King of Kings

King of Kings (Relax Gaming): Review

Ahh, the good old "Book" slots, we just can't seem to get enough of them. Or rather, the developers can't. If for some you're not a fan of the genre, King of Kings is not the one to win you over, so you might as well go do something more productive if that's the case. At first glance, there's really nothing that sticks out, except for the borderless reels possibly. As per ususal, you get your 5 reels and 3 rows. The paylines, however, have been cut in half to 5 as opposed to what you get in the Novomatic and Play'n GO versions. Strange approach we have to say.

Visually, we get some Book of Gods (Big Time Gaming) vibes. Set within an open oasis temple and flanked by statues of Horus on both sides of the reels, you'll see dunes and a majestic pyramid in the backdrop. There's a total of 9 symbols in the standard symbol set. As you spin the reels you'll see lower value blue, green, yellow, orange and red scarab gems as well as more valuable Egyptian deities. They are (in order of value) Bastet - the cat goddess, Anubis - the symbol of regeneration, and Horus - protector of the Egyptian ruler. The top standard symbol, however, is a cartoon-style depiction of Tutankhamun - 5 of him on a payline yields 200 times your stake.

The golden Ankh is both the wild and scatter and replaces all symbols on the reels - 2, 3, 4 or 5 wilds on a payline will give you 2, 20, 200 or 1000 times your stake respectively.

King of Kings (Relax Gaming): Featured

Unlike its Novomatic and Play'n GO siblings, there's a feature to benefit from in the main game known as the Bonus Symbol Re-Spin feature. It may (or may not) come into play when you miss the third scatter. Essentially, it behaves the same as the bonus - you get 1 free spin with a randomly chosen expanding symbol, giving you a chance to pocket up to 1000 times your total stake in the main game should you land a full screen of Tutankhamun's.

The most interesting twist is seen in the Free Spins feature, however, which becomes available to you if you land 3 or more wild scatter symbols anywhere on the reels. Starting with 10 spins, the reel area now expands to consist of 6 reels. Other than that, it plays just like the Re-Spin feature - one symbol is revealed as your special bonus symbol, expanding to fully cover the reels when you land 3 low-value symbols or 2 premiums respectively. With 6 reels in play, the potential is now increased to 5000 times your stake per single spin. The simulated total max win is far higher than that, however, and according to Relax Gaming's fact sheet, wins of over 10,000x have been registered.

King of Kings (Relax Gaming): Verdict

Don't expect a delightfully mystical and elaborate narrative in King of Kings. At its core, it's still your typical one-dimensional "book" slot that, despite the twist, fails to deliver a truly unique take on the concept. Also, we have to add, the 6th reel is as useless as a dead camel in the desert, when in the end, it all comes down to the standard potential. In other words, it's just there to create an illusion of value and benefit similar to when slot creators give you 4 rows instead of the standard 3 but still limits you to 20 paylines.

The Re-Spin feature is kind of alright although it means that something else likely had to stand back to make room for the feature, such as decreasing the bonus frequency or adding more dead spins in between the Re-Spins. It might even explain the low number of paylines. Whatever the case, it's not really a necessary feature. The book concept has been tried and tested for years now and there's a good reason why it's so incredibly successful. King of Kings is not a bad slot. In fact, it's actually a decent effort. But ultimately, all it really does for us is to remind us to play Book of Dead/Ra next.