Notre-Dame Tales

Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox: Slot Overview

Immortalised in the popular imagination, in part, by Victor Hugo and his infamous bell ringer, Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) has sat in the 4th arrondissement since the laying of its cornerstone in 1163. One of Paris' must-see attractions, it was visited by around 12 million people a year until 2019, when a fire forced its closure for restoration, with hopes it will be ready for the Summer Olympics in 2024. When going to the cathedral, visitors can, with a bit of imagination, pretend they've stepped a thousand or so years into the past and are tripping through the middle ages amidst all the sights, sounds, and smells it would have entailed.

If you need a wee boost to the imagination, here's something that might help. Titled Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox, it's an online slot from Yggdrasil Gaming set in an earlier Parisian age before the invention of automobiles, the internet, or mobile devices. Some might find that a frightening thought, but for a bit of make-believe, it can be quite fun. It certainly seems this way in Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox as the game presents a scene of Notre-Dame on a romantic day of yore decorated by pinky purple skies, pointy turreted buildings, pennants, stalls, and a horse 'n cart, while a mediaeval tune jauntily plays. It's an inviting scene.

Scrolling vertically on Notre-Dame's walls is the active gaming area. In the base game, it has 6 reels, 4 rows of symbols and 25 paylines, which can expand in the free spins round. Not exactly a monster of a game, winning potential for one is relatively modest; Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox runs on a medium-high volatile math model, available with four RTP configurations with 96% being the highest. Bets of 25 p/c to $/€100 per spin may be selected alongside a Golden Bet and two feature buys as well.

Gigablox are a regular occurrence; in fact, they are guaranteed to land on each spin. In the base game, reels connect to create blocks of symbols of 2x2 to 4x4 in size during the base game, rising to up to 6x6 in free spins. Any symbol, including the wild, Treasure Chest, or free spins symbol, can land as a Gigablox. For regular pay symbols, Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox has 8 of them, 4 low pay card suits – diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades, plus four character high pays – Captain Phoebus, Claude Frollo, Esmeralda, and Quasimodo. A 6 OAK low pay win awards 2x the bet, while a 6-premium symbol win awards 6 to 12 times the bet. Wilds appear on all reels to either replace any regular pay symbol or award up to 20 times the bet for a 6 wild winning line.

Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox: Slot Features

As well as the already mentioned features, which will get more coverage in a moment, Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox has Treasure Chest instant prize wins and free spins with a pick-me feature preceding them.

Treasure Chests

The Treasure Chest lands on the rightmost reel in the base game and in free spins. In the base game, it awards a cash win of 2 to 500 times the bet or 5, 9, or 16 free spins. In free spins, Treasure Chests award 2-500x the bet or 1, 2, 3, or 5 extra free spins. Chests may land as Gigablox (counting as 1 symbol), awarding better prizes on average.

Free Spins

When at least 5 scatter symbols land, the free spins round is triggered. The number of free spins awarded is equal to the number of triggering scatter symbols. Players are also awarded 3 to 7 feature picks. Clicking on items reveals:

• Wild High – 1 high pay symbol is replaced with wilds.
• x2 Multiplier – all wins are multiplied by 2.
• Expanded Reels – reels are expanded to 6x6 with 40 paylines active.
• Extra Wild – 1 to 2 wilds are added randomly to each free spin.
• High Stacks – 1 high symbol becomes super stacked on the reels.
• Extra Free Spins – 1 to 5 extra free spins.

Before free spins begin, players have the option of gambling for an additional feature pick for the free spins round. Losing the gamble loses the entire FS session.

Golden Bet

Activating the Golden Bet increases the stake by 20%. When free spins trigger with the Golden Bet activated, players get +1 feature pick.

Buy Bonus

The bonus buy provides 2 options. One is a regular bonus round trigger for 60x the bet; the other is free spins with a Golden Bet for 100x the bet.

Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox: Slot Verdict

Yggdrasil Gaming's Gigablox mechanic has gone through all manner of iterations since Lucky Neko Gigablox hit the scene back in 2020. Not only from Yggdrasil Gaming, but a number of its partners have had a turn with the system, too. If you've been following the mechanic's evolution, you may have spotted similarities between Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox and Golden Fish Tank 2 Gigablox. More than similarities, really, since beneath the skin, the two slots are basically identical in terms of stats and features.

Not the worst thing in the world, though, as Golden Fish Tank 2 was an entertaining game, and so by extension is Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox. The studio has done a great job with the reskin, it must be said, to make Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox an attractive game rammed with atmosphere. Maybe the team worked extra hard on the front end to disguise the reskin status. Maybe not, but it works either way, as Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox is a game that is easy to lose yourself in. The setting, the characters, it was all, in some ways, more immersive than Golden Fish Tank 2. It might help if players are into history or the novels of Victor Hugo. Certainly, the features work just as well here as they did in the previous game. Treasure Chests and Gigablox keep the base game going, and free spins can be good if the right features lock in place. As before, extra free spins tended to dominate the feature picks, though decent combos of stacked symbols, expanded reels, multipliers, etc, are technically possible.

Even with the most conducive features on board, Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox doesn't exactly impress in the wins department with a top figure of 3,730x the bet. That might lose the game a few cool points, as might its reskin status. But if those things aren't a major concern, then Notre-Dame Tales Gigablox is a nicely designed slot which gives literary and/or historically minded players something to dive into.