Silk Road, one of the slot machines released by Aristocrat, is themed around the famous road that merchants used to go from Asia to Europe a few hundred years ago. It was a dangerous road, but one which helped plenty of traders to become rich, though it was also traversed by soldiers, nomads, pilgrims and monks. It connected the East and the West of Asia, going through China, India and reaching the Mediterranean.
Silk Road’s 243 ways to win use 5 reels with 3 symbols each one. The game offers wild symbols, scatters and free spins with impressive multipliers whenever the wilds get involved. The top prizes will reach $12,500.
Features of Silk Road
Among the features of Silk Road you will find the Reel Power system, the wild symbols, the scatters and the free spins. There are also some attractive multipliers that the wild applies during the free spins.
One of the features which Aristocrat offers in a number of slots of theirs is called Reel Power. It’s not a new one, it’s just how they call the system with ways to win. 243 way to win are part of this game and they allow players to form combinations by landing symbols on neighboring reels. They get rid of regular paylines and the odds of getting a prize increase considerably. The downside is that the prizes are also smaller in most games that use ways to win.
A roll of silk can be seen in the wild symbol’s image. It was one of the most important trade items of the time and now it’s one of the best features you can get in this game. Appearing on two reels, the 2nd and the 4th, it’s most useful during the free spins, when it can add some impressive multipliers to your wins. It’s not going to offer prizes directly during the base game spins.
The Golden Moth symbol is the other important feature of Silk Road. It’s a scatter symbol, but in a slot with ways to win it doesn’t mean as much, especially since it’s required to appear from left to right. Still, this symbol offers good prizes (up to 1,250x) and it also triggers free spins.
Free Games Feature
You can win 10 free spins when 3 Moths are present, 15 when there are 4 and 20 if you have all 5. You can win again a round of free spins, as the current ones are being used.
There is one other big advantage that the free spins have over the base game rounds. They have a wild symbol which applies multipliers. The 2nd reel wild multiplies payouts by 3x, while the 4th reel wild is at 5x. Get both wilds to contribute to the same combo, and the total multiplier will be 15x.
Betting options and jackpots
You use between 25 and 125 credits for each spin, with the equivalent of 1 to 5 coins per line. Each coin has a minimum value of $0.02, while the maximum is $1. You end up with a $5 line bet and a maximum of $125 for all the ways to win.
The game will award a 2,500x top payout, which means up to $12,500 cash. That’s without the free spin wilds getting involved though, in which case multipliers of up to 15x can help out.
Design and symbols
There is a lot of yellow in the design of Silk Road, a bit too much actually. Since both the background and the reels have a similar shade of yellow, you can’t tell immediately where one begins and the other ends. The quality of the design isn’t that great either, but at least they made an effort with the themed symbols, the ones that show you the traders that traveled on the Silk Road.
Symbols: Silk (wild), Moth (1,250x, scatter), Trader (2,500x), Castle (2,000x), Boat (1,000x), Wine (1,000x), Ace (200x), King (200x), Queen (100x), Jack (100x), 10 (100x) and 9 (100x).
Is It Worth Playing?
The theme is unique enough to warrant at least a look, plus I love those 15x multipliers which are possible once the free spins get started.
You will find Silk Road at any online casino which chooses to use software from Aristocrat, playable either for free or for real money.
