Masked Treasures: Slot Overview
Not that long ago, vast portions of the world’s population were obligated to wear masks in public in order to keep their breath and potential bugs to themselves. Those masks were, for the most part, pretty boring, clinical pieces of material that covered the lower face. Perhaps the whole experience might have been more interesting, or weird, if people wore the sort of face coverings available in online slots like Masked Treasures. Designed by developer Relax Gaming, this is a Central American, Aztec-style online slot which entertains via a free spins round where a win multiplier boosts payouts, Jungle Jackpots, and a ladder of mask symbol-triggered prizes.
Masked Treasures might not lead gamblers into wild, unmapped parts of the countryside they’ve never witnessed before, but the base game is played in a lovely spot. Depending on your screen size or alignment, a water feature sits beneath an ancient stone formation, while grass, flowers, and trees abound. Free spins are held somewhere more focused and localised, adding a touch of wonder to a game that is more peaceful than a high-energy Indiana Jones-style adventure, though the presentation doesn’t suffer from this approach.
The only thing players need to prepare for this jungle trek is stake, and the options range from 10c to $/€100. Masked Treasures is a 5×3 slot where 15 paylines evaluate winning combinations of 3 or more matching symbols, left to right, from the leftmost reel as the starting point. While the default RTP comes in at 96.23%, the volatility is in the medium-high region.
A leopard and eagle are the highest value symbols, awarding 50x-20x the bet for a 5 OAK winning combination. Below them are three animal-printed symbols and three gems set in stones. The rewards for hitting 5 of them in a win are 10x down to 2.5x the bet. Temple wilds hit on all five reels to substitute for any regular paying symbols. If wilds make wins of themselves, they have the same value as the leopard.
Masked Treasures: Slot Features
Masked Treasures’ treasure bag of features includes a ladder of prizes, Jungle Jackpots, and free spins with a win multiplier.
Prize Ladder
Landing 3 or more Collect symbols anywhere on the reels activates the prize ladder. The more Collect symbols that land on a spin, the higher up the prize ladder a player climbs. The highest amount reached on the ladder is then awarded. This could be between 1x to 3,000x when 3 to 9 Collect symbols land. A similar thing occurs when hitting 3 or more Super Collect symbols, except players are randomly awarded a prize from the highest value achieved and above it on the ladder.
Jungle Jackpots
There is a chance the Jungle Jackpots feature triggers randomly. When it does activate, players win either the Mini, Major, or Mega prize valued at 50x, 100x, or 200x the bet, respectively.
Free Spins
Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters triggers the free spins round. Before it begins, players go to the improvement zone, where there are six segmented wheels. Wheels spin one at a time from lowest to highest. If a wheel stops on a green segment, players move to the next wheel where the rewards are greater. If it stops on red, free spins begin at the current reward level. Possible rewards are:
- 3 scatter trigger – 8 free spins with an x1 multiplier up to 18 free spins with an x10 multiplier.
- 4 scatter trigger – 10 free spins with an x1 multiplier up to 20 free spins with an x10 multiplier.
- 5 scatter trigger – 12 free spins with an x1 multiplier up to 22 free spins with an x10 multiplier.
Masked Treasures: Slot Verdict
It’s surprising how Relax Gaming, a studio capable of producing some truly standout titles, also turns out something as uninspired as Masked Treasures. This is a slot that feels like it was built from spare parts of better games, offering little more than a rehash of a formula already run into the ground. The Aztec setting is serviceable but forgettable, and while the jungle backdrop is alright, it’s hard to shake the sense you’ve played this exact game a dozen times before with only minor cosmetic changes. Super Collect symbols add a hint of suspense, but they’re so rare that they barely register, leaving gameplay to trudge along in predictably dull fashion.
The comparisons to 9 Masks of Fire by Gameburger are unavoidable, not just in mechanics but even in name. Once again, the whole focus is on collecting symbols to climb a prize ladder, a mechanic that stopped being exciting years ago. The 3,000x top prize is decent on paper, and wins can theoretically hit 5,000x, but the execution doesn’t inspire much confidence. Free spins could have been an opportunity to inject some life into the slot, yet instead, they strip away the ladder mechanic altogether, removing the one feature that might have kept things interesting. The Jungle Jackpots don’t help either, being so minor and forgettable that they hardly justify their existence.
Broadly speaking, Masked Treasures doesn’t add much that wasn’t already available to gamblers in general, and it sits at the feet of Relax Gaming’s more influential releases. It’s a derivative, safe, and ultimately boring release that sits far below Relax Gaming’s more memorable efforts. For players looking for excitement or originality, there’s simply nothing here that hasn’t been done, and done better, many times before.
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