Montezuma Pokies
Themed around the 5th Aztec emperor who ruled for 21 years until his death at the ripe old age of 71 in 1469, the Montezuma video pokie by WMS Gaming has warriors, statues, masks and eagles creating a stylish game. Like all WMS pokies, it’s a reliable game with a good return to player percentage, and comes with bonus features that add extra winning opportunities on top of the potential prizes claimed during the normal run of play. In Montezuma, there’s wild substitutions and a richly-decorated spinning wheel that awards free spins and win multipliers, along with a Feature Guarantee that ensures the bonus round pays out at least 10x the triggering bet.
A subtle gold sheen covers just about everything in this online casino pokie, from the reels, to the control buttons to the background image of jungle trees and vines. The main game is in a conventional 5-reel format, where the symbols are in 3 rows and 30 paylines run through them, giving players a bet range from just 0.01 to the high limit of 125.00 per spin.
Free Montezuma video pokie rounds can be played at many casinos, so it’s possible to test it out before playing, but most punters will choose to play with real cash and activate all lines, which can be done for just 0.30. Although Aztec civilisation was notorious for human sacrifice, players won’t have to sacrifice much as they spin the reels of this game, as it can be fairly easy to land decent winnings.
Playing Montezuma
A review of the pay table reveals that wins come in the standard way, whenever 3 or more of the same type of symbol land across an active line, on connected reels, running from the left side. Lining things up is made a little easier as the symbols can be stacked several high.
Lower value, but usually the more frequently-occurring winning combinations will come from landing the playing card symbols J, Q, K and A.
There’s lots of picture symbols as well, starting with a carved snake, then moving up to a gold mask, elaborate headdress, the eagle and the top awards are paid out when the female and male Aztec characters, who are presumably Montezuma and his wife, land across the reels.
Montezuma
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Bonus Features
A couple of bonus symbols will turn up to give players even more chances to land extra wins. The pyramid only appears on reels 2, 3 and 4, so isn’t worth anything on its own, but this is the wild, and can act as all except the wheel to complete lines of standard symbols. As well as filling in any gaps in a line, it can also stretch a line of 3 across to reel 4, which will of course, be worth a higher payout.
But it’s the wheel scatter symbol that triggers the main bonus feature of Montezuma, paying out an initial scatter prize and then spinning a couple of times, stopping on different segments before the main feature starts. Whenever 3 land in any positions, players are given an instant prize of 3x the total stake, while 4 or 5 of them are worth 10x the bet. The wheel then spins, revealing a number of free games that will be between 3 and 25, while during each free game, another wheel applies a multiplier of 2x, 3x, or 5x, with any payouts during the free games boosted by this amount.
If the feature ends and players have earned a total of less than 10x their triggering bet, a Feature Guarantee will ensure that a consolation prize takes the rewards up to 10x. Additionally, any 3 or more scatters appear during a free spin, 5 extra games will be added to the total, using the same wheel multipliers.
The Verdict
Aztec culture seems to be a hot topic for online casino games to follow, and the Montezuma video pokie manages to cover it in style, not only in the design, but also in the gameplay and features. Standard wins are all very welcome, but this game really comes to life with its unique bonus features, where the wheel lands a multiplier during each free spin. As up to 25 extra games can be awarded, along with the potential to retrigger the round, there could be plenty of opportunities to get lots of coins paid out before the bonus spins are done.
There will be some players who don’t like the usual playing card symbols turning up yet again, but others who appreciate knowing which will pay out the smaller wins, but this, and the fact that it’s not mobile-optimised, are really the only downsides to an otherwise excellent pokie.