Escape the Pyramid – Fire & Ice

Pragmatic Play's “Escape the Pyramid: Fire & Ice” immerses us in an environment that feels both familiar and strangely distant. The developer has chosen the well-trodden path of ancient Egypt, a theme saturated in the slot world, yet attempts to differentiate with a title implying a dynamic elemental conflict. However, this “Fire & Ice” dichotomy feels somewhat superficial, a veneer rather than a core element of the experience. Our protagonist, a cartoonish explorer, seems better suited to a lighthearted animated feature than a gritty tomb-raiding adventure. The graphics are polished, as one expects from a modern Pragmatic Play title.

Core Mechanics of Escape the Pyramid: Fire & Ice

“Escape the Pyramid: Fire & Ice” utilizes a 6×6 grid, employing a scatter pays system. This means that wins are achieved by landing eight or more matching symbols anywhere on the reels, rather than being confined to traditional paylines. This scatter pays mechanism is coupled with a tumble feature: winning combinations are cleared from the grid, and new symbols cascade down to fill the empty spaces. This can create a chain reaction of wins, as new winning combinations are formed and subsequently cleared.

The slot's high volatility, rated 5/5 by the developer, suggests a gameplay experience characterized by infrequent but potentially substantial payouts. While the stated RTP peaks at 96.50%, players should be aware that lower RTP versions (95.50% and 94.50%) may be available at some casinos. Bets range from a modest $/€0.10 to a substantial $/€250 per spin, making it accessible to a wide spectrum of players. The Ante Bet option, which doubles the chance to trigger the bonus features at twice the standard bet, adds another layer to the betting strategy but disables the BUY FIRE & ICE feature. It's important to note that symbols pay anywhere on the screen, and all wins are multiplied by the base bet. All values are expressed as actual wins in coins. When winning with multiple symbols, all wins are added to the total win. Free spins win is awarded to the player after the round completes. Free spins total win in the history contains the whole win of the cycle.

Symbol Hierarchy and Payouts

The paytable of “Escape the Pyramid: Fire & Ice” is a hierarchy of ancient Egyptian iconography. The most valuable symbols include the chalice, the ring, the scarab, and the ankh. Landing 36 matching symbols of these will award payouts ranging from 3,500x to 1,050x the bet, while smaller clusters of 8-13 yield more modest returns. The lower-paying symbols consist of various colored gemstones. These offer payouts from 0.10x to 120x the bet for clusters of 8-36. A golden Wild symbol substitutes for all regular paying symbols, assisting in the formation of winning combinations. It is also the most paying symbol, paying up to 1,000x your bet for a combination of 36 symbols.

The game also features two special scatter symbols: the Fire scatter (appearing only on reel 1) and the Ice scatter (appearing only on reel 6). These symbols are key to unlocking the game's bonus features, adding a layer of anticipation to each spin. If you don't fully understand the features of this game and want to check every detail on your own – launch the demo version and open the integrated help by pressing (i).

Bonus Features: Fire, Ice, and the Combination Thereof

“Escape the Pyramid: Fire & Ice” boasts a trio of bonus features, each tied to the game's titular elements. At each spin, random positions on the screen are marked with the FIRE or ICE markings above. These are the FIRE and ICE SCATTER symbols.

The Fire Feature: This feature is triggered when a Fire scatter lands on the first reel. Upon activation, all positions marked with the Fire symbol transform into Wilds. Additionally, a multiplier is introduced, increasing by +1 for each tumble that occurred before the feature was triggered. This multiplier applies to all wins involving the newly created Wilds, potentially leading to substantial payouts.

The Ice Feature: This is triggered by an Ice scatter landing on the sixth reel. Here, all positions marked with Ice transform into a randomly chosen paying symbol. The player is then awarded 3 respins. During these respins, the chosen symbols, along with any new matching symbols that land, become sticky. If an Upgrade symbol appears, the chosen symbol is upgraded to the next highest-paying symbol in the paytable. Furthermore, a +1 Spin symbol can appear, adding an extra respin to the counter. Similar to the Fire feature, each tumble prior to the triggering of the Ice feature increases a multiplier by +1. This multiplier then applies to the total win at the end of the respins. All of the chosen symbols stay on the screen until the end of the respins and then a win is awarded according to the amount of that symbol present on the screen.

The Fire & Ice Feature: This feature, arguably the game's centerpiece, is activated when both a Fire and an Ice scatter land simultaneously. In this scenario, all positions marked with either Fire or Ice transform into Wilds. The player receives 3 respins, during which only blanks, Wilds, and +1 Spin symbols can land. Wilds remain sticky throughout the respins. Similar to the other features, a multiplier is in play, increasing by +1 with each preceding tumble. At the end of the respins, the screen returns to its initial state before the feature began, and wins are evaluated based on the newly formed grid. The win from winning combinations at the end of respins is multiplied by the current feature multiplier. Special reels are in play during the features.

Bonus Buy: “Escape the Pyramid: Fire & Ice” offers a Bonus Buy option. For 100x the current bet, players can instantly trigger the Fire & Ice feature. It's a high-risk, high-reward proposition, offering a shortcut to the game's most potent feature. When buying the feature, a random amount of positions on the screen is marked with FIRE or ICE marks and one FIRE and one ICE SCATTER symbols are guaranteed to hit.

“Escape the Pyramid: Fire & Ice” presents a complex interplay of mechanics and features. While the theme may be familiar, the scatter pays system, cascading reels, and the trio of bonus features offer a potentially engaging experience for seasoned slot players, even though it has a quite high free spins frequency of 1 in 598.93. The high volatility and the potential for substantial payouts, particularly through the Fire & Ice feature, may appeal to those who enjoy a high-risk, high-reward style of gameplay. On the other hand the astronomical odds of hitting it (1 in 26,993,323) and the maximum win amount limited to 5,000x make this slot a grind-heavy experience that may lacks the payoff to justify the effort. Also the game has an average hit frequency of 1 in 2.71. While it possesses a certain level of polish and a few interesting mechanics, it doesn't quite manage to stand out from the crowd of Egyptian-themed slots.