John Hunter and the Mayan Gods Slot Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

John Hunter and the Mayan Gods Review

You can place bets between 10p and £100 per spin in John Hunter and the Mayan Gods, which is a fairly standard bet range. The gameplay is simple as can be, and the base game offers nothing but the occasional expanded wild. The bonus round is lifted directly from the Eye of Horus series, and nothing new is on offer here except a weaker potential.

The whole “John Hunter looking for ancient artifacts in the south-american jungle” concept is starting to get a bit old, to be honest. It’s about time Pragmatic Play takes this in a new direction. There is nothing daring about this title, and nothing that stands out to make it attractive compared to competitor games. Riding on the brand name doesn’t work forever, and the John Hunter series is screaming to reinvent itself at this point.

A screen of the John Hunter and the Mayan Gods playing space

John Hunter and the Mayan Gods Features

The gold mask is the wild symbol in this game, and it will step in for all regular symbols as wilds usually do. It can only land on the 3 middle reels, and it will sometimes expand to cover a full reel if that leads to a winning combo.

The bonus round is triggered when you land 3, 4 or 5 temple scatters anywhere on the same spin. You will first get a scatter win of either 2x, 20x or 50x your stake, and then you will be granted 12 free spins.

Above the reels you’ll see all the premium symbols depicted, and symbols will be upgraded by landing wilds. All wilds land fully expanded during the bonus round, and they give you extra spins as follows:

• 1 wild symbol gives you 1 extra free spin
• 2 wild symbols on the same spin gives you 3 extra free spins
• 3 wild symbols on the same spin gives you 5 extra free spins

In addition, landing 1 to 3 wilds on the same spin will upgrade the symbols starting with the lowest value premium symbol. There are 6 levels you can upgrade to here, and the levels increase by the same number of wilds that you land at the same time.

Basically, level 2 will turn the lowest paying premium symbol, the goblet, into the next tier dagger symbol. This process works its way up the food chain until all symbols are transformed at level 6.

Reaching level 6 means that you will land only the high-value John Hunter symbol from that point forward, together with low-value royal symbols and expanded wilds.

This, of course, increases your chances of landing bigger wins, and John Hunter pays 50x for 5 on a payline. You can retrigger the bonus round by landing at least 3 new scatters, and this gives you 12 new spins. There is no upper limit as to how many times you can do this.

The 200 Spins John Hunter and the Mayan Gods Experience

We have not included very much of the base game grind in our highlights video this time. Nothing much happened until we landed 3 scatters and triggered the bonus round. The good news is that a lot happened after that, and we even managed to reach level 6 for some pretty decent wins.

Review Summary

John Hunter and the Mayan Gods offers nothing new, and the symbol upgrade bonus round has been seen many times before. It’s still an attractive and fun feature though, that would be able to land you some serious dough if it weren’t for the somewhat weak potential. A full screen of John Hunter means you win 500x your stake, which is 10 times lower than what most “book of” inspired titles offer.

The game’s max win potential is said to be 2,500x your stake however, but this requires maxing it out 5 times in a single bonus round. Not exactly something to wait around for, not least when similar games out there offer a lot better conditions.

The RTP of 96.51 % is decent enough, but the brutal volatility does not match the potential rewards in a satisfying way here.

Pros

• Expanding wilds in the base game
• Bonus round with symbols upgrade
• RTP of 96.51 %

Cons

• 500x single spin max win is a bit weak for a highly volatile game

If you enjoy John Hunter and the Mayan Gods you should also try:

Eye of Horus - is a highly popular Reel Time Gaming series that started with this game. It’s all about the bonus round with symbols upgrade, just like the game at hand offers. However, the math model is much stronger here, offering medium volatility and a 10,000x max win potential.

John Hunter and the Aztec Treasure - is another adventure with the famous explorer, and it comes with medium to high volatility and a 10,804 max win potential. You will benefit from a 10x multiplier in the bonus round, which can lead to massive payouts.

Eye Of Horus Jackpot King - is the latest game in the Horus series, and you can trigger a Wheel King Jackpot feature randomly when you play. You can also win up to 10,000x your stake in the symbol upgrade bonus round.

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