Kathmandu is the only slot machine that I know of, which has a theme inspired by Nepal and its capital. Kathmandu being the name of the country’s main city, you’re going to see pictures with it among the symbols of this game, along with all kinds of sights, monuments and objects that are taken from Nepal. Microgaming is the developer that has created this slot machine, one of the more interesting travel themed slots available out there.
The game might not offer you a lot of paylines, only 9 being made available on the 5 reels, but it does alright feature wise, with wild symbols of two types, with multipliers, scatter symbols and free spins. Payouts go up to $30,000.
Features of Kathmandu
The kind of features that you’re going to discover in Kathmandu will be available in many other slot machines, but you do get them all in one place, so I’d call this part of the game above average. Wild symbols, scatters and free spins with 5x multipliers, these are the features that you get.
One of the two wilds available in the game, the Prayer Wheel device is the one that is available in the base game as well as the free spins, while the other wild is only for the latter. These wilds are capable of substituting for all other symbols, the only exception being the scatters. They also form combinations directly, provided that they manage to land multiple symbols of this type on the same payline. Up to 6,000x can be paid by the wild, the slot’s highest prize.
The Bell is the scatter of the game, and it does things that are very typical for it. First of all, you can expect a prize from it, whenever a minimum of two Bells are present on the reels, in whatever random position they happen to land in. The payouts for them go from 1x to 100x the value of the total bet.
Free Games Feature
The second thing that you get from the Bell scatter is the free spins feature. 3+ scatter symbols are enough to give you the 15 free spins, plus the impressive 5x multiplier that applies to all the wins. You can activate the free spins again as you’re playing it.
For the duration of the free spins you have a second wild symbol, with the image of an ancient city on it. It doesn’t pay as well as the base game wild, but it does help you. The base game wild is also available during these free spins, so the odds of getting paid are increased considerably. That’s good news, especially since there are 5x multipliers in use.
Betting options and jackpots
There are only 9 lines in the game, and you can cover as many of them as you want. You can use coins of up to $0.25, and up to 20 of them per line. The $5 line bet turns into a $45 maximum bet, for those that can afford it.
The top reward promised by the game is at 6,000 times the line bet, or $30,000. Add multipliers of up to 5x to the mix, available during the free spins, and the game looks quite good.
Design and symbols
If you look at the reels, you’re not going to be impressed with what you have before you. They are entirely black, with simple brown borders surrounding them. There are also playing cards used, and those are very simple as well. What you will love about this game is the selection of themed symbols that are used in the game, all of them gorgeous and showing you glimpses into the life and architecture of Nepal and of Kathmandu.
Symbols: Prayer Wheel (wild, 6,000x), Temple (wild, 750x), Bell (scatter, 100x total wager), City Scene (600x), Elephant (400x), Spice (250x), Map (200x), Ace (150x), King (120x), Queen (100x), Jack (75x) and Ten (75x).
Is It Worth Playing?
It’s a great choice if you’re a fan of traveling and you want to know more about new cultures. It’s the only one I saw that deals with Nepal and what it has to offer, and they did a great job with the design and the features.
The Kathmandu slot machine is offered through the Microgaming platform, so if you want to play it for real or just to practice, look out for casinos that use it.
