Pandora’s Treasure

Pandora's Treasure: Slot Overview

According to the 'Theogony' by Hesiod, following Prometheus giving fire to mortals after stealing it from heaven, Zeus worked out a way to 'counteract this blessing'. He got Hephaestus to make a woman, Pandora, whom the gods lavished with gifts. Pandora also famously possessed a jar (later translated as a box) containing evil, misery, all that sort of thing, which she opened, unleashing it on the Earth. Not everything escaped; some say hope remained trapped in the jar. However, a later rendition of the tale put forward the idea that the jar actually contained blessings rather than evils, which would have been saved for the human race if curiosity hadn't let them loose. Thanks to Britannica for the info.

Those are two quite different interpretations there, so who knows which or whatever one is the 'true' telling. What we do know is that Pandora and her Box have appeared before in online gambling, and software provider NetEnt has designed another related slot titled Pandora's Treasure. This one does indeed have a special box which can lead to cash money rewards, held in an Ancient Greek game world full of pleasing Ancient Greek imagery – statues, columns, plant life and such. Visually, Pandora's Treasure has a similar tone to Rome: The Golden Age, sharing a lightful, delicate, classical atmosphere.

Framed in gold is Pandora's Treasure's gaming grid, made of 6 reels, 4 rows, and offering 4,096 ways to win. Winning combinations must start from the leftmost side of the matrix and land on adjacent reels in any position on the reels. NetEnt has rated the hit frequency at 4 out of 5, while the volatility has been marked as 3 out of 5, or medium, in other words. With several RTP models available, the default return value is 96.09%, while the stake range is 10 c to $/€8 per spin.

The symbols forming wins disappear from the reels, making way for new symbols to drop in, which may create more wins. Avalanche sequences end when no new winning combination is created. As for symbols, brightly outlined stone 10-A card ranks are Pandora's Treasure's low pays; they are worth 0.8 to 2.5 times the bet for a 6 OAK win. Worth more are the high-pay premium wreaths, hands, books, and brazier symbols, awarding 3 to 8 times the bet for a 6-of-a-kind result. Pandora's Treasure does not have wild symbols.

Pandora's Treasure: Slot Features

One of Pandora's Treasure's main focuses is landing the Pandora's Box symbol, which collects winning symbols during an Avalanche sequence then awards the corresponding cash prize. In the free spins round, the Pandora's Box symbol is locked in view for the full duration of the feature.

Pandora's Box

When it lands on the reels, Pandora's Box collects the symbols which are part of winning combinations. Each collected symbol increases a cash prize, displayed on the Pandora's Box symbol that is paid when the Avalanche ends.

Free Spins

Hitting 3 scatter symbols awards 10 free spins, plus 2 free spins are awarded for each additional scatter above 3. During the feature, one Pandora's Box symbol is locked onto the grid on the first free spin. All Pandora's Box symbol values are summed up and paid at the end of the free spins round. Hitting 3 scatter symbols in the round retriggers +5 extra free spins, plus 2 free spins for each extra scatter beyond 3. The first Pandora's Box symbol is cloned on a random position on each retrigger. Retriggers can happen a maximum of 2 times, then no more scatters appear after that. Pandora's Box symbols cannot land naturally on the reels during free spins.

Bonus Buy

Hitting the 'Buy Feature' button by the reels is where players can buy the free spins round for 50 times the bet. The feature buy's RTP is 96.13%.

Pandora's Treasure: Slot Verdict

We've probably said this before, but after NetEnt acquired Red Tiger, games from the two studios do, at times, look remarkably similar. To make a finer point, NetEnt releases, when the blending is more apparent, seem to be taking on the look of Red Tiger's work. Pandora's Treasure is a good example. While there were subtle shades of Rome: The Golden Age, Pandora's Treasure could easily have been a Red Tiger slot in both form and function. Is this heart-warming or a little sad? You be the judge.

On with the Pandora's Treasure review, and after initially perusing the Help section and diving right into a free spins bonus buy, a level of anticipation kicked in. The reason for this was because the Help section was a teensy bit vague on exactly what Pandora Box's awards are. Maybe… the box increases in value until awards are presented during a ceremony at the end of a free spins feature? Nope, it appears each collected winning symbol is simply worth 1x the bet. So, at the end of the first free spins round, the 28 or so collected winning symbols paid 28x. Okay, fine, and yet, a little disappointing as well. Fair dues, Pandora's Box's prize values are more clearly explained in the Pays section, so it's not like Pandora's Treasure is trying to trick anyone. A case of reading all the fine print before leaping enthusiastically into the fray, perhaps.

If it was hope that was contained within Pandora's Box, then the equivalent in Pandora's Treasure is its calculated max multiplier of 10,368 times the bet. The number is so large it was tough to picture Pandora's Treasure ever achieving it. Collect 10,000+ winning symbols during a free spins round? Seems far-fetched. Hopefully, the game drops a lot of big multi-ways wins, then, because it's hard to see monstrous results coming from the Pandora's Box symbol otherwise.