Sands of Mystery - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Sands of Mystery slot review

Revisit one of the most popular themes for slots of all time in the Sands of Mystery game from well-known developer Konami. Using a classic five reel, three-row setup and offering 30 paylines, this game has not one but two bonus features: a traditional free spins round and the more unusual fade away feature. To find out more, read on for our full Sands of Mystery slot review.

The most popular of slot themes?

If there is one thing many slots you will find across online casinos have in common, it is a theme based on ancient Egypt. Something about the pyramids, hieroglyphs and gods of this much-loved time period has endured in the world of slot symbol designs. This Konami slot is not reinventing the wheel, rolling out all the familiar images and logos to create this title.

Design

The only new or different features on the reels are the glowing blue zones in the centre of the screen, which give a sense of magic or power to the well-known symbols. Otherwise, the pyramids and sphinx are instantly recognisable and don’t deviate from the many slots that have gone before.

Soundtrack and sound effects

There is no music but there is a wide range of jingles and sound effects, which is one of the trademark features of Konami slots. Showing the connection with this developer’s video game design heritage, it offers a retro feel to all its video slots.

Sands of Mystery RTP & volatility

Unfortunately, Konami has not provided an official RTP for this title. While we can expect the contemporary average of 96 per cent, you will need to check at your online casinos of choice. The RTP is likely to vary and be determined by the operator.

Volatility

While individual games can vary, our demo play testing suggested medium variance. There is a balance between the smaller wins that appear and the payout potential of big wins via the bonuses, which very rarely appear.

How to play Sands of Mystery slot

In keeping with the simplicity and format of many Konami slots, this is an easy one to play:

1. Your balance is found on the left, while your most recent win will show on the right.
2. Bets are displayed in both credits and money and can be adjusted using the left and right arrows to the right of the spin button.
3. The help button will let you see the payable, including all the winning symbols and their win multiplier values.
4. You can also toggle faster animations and adjust the audio in this menu.
5. The central green button will spin the reels once for the current bet displayed.
6. Pressing auto play will let you choose a number of spins. Keep in mind that there are no win or loss limit functions.
7. Enjoy slots in demo mode responsibly by using hard win and stop values according to a real-world budget and sticking to them throughout your gameplay. Timeout and self-exclusion functions are available.

How to win at Sands of Mystery

There are 30 paylines in this Konami game, on which you need to match at least two winning symbols to earn a prize. If multiple lines are successful, the top win from each is used to calculate your total win. Win multiplier values are applied to the total bet.

Betting options

Bets come in a huge range. The minimum is 135 credits, which goes up to a maximum of 6,000.

Max win

The max win for any single symbol combination is the Cleopatra-like symbol, which awards 200x the bet for five of a kind.

Sands of Mystery bonuses

Things get interesting with the Sands of Mystery bonus features, which help to set this slot apart:

Wilds

The pyramid functions as wild in the game, substituting for other symbols except the scatter symbol to help you form winning combinations. If a wild lands in the strike zone - the central reels two, three and four - it will appear with a 2x multiplier that will apply to any wins it forms part of.

Fade away

At any time during the base game, the fade away feature can trigger. Any low-paying symbols are replaced with either higher-paying symbols or wilds. If wilds land in the strike zone mentioned above in stacks of two or more, they elevate their multiplier from 2x to 3x, then 4x as a max.

Free spins bonus

Landing the scarab scatter symbol in the base game will award free spins in the following amounts:

• 3 scatters = 10 free spins
• 4 scatters = 15 free spins
• 5 scatters = 50 free spins

During the free spins bonus, the fade away feature appears more frequently; what’s more, you can retrigger further free spins by landing additional scatter symbols.

Sands of Mystery review: our verdict

The range of bonus features is what helps this Konami slot to stand out; otherwise, we have seen the Egyptian theme too many times for it not to feature some kind of quirk or variation. Give it a try in demo mode to see whether you enjoy the strike zone mechanic.

Disclaimer: Sands of Mystery trademark / license is owned by Konami. This site is not endorsed by Konami.