Golden Glyph 2

Golden Glyph 2 Slot Review

Slot Provider: Quickspin

RTP: 96.09% | Variance: High | Maximum Win: 26,800x

Our Score: 9.2

Play at Casumo Casino
QUICK LINKS: Game Information | Where To Play | Full Review | Testing Notes | Compare Slots | Tips For Players | About The Developer

WHY YOU CAN TRUST THIS REVIEW: The information and opinions on this page are the result of an comprehensive process of information gathering and live game testing by the gambling experts who work at allslotsites.com. Find out more here.

About Golden Glyph 2

Reviewed by:

Published Date: 15th June 2021

How We Review Slot Games

We test and rate all slot games across 5 criteria, assigning a score out of 10 for each and an overall score that is an average of the 5. To build an accurate assessment of each game we gather information from the supplier and play in real play or demo mode. Find out more.

Golden Glyph 2 is a 7×7 cluster pays slot from Quickspin with an Ancient Egyptian theme. It is the follow-up to the original Golden Glyph and includes much of the same gameplay, including the special Tumbling Reels feature which causes winning symbols to drop out and be replaced by new ones, causing exciting sequences of cumulative wins.

The Power Glyph symbol activates Power Ups where extra wilds and random tumbles help to build more wins. And in the free spins round Glyph Wilds are added with progressive multipliers that grow with each win, up to a maximum of 50x.

The top payout in this game is 26,800x and spins start at 20p.

Golden Glyph 2 Game Information

  • RTP: 96.09%
  • Variance: High
  • Maximum Win: 26,800x
  • Progressive Jackpot: No
  • Reels: 7
  • Rows: 7
  • Paylines: Cluster Pays
  • Minimum Stake: £0.20
  • Theme: Ancient Egypt
  • Features: Power-Ups, Gigantic Wilds, Wilds, Free Spins, Progressive Multipliers

Testing Notes: Here’s What Happened When We Played Golden Glyph 2

IMPORTANT: To give you an accurate assessment of the games we review our writers play 200 spins. Whilst this is a useful tool to help us review games and to give an example of what might happen when you play, keep in mind that 200 spins is only a very small sample and cannot be used to accurately predict what might happen over another 200 spins. The outcome of all slots play is always random.

Boom Or Bust? Our Session By The Numbers

I played 200 spins on Golden Glyph 2 for real money at Casumo Casino to test the game and this is what happened.

  • Stake Size: £0.2
  • Start balance: £11.50
  • End balance: £2.36
  • Biggest Win: 28.1x
  • Free Spins: 0
  • Session Time: 25 minutes 58 seconds

For entertainment value, Golden Glyph 2 felt like good value for money. 200 spins lasted over 25 minutes which is longer than you get on most slots, thanks largely to the extended sequences that come with the Power-Ups. The scatters were elusive and I never felt like I got close to unlocking the free spins. However, Tumbling Wins regularly unlocked Power Ups and brought up wins of 18.9x, 21x and 28.1x at various points. The most exciting parts come when a few Power Ups are activated and they trigger one by one. This can produce some very productive sequences.

An 18.8x win from Golden Glyph 2
An 18.8x win from the 200 spins test session

What We Liked

  • Awesome production with slick animations
  • Regular Power-Up features in base game
  • Up to 50x multipliers in free spins
  • Re-trigger free spins
  • Bigger max win than original game

What We Didn't like

  • Maybe too volatile for some players

Golden Glyph 2 Review Scores

  • Theme and Design 10
  • RTP and Variance 8
  • Maximum Win 9
  • Symbols and Paytable 9
  • Features and Gameplay 10

What Our Reviewer Says ...

"A superb Cluster Pays game with clever progressive elements including powerful Power Ups in the base game and a free spins round with HUGE potential!"

Overall Score: 9.2

Theme & Design

Our Score 10

Epic, Sweeping Desert Scene and Slick Grid Animations

Golden Glyph 2 is certainly a top-class production. Your eyes will be glued to the grid throughout because there is a lot going on but when you get a chance, take in the background, a sweeping vista of desert with sand dunes and a large temple flanked by columns. There is a man on horseback to the left of the grid too, perhaps planning to enter and plunder some treasures. The whole scene is designed in classic Quickspin yellows and oranges, which will please any fan of this studio.

Golden Glyph 2 by Quickspin
Golden Glyph 2 – superb production from Quickpin

The grid itself is impressive too, housing beautifully illustrated hieroglyphs which drop down into position with a satisfying thud, reminiscent of games like Temple Tumble from Relax Gaming. There are also a lot of nice animations as various Power Up features unlock and scarabs fly over the grid, or giant wilds slide into position. And all soundtracked by an epic orchestral tune.

In short, definitely deserving of top marks.

RTP and Variance

Our Score 8

What is RTP?

RTP (Return to Player) refers to the amount a game will pay out in cash prizes expressed as a percentage of all the money wagered on that game. For example, a 96% RTP means a game will pay out £96 for every £100 wagered. This is an average number and will vary from one session to the next.  Read more here.

What is Variance?

Variance refers to how far a game will deviate from its RTP over time. High variance games deviate a lot and produce uneven win distributions and unexpected windfalls. Low variance games provide a more stable and even distribution of wins. Read more here.

Golden Glyph 2 has a fixed RTP of 96.09% so wherever you play this slot it will run at that setting. That is about average for an online slot game.

Interestingly, Quickspin are one of just a few game developers that provide a proper breakdown of how that RTP is divided amongst the base game and bonus round on their website. In this case 63.54% RTP is from the base game (including features) and 32.56% from the free spins round. Keep in mind that the majority of spins occur in the base game so relatively you will see more payout per spin in the free spins round.

The game gets a 4/5 rating on Quickspin’s own volatility scale so it’s going to be a tight slot, and that aligns with what we see in the RTP distribution, with around 1/3rd of RTP saved back for a bonus round that represents a relatively small amount of gameplay.

Maximum Win

Our Score 9

What Is Maximum Win?

Maximum win refers to the maximum amount a player can win from one spin. It is expressed as a multiple of the stake. For example, where the maximum win is 100,000x, from a £1 stake, the maximum win would be £100,000.  

The maximum payout in Golden Glyph 2 is 26,800x. Again referring to the Quickspin gamesheet, the odds of hitting that are 1 in 1 billion spins! So don’t hold your breathe. But also keep in mind that many people are spinning this game every week so it will eventually kick out one of those max payouts. For comparison, this is twice the potential of the original Golden Glyph (13,000x).

Symbols and Paytable

Our Score 9

So, this is a classic Cluster Pays slot playing out on a 7×7 grid. The fun part about these slots is the ability to build huge clusters of identical symbols as big as 15 or more in size. Clusters are groups where the symbols land on adjacent positions vertically, horizontally, or both.

With the chance to build big clusters comes the chance to score big payouts. So at the top of the paytable there are some impressive numbers, maxing out at 150x for 15 or more premiums.

Golden Glyph 2 Paytable
The paytable in Golden Glyph 2 showing Power Up features

Before we get there though, let’s start with the low payers. These are the 4 hieroglyphs including water symbols, eyes and serpents, valued at from 0.1x for 5 water symbols up to 18x for 15 more serpents. The premiums are represented by the male and female pharaohs and the bird god Horus which you will probably recognize from plenty of other Egyptian slots.  These are valued at from 0.2x for 5 male symbols up to 150x for 15 or more of the Horus symbols.

There is also a Wild, represented by a W, which will substitute for any other pay symbol to complete clusters.

Features and Gameplay

Our Score 10

Tumbling Reels and Glyph Power Ups

To understand Golden Glyph 2, first of all you need to know that this is a Tumbling Reels game. That means, after a winning cluster is formed, all the winning icons are removed from the grid and new ones drop in to replace them. If more wins appear, then the process repeats.

A Power Glyph Symbol
A Power Glyph symbol appears after a Tumbling Win

Most important of all though, every time a cluster of winning symbols is removed, a Power Glyph symbol appears in one of the empty spaces left behind. Then, if a Power Glyph symbol is then used in a subsequent win, it will activate a Power Up. The available Power Ups are displayed in a row shown under the main grid, and they change with each spin.

What makes it even more exciting is that you can build up a sequence of Power Ups when more than one Power Glyph win happens at the same time. When this happens, then each one will play out in turn.

These are the Power Ups:

Golden Scarab Power-Up – from 4 to 11 wilds are delivered to random places on the grid. A flying Scarab beetle moves around the grid, distributing them as it goes.

A Golden Scarab Power Up
A Golden Scarab appears on the grid to distribute Wilds

Gigantic Wild Power-Up – a massive 2×2 wild appears in a random place on the grid.

Patterns of Horus Power-Up – symbols are removed from the grid in one of 6 special patterns. These are the Cross, Bird, Hourglass, Ankh, Eye, and Snake patterns. After the symbols are removed, if more cluster are created, another Tumble occurs, and so on.

One of the Glyph Patterns on the grid
Symbols removed in a pattern as part of the Power Up feature

Get 7 Golden Glyph Free Spins

First, I should say that in 200 spins I rarely saw a Pyramid Scatter symbol so I never even got close to unlocking the free spins round. But hey, maybe I was just unlucky!

You need 3 of these elusive Pyramid Scatters to unlock the free spins round where you’ll get 7 plays. A Golden Glyph Wild is added at the start, and it stays on the grid throughout, moving to different spots with each spin. It has its own multiplier too, which will increase by 1x (maxing at 50x) each time it forms part of a winning cluster.

Better still, you can add a further 3 Golden Glyph Wilds with multipliers through the Power-Ups during the free spins round. And you can see how in this way you could trigger some massive payouts at those multipliers grow and even combine when more than one is involved in cluster.

And to end, you can add 5 more spins by landing 3 more Pyramid Scatters during the free spins round.

The Final Verdict

Golden Glyph 2 ticks every box for me. The overall production is superb, upgrading the original game with slicker and sharper graphics, whilst providing continuity in the design style. The gameplay is excellent too, with a nice balance that means despite the game’s tough volatility, it can still regularly produce exciting runs of wins. And although the free spins round proved out of reach in testing, there is no question that with its configuration of progressive wild multipliers and potential re-triggers, Golden Glyph 2 is more than capable of kicking out huge wins.

Useful Tips When Playing Golden Glyph 2

Remember, online slots are games of chance, there is NO strategy that can improve your odds of winning. However, reading our review and following these tips will help you get the most out of your time playing this slot game.

1. Watch Out For Power Glyphs

There is no question that these little symbols are the key to success in Golden Glyph 2. Watch out for them appearing after each Tumble and hope they feature in subsequent wins to unlock those Power Ups.

 

2. Play At A Sensible Stake

You can spin on this game from 20p. Starting at a low stake level stretches your balance further, giving you more chance of triggering that elusive free spins round.

3. Grow Those Golden Glyph Wild Multipliers

Really big wins in this game are going to come courtesy of the free spins round and the rare occurrence where 2 or 3 Wild Multipliers are in play at the same time. Look to grow these for an epic pay off!

 

4. Play Only At Licensed Slot Sites

We have chosen the sites on this page because they are licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. That means they are safe, fair and secure and operate under strict UK regulation.

Who Made Golden Glyph 2?

  • Name: Quickspin
  • Established: 2011
  • UK License: 38516 (under Playtech)
  • Total Games: 100 +
  • Known For: Great artwork, fairytale slots, slots with wilds and sticky wilds, high variance
  • Popular Slots: Sticky Bandits Wild Return, Big Bad Wolf, Golden Glyph 2, Wild Luchador
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