consecutive Tumble one side of the grid expands by 1 up to a maximum of 8. So, at full expansion you have an 8x8 grid. That means you can actually build clusters of 64 symbols in size for HUGE payouts!

There are 8 pay symbols to help you on your way. The low payers are the 4 gems in green, purple, blue and red. These are valued at from 0.1x for 5 greens up to 15x for between 15 and 64 reds. The premiums are the Egyptian symbols – the dog, the eye, the 2 birds. These are valued at from 0.4x for 5 dogs up to 100x for 15 to 64 of the top paying premium birds.

There is also a Wild that will help to complete clusters by substituting for any pay symbol. It also has the same value as the top paying premium symbol at 1x for 5 in a cluster up to 100x for 12 to 64 in a cluster.

Features and Gameplay

The gameplay in Gears of Horus is an uncomplicated mix of tumbles, wilds, multipliers and free spins. Most slots fans will be familiar with these.

Tumble Wins and Expanding Grid

The tumble win mechanic triggers with every win. All winning symbols in clusters on the grid are removed, and non-winning symbols drop down to fill the space. Then new symbol drop onto the grid from above to complete the sequence. If this creates more clusters then the process repeats. And so on, until no more wins are triggered.

The nice part is that for every tumble one of the sides of the grid – top, bottom, left or right, expands by one reel or row. This continues up to a maximum of 8 reels and 8 rows, creating space for bigger clusters.

Random Wild Blocks When The Grid is 8x8

IF the grid has expanded to 8x8 in size then a block of wilds is randomly added to the grid to help form more clusters. The blocks may be configured in many different shapes and sizes (1x2, 2x2, 5x1, 2x3 etc.) with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 16 wilds in total.

Free Spins With Progressive Multipliers

The scatter symbol in Gears of Horus is represented by the scarab beetle. It will trigger the free spins round when 3, 4 or 5 land on the reels in one spin. That gets you 8, 12 or 20 free spins.

What I like about this free spins round is the configuration of the progressive multiplier. It starts at 1x for each spin and increases by 1x with each tumble win. But that’s not all, for each of the first FOUR tumbles in a sequence, there is additional 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x added to it!

The multiplier value is then applied to all wins from the current spin before re-setting to 1x for the next one.

And, you can also re-trigger the free spins at any point during the feature by hitting 3, 4 or 5 scatters to get you 8, 12 or 20 free spins again.