8 Jun

Explorer’s Quest Pokies feature 9 Shared Reels

Newest Mobile Pokies Explorers QuestThe newest mobile pokies game from Zeus Play is bringing some new features to the table. Not exactly new to the online and mobile casino industry, but new for the Zeus Play portfolio. It’s called Shared Reels, and has been introduced on the developer’s new Explorer’s Quest Pokies.

Explorer’s Quest is far from your standard poker machine. The Shared Reels feature allows players to collect winnings by lining up combinations from left to right, or right to left. While other interactive games developers have introduced similar concepts, rarely do they appear on a 9-reel game like this one.

Explorer’s Quest Pokies – Theme

The newest mobile pokies game from Zeus Play carries a unique theme, merging ancient Egyptian qualities with futuristic Sci-Fi fantasy. The introductory cinematic tells the tale of an alien life form sent to Egypt within a flying pyramid, who rose to ultimate power over. Jump ahead to 1885, when explorer Vanessa Goldhope discovers an ancient artifact; a mysterious box that sets the tone for what’s to come.

Explorer's Quest Pokies with 9 Shared Reels

Explorer’s Quest is infused a suspenseful musical score and crisp graphics. The symbols include Dr. Goldhope, a jeweled relic, golden ark, leather satchel, gold chest, Egyptian idol, and playing card symbols of A-10.

Explorer’s Quest Pokies – Features

Following the cinematic, the real game begins, revealing a 9-reel poker machine with 10 paylines and a unique Shared Reels payout scheme. You could think of it as two 5-reel, 5-line games in one. Thirst first five reels pay left to right on 5 lines. The last five reels pay right to left on another 5 lines. Both share the middle reel, hence the feature’s name, ‘Shared Reels‘.

The Egyptian Idol is a rather unique symbol in Explorer’s Quest Pokies. It is the Wild symbol, playing the traditional role of replacing any other symbol. It is also the Scatter in Zeus Play’s newest mobile pokies game, so players will be doubly happy to see them appearing on the reels.

When 3+ scatters land anywhere on the screen, it will activate up to 20 free spins. When the free games are triggered, the screen alters to a special selection round. First, a wheel is spun to select what symbol will be expanded during the feature (all standard symbols are eligible). Second, a relic will reveal what number of free spins the player receives, up to 20. Free games can be triggered again by landing another trio of scatters.

The Bonus symbol is the green-jeweled chest. This icon only appears on reels 3 and 7. If it lands on both of those reels at the same time, the Nerul’s Treasure Feature triggers, awarding up to 500x the total bet.

Explorer’s Quest Pokies – Overall

I was rather excited about playing the newest mobile pokies game, especially once I got a look at the information table. All you need is 3 scatters to trigger free spins, and this game has 27 symbols on the reels, nearly twice that of a standard 5×3 reel set. Easy peasy, right? Wrong.

After playing for a bit, I figured out why the free spins are so hard to trigger. The rules do not state this, but the Egyptian idol can only appear on reels 1, 5 and 9. Not only does this greatly limit the win frequency with wilds (not that they pay with a multiplier or anything else so generous), it also makes it incredibly difficult to trigger those free games. It took me over 200 spins. Ouch!