Aztec Smash

Aztec Smash: Slot Overview

Hey players, today we're travelling to lush green environs to hang with one of the world's most famous ancient civilisations in developer Pragmatic Play's online slot Aztec Smash. It's been said that the Aztecs were the last great civilisation of Mesoamerica, possessing a rich and complex culture before the Europeans arrived and tore the place up, in large part for gold. Gold, or just plain old money, will likely be one factor motivating players to take Aztec Smash for a whirl, and dough is winnable via a cluster pays mechanism, tumbles, as well as a marked symbol feature that can grow the multiplier up to a ceiling level of x1,000 in the free spins feature.

Pragmatic Play has visited this part of the world before, and players may recall slots such as Aztec Powernudge or Fortune Hit'n Roll, for instance, from two of the previous Central-South American journeys the studio has been on. Aztec Smash contains the sorts of visuals you'd expect to see from a slot of this type - lots of greenery, impressive stonework, neat patterns, and so forth. An Aztec chap with his hands over the corners of the grid accompanies players as they attempt to smash. However, other than winning symbols being popped from the reels by the tumble feature, there doesn't appear to be much other smashing involved.

Aztec Smash is a cluster paying slot utilising a tumble mechanic, so when 5 or more identical symbols are connected in the horizontal or vertical direction on its 7x7 game board, a winning combination is formed with winning symbols subsequently being replaced with new ones. If you can get your hands on the most generous RTP configuration, that would be the 96.52% version. In combination with this, the action is played out using a highly volatile math model. Players may buy Aztec Smash's free spins round if they'd prefer to skip the base game, while the stake range is 20 c to $/€240 per spin. No ante bet accompanies this game.

From low to high on the symbol page are yellow gems, green gems, blue gems, red gems, and three face/mask-type symbols. A cluster win consisting of 5 matching symbols awards 0.2 to 1 times the bet, while the biggest clusters of 15+ OAK pay 20 to 150 times the stake. The only other symbol in Aztec Smash is the scatter, as it does not have wilds.

Aztec Smash: Slot Features

Aztec Smash's features involve a marked symbol multiplier that is progressive during the free spins bonus round. Other extras are tumbles and a feature buy.

Smash Multiplier

After each spin and tumble, random symbols on the reels may be highlighted. When highlighted symbols are part of winning combinations, the combination win is multiplied by x10.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 scatters grants players 10, 12, 15, 20, or 30 free spins, respectively. During free spins, the Smash Multiplier for highlighted symbols starts at x10 and increases with each subsequent win with highlighted symbols until the feature ends. The multiplier increases in increments of +10 up to x100 and in increments of +100 up to the maximum of x1,000. Landing 3 to 7 scatter symbols adds an extra 10 to 30 free spins.

Bonus Buy

For 100 times their bet, players can buy the free spins round, randomly triggered by 3 to 7 scatter symbols.

Aztec Smash: Slot Verdict

Hopefully, prospective players aren't in the mood to really break stuff because the cosmetic smashing in this game is no greater than that found in any other cluster pays slot with a tumble wins mechanic. Still, Aztec Smash makes for a change from Aztec Gold, Aztec Bonanza, or any number of other slot title cliches. Maybe a greater smashing effect on the winning symbols would have made the gaming area better to look at, though. The brown striped pattern isn't the nicest one ever seen, and it contrasts sharply with the handsome background imagery.

After all the talk about highlighted symbols and multipliers, perhaps don't be expecting a Sugar Rush in the bush type experience. Aztec Smash is quite different from Pragmatic Play's popular candy slot. For one thing, there are a lot fewer marked areas on the board in Aztec Smash compared to the way Sagar Rush highlighted all of the spaces where winning symbols appeared. Aztec Smash's base game is more limited in other ways, too, in that the multiplier is capped at x10. That's it; the value does not go higher, no matter how many consecutive winning clusters occur. This all changes in free spins, though, quite drastically since the multiplier value persists when it reaches a higher level and can technically go all the way to x1,000. Sounds high, and it is, but Aztec Smash can be fiddly, putting its highlighted symbols in awkward positions, for instance.

Sometimes, though, the highlighted symbol appears right where you want it, and sitting on a big multiplier can be quite a thrill. Aztec Smash is capable of producing wins up to a 9,000x the bet cap, so Pragmatic Play has given the game solid potential payout ability. A slot of two halves, the base game wasn't overly exciting, but removing the training wheels for the bonus round gives Aztec Smash significant room to manoeuvre.