Le Pharaoh

Le Pharoah: Slot Overview

What is a raccoon to do if they're fed up being naughty on the back streets of Paris and need a change? How about they move to Egypt in order to pull tricks on tourists disguised as a pharaoh? Sounds like a random life change, but this is online slots we're talking about where all roads lead to Giza eventually. They've certainly led Hacksaw Gaming's anti-hero Smokey there, where he's swapped his bandit hat and crowbar for pharaoh hat and crook. He's also swapped some of the features around on his journey to Egypt while keeping the winning combination of marking winning positions, filling them with coins, and affecting them with special symbols. However, changes have been made, too. Time to dissect them.

The original, Le Bandit, was released almost exactly a year ago and turned out to be a big hit for the studio. In Le Pharaoh, Smokey is now back on the screen looking all mad at the world. What ticked this guy off, man? Jilted by a lady raccoon, not enough love as a child, bad character? Whatever the case, Smokey is definitely in Egypt, as the warm palm tree and pyramid background makes clear. Vendors are famously all over tourists in Egypt, so there should be ample opportunity for Smokey to pull schemes on unsuspecting sightseers.

Le Pharoah sticks to the 6-reel, 5-row format it used last time, equipped with 19 paylines for evaluating regular winning combinations. Also, as before, a math model rating of 3 out of 5 makes it medium volatile, and the maximum RTP comes in at 96.18%-96.21%, depending on which bonus is picked when organically triggered. A little bit lower than before. The bet selection, meanwhile, is the standard range of 10 c to $/€100.

Ten regular symbols make up the paytable, split into 10-A card royals and 5 theme-related symbols. A line of 5 royals pays 0.5-0.7 times the bet, while a line of 5 matching high pays awards 1.3 to 4 times the bet. Wilds are present on every reel, substituting all pay symbols, and worth 3x the bet for 5 OAK.

Le Pharoah: Slot Features

A bit of a Le Bandit repeat in this section with several new developments, as the features include Sticky Redrops, Golden Riches, two bonus game choices, plus a super bonus version of each, a Rainbow Over The Pyramids round, and bonus buys.

Sticky Redrops

The symbols in winning combinations stick, and a redrop occurs. All pay symbols stuck like this create Golden Squares on their positions. During the redrop, new pay symbols that improve the win or create a new one also stick, and another redrop occurs. This continues till the win is not improved or new wins are not created. Rainbow symbols and FS symbols landing with sticking winning combinations also stick but do not create Golden Squares.

Golden Riches

At the end of a Sticky Redrop run, if there is a Rainbow symbol in view, it triggers the Golden Riches feature. When this occurs, all Golden Squares reveal either Bronze, Silver, or Gold Coins or display a special Pot Of Gold, Green Clover, or Golden Clover symbol. Bronze Coins are worth 0.2x to 4x, Silver Coins are worth 5x to 20x, and Gold Coins are worth 25x to 500x.

After all Coins and special symbols have been revealed, any Clover symbols activate. Green Clovers multiply Coins or Pot Of Gold symbols on adjacent squares by x2 to x20. The Golden Clovers multiply all Coins or Pot Of Gold symbols by x2 to x20.

After Clovers have activated, Pot Of Gold symbols activate by collecting the values of all Coins and other Pot Of Gold symbols on the grid, top to bottom, left to right, storing the total value. After Pot Of Gold symbols have collected values, all other Golden Squares activate again, revealing new symbols, and the process repeats. At the conclusion, all Coins and Pot Of Gold values are awarded.

Bonus Choice

Hitting 3 or 4 FS symbols at once in the base game brings up a Bonus Choice menu. If 3 scatters hit, players may choose Luck Of The Pharaoh or the Lost Treasures games. If 4 scatters hit, players may choose Super Luck Of The Pharaoh or the Super Lost Treasures games.

Luck Of The Pharaoh & Super Luck Of The Pharaoh

Sticky Redrops and Golden mechanics are present in this bonus. The feature comes with 10 free spins, where Golden Squares remain highlighted until the end of the round, even after being activated by a Rainbow symbol. Hitting 2 FS scatters awards +2 free spins, or hitting 3 FS scatters awards +4 free spins.

The "Super" version is the same as the non-Super version, except players get 12 free spins and a better chance of landing higher-value Coins and Pot Of Gold symbols. In addition, a Clover is guaranteed to be revealed when the Golden Riches feature activates. The round retriggers the same way as the regular round.

Lost Treasures & Super Lost Treasures

Players enter this bonus with 3 refilling lives, where dead symbols, Coins, Green Clovers, Golden Clover, Pot Of Gold, and 2 different Stone Tablets land. Each spin consumes a life. Whenever a non-dead symbol lands and activates, the lives return to 3. After 3 spins without a refill or the grid fills, the bonus ends.

All landed Coin symbols and Pot Of Gold symbols become sticky until collected by a Pot Of Gold or the feature ends. Stone Tablets that land are also sticky till the feature ends. The Adding Stone Tablet adds 1x to 500x to one random Coin on each spin. The Multiplying Stone Tablet multiplies one random Coin on each spin by x2 to x20. At the end of the round, all in-view values are awarded.

Super Lost Treasures have the same rules as Lost Treasures, plus an Adding Stone Tablet is guaranteed to land on the first spin. There are also better chances of landing higher-value Coins and Pot Of Gold symbols.

Rainbow Over The Pyramids

Landing 5 FS symbols at the same time in the base game triggers 12 free spins in the Rainbow Over The Pyramids feature. This feature has the Sticky Redrops and Golden Riches mechanics from the base game. During this bonus, all Golden Squares remain highlighted until the end of the feature, even after being activated by a Rainbow symbol. Furthermore, a Rainbow symbol is guaranteed to land on each spin. Hitting 2 FS scatters awards +2 free spins, or hitting 3 FS scatters awards +4 free spins.

Bonus Buy

You cannot buy Rainbow Over The Pyramids in Le Pharoah, but you can buy these:

• BonusHunt FeatureSpins - each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game for 3x the bet.
• Rainbow FeatureSpins - each spin guarantees at least 1 Rainbow symbol lands with a winning combination for 60x the bet.
• You Must Choose… - Luck Of The Pharaohs or Lost Treasures for 100x.
• ...But Choose Wisely - Super Luck Of The Pharaohs or Super Lost Treasures for 250x.

Le Pharoah: Slot Verdict

That was bigger than first thought. The initial reaction was, huh, an Egyptian clone of Le Bandit, but like exploring a newly opened tomb, discovering room after room, Le Pharoah's list of features went on and on. Players who liked Le Bandit should be thrilled to know that the marking of positions to reveal Coins, the Pot Of Golds, and the Clovers are still here, as the Golden Riches combination forms the cornerstone of Le Pharoah as it did in the last game. One of the cornerstones since there is quite a lot of new stuff to digest as well.

In the base game, that means Sticky Redrops instead of cluster wins as the means for forming regular winning combinations and, importantly, marking grid positions beneath them. From there, should a Rainbow symbol also be present, the following sequence of Golden Riches events has the potential to be every bit as thrilling as before. Clover symbols have now been split into two kinds, one hitting adjacent symbols, the other, far more desirable one, hitting all symbols. That's different.

Bonus modes have been significantly reworked as well. For one, in both Luck Of The Pharaoh rounds, Golden Squares remain highlighted till the round concludes, even if the Rainbow symbol activates. The big change is the new Lost Treasures features. They were good, and Hacksaw Gaming has cleverly combined the Golden Riches mechanics into a hold 'n win round that brought back memories of Slotmill's Money Jar games.

No matter the mode, Le Pharoah is capable of hitting its 15,000x the bet win cap. As players of the first will note, this is 50% greater than Le Bandit's and is a nice sweetener to draw them into Le Pharoah, as if the expanded gameplay wasn't already reason enough.