Pharaoh’s Fortune Slot Machine

Playing Pharaoh’s Fortune

One of the ways Pharaoh’s
Fortune initially draws players in at casinos is the soundtrack. The game plays
an instrumental version of the 1987 Bangle’s hit song “Walk Like an Egyptian”
during game play.

This 5 reel game is available
in both 10 and 15 pay line versions and is one of the more popular casino games
both in the United States and internationally.

Pharaoh’s Fortune is based on
another wildly popular game called Cleopatra slots. Pharaoh’s Fortune has better
graphics and more chances at bonuses than its predecessor.

How the Symbols Pay Out

Pharaoh’s Fortune has 13
symbols in the base game play.

These symbols are:

• The Pharaoh’s Fortune glowing pyramid
• The golden beetle scatter
• The phoenix
• 2 Egyptians
• Egyptian riding a horse drawn chariot
• Egyptian with a wolf mask
• Egyptian holding two poles
• The eye
• The snake
• The wolf
• The owl
• The green pharaoh

Much like any slot machine
game, you must match certain symbols to win. In this game the best symbol to get
is the Pharaoh’s Fortune glowing pyramid. This acts as the “wild” symbol for the
game. It can be used in place of any symbol except the bonus and the scatter
symbols.

If you get multiple Pharaoh’s
Fortune symbols on the same line, large pay outs are awarded.

The pay outs for
multiple Pharaoh’s Fortune symbols on the same line are:

• 5 symbols = 10000 credits
• 4 symbols = 1000 credits
• 3 symbols = 200 credits
• 2 symbols = 50 credits

The scatter symbol is adorned
with a golden beetle. The scatter is a symbol that can appear anywhere on the
reels. You must have the minimum scatters on the screen to win, but they do not
have to be on the same pay line.

The scatter symbols pay back in multiples of
your bet as seen here:

• 5 symbols = 50x bet
• 4 symbols = 10x bet
• 3 symbols = 5x bet
• 2 symbols = 2x bet

The best symbol that you can
get that does not fall into a wild category is the phoenix.

The phoenix pays out
the following jackpots:

• 5 symbols = 1000 credits
• 4 symbols = 250 credits
• 3 symbols = 100 credits
• 2 symbols = 5 credits

Next in order is the 2
Egyptians symbol.

This symbol pays the following:

• 5 symbols = 500 credits
• 4 symbols = 100 credits
• 3 symbols = 25 credits
• 2 symbols = 2 credits

For the remaining symbols, you
must match a minimum of 3 to win.

The pay outs for the symbols
of the Egyptian in the horse drawn chariot and the Egyptian in the wolf mask
are:

• 5 symbols = 400 credits
• 4 symbols = 100 credits
• 3 symbols = 15 credits

The pay outs for the symbol of
the Egyptian with 2 poles are:

• 5 symbols = 200 credits
• 4 symbols = 75 credits
• 3 symbols = 10 credits

The symbols of the eye and the
snake pay out the same.

The pay outs are:

• 5 symbols = 100 credits
• 4 symbols = 50 credits
• 3 symbols = 10 credits

Finally, the symbols of the
wolf and the owl also pay out the same.

The pay outs for these symbols are:

• 5 symbols = 100 credits
• 4 symbols = 30 credits
• 3 symbols = 5 credits

The final symbol is the green
pharaoh. 3 of these symbols anywhere on the screen trigger the bonus round.

All of the winnings listed are
multiplied by the line bet. The maximum line is 50 credits. So a spin where a
maximum bet is placed that gets 5 glowing pyramids on the same pay line will
yield you 500,000 credits.

The Bonus Round

The bonus round is triggered
in the game when 3 pharaohs with a green background appear on the screen. Once
activated you are then transported to a screen where you must pick blocks.

Each block will have one of 3 results:

• 1 free spin
• Multiplier increased by 1x
• Start free spins

You will keep selecting blocks
until the start free spins block is selected. In total the blocks can provide up
to 25 free spins and a 6x multiplier.

When the spins start, the
process is automated. The spins occur without any need for interaction from you.
Each free spin is a guaranteed winner. It will pay a minimum of 3x the bonus
multiplier x the triggering bet line.

In the bonus round there are
new icons that have different pay outs similar to the base play of the game.

The game has 13 different
bonus symbols. The most important of which is the wild symbol. The wild symbol
in the bonus round is much like the wild symbol in the base play as it will
substitute for any symbol except the scatter and the bonus symbol.

The pay out
for the wild symbol are:

• 5 symbols = 10000 credits
• 4 symbols = 300 credits
• 3 symbols = 100 credits
• 2 symbols = 25 credits

A win with 5 wild symbols is
multiplied by the line bet but isn’t affected by the multiplier.

The scatter symbol in the
bonus round works the same as it does in base play. Scatter wins are multiplied
by the bonus spin value. The bonus spin value is line bet x 20. The scatters do
not have to be on the same pay line, the can be anywhere on the screen.

The pay outs for the scatters are:

• 5 symbols = 20x bet
• 4 symbols = 5x bet
• 3 symbols = 3x bet
• 2 symbols = 1x bet

Within the bonus game there is
also a bonus symbol. The bonus symbol in this case is a pharaoh on a gold
background. Three of these symbols in any position on bonus reels 1, 2, and 3
award additional free spins. These spins are equal to the total number of spins
initially triggered in the free spins bonus.

The other symbols in the bonus
spins pay out between 3 and 300 credits.

Expected Payback

All slot machines have an
expected payback. This figure is how much money you can likely win back. The
payback is expressed as a percentage and takes into account the amount of times
you spin.

The expected payback for
Pharaoh’s Fortune slot machines varies between 93.5% and 96% on the 15 line
version.

With a long term game play
strategy, for every $100 you wager, you can expect to receive $96.

The less spins you make, the
lower the expected payback. This is why you see a range in the expected payback
above instead of a set percentage.

Ancient Egypt: A Brief History

The history of Egypt goes back
to roughly 3150 B. C. The legend of the Pharaoh is born when Pharaoh Meni
unified upper and lower Egypt and establish the capital in the ancient city of
Memphis.

For the next 1,000 years Egypt
flourished and would develop great advancements in art, architecture, technology
and agriculture. This would be the period that the Giza Pyramids and the Great
Sphinx were created.

Towards the end of the first
millennium of the kingdom, the government system had grown beyond its means. A
great famine had hit the area and the kingdom collapsed.

With the fall of the pharaohs,
local leaders began to take control. Without having to pay tributes and taxes to
the centralized government, the local leaders were able to focus on establishing
stability and prosperity in their regions.

The local leaders then started
jockeying for control and territory. This all came to a head around 2055 B. C.
when in battle, both northern and southern Egypt were reunited under Pharaoh
Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II ushering in the period known as the Middle Kingdom.

The kingdom flourished again
under the Pharaohs for the next 500 years. More advances in agriculture coupled
with new military tactics and technology allowed expansion into Nubia which
provided mineral rich lands that contained large deposits of gold.

After several decades of
decline, Egypt was conquered about 1550 B. C. by the first Pharaoh of the 18^th
dynasty, Pharaoh Ahmose I. Prosperity returned under Ahmose I. Borders were
secured and new trading partnerships with neighboring kingdoms were established.

Great building projects and
infrastructure were created during the New Kingdom period. Architecture that
rivaled ancient Greece would be found in the temples and buildings of the time.

The New Kingdom also saw the
reign of Ramesses the Great. Ramesses sired over 100 children. This is more than
any other pharaoh. His reign would also see the first peace treaty in recorded
history after fighting the Hittites in the Battle of Kadesh in 1258 B. C. The
long battle was one in which neither side could get the upper hand, which led to
the withdrawal of both forces from the area.

As happened previously,
however, over the next 5 centuries, the government would grow beyond its means
and become corrupt. By 1069 B. C. the kingdom had split up in 2. During this
time, Egypt would be conquered by both the Nubians and then the Assyrians, who
would assert control over them for the next 500 years.

Egypt would eventually go on
to be conquered by the Persians, and then later by Alexander the Great.
Alexander set up the administration of the region and he was succeeded by his
fellow Macedonian Ptolemy who declared himself the rightful successor to the
Pharaohs and took the title.

The Ptolemy line would extend
to its most famous and final Pharaoh, Cleopatra. The story of the Pharaohs would
come to an end after the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus declared war on and
defeated Cleopatra and her consort Mark Antony’s forces in 30 B. C. Shortly
after the defeat, Cleopatra committed suicide by allowing herself to be bitten
by a cobra. Rome would then annex Egypt, ending 3,000 years of the Pharaohs.

Conclusion

Widely available in both brick
and mortar casinos and online, Pharaoh’s Fortune provides a fun way to play
slots. It contains amusing graphics, a
hit soundtrack and great bonuses. The
payback percentage of up to 96% also provides an attractive incentive to play.
With a chance to win 10,000 coins on a single spin, you could win treasures that
the ancient Pharaohs would envy.