Eastern Delights

Here at LCB, we love quirky approaches to gaming that is otherwise quite ordinary. Like, how much variation can slots in general showcase? In spite of deep well of potential themes, most of them somehow never get their turn so we end up whistling to the same old repetitive tune with whatever is the latest slot offering by leading slot developers. Playson does things a little differently. They either surprise with the strangely uneven number of paylines or with a subject matter that is refreshing and unusual. Such is the fate of Eastern Delight, a 5-reel, 21-paylines (they did it again!) slot with a couple of particularly interesting features you won't bump into that often.

Theme

The imagery of old Eastern culture, more specifically Arabic and Berber native to middle-Eastern and northern African lands, doesn't leave a lot to the imagination – because it is so delightfully excessive and opulent. Wonderfully decorated palaces, aromatic spices, gilded tea sets, pillows and carpets adorned with elaborate arabesque and ornate embroidery, mysterious harem girls, lavish gardens...You know, something out of a 1001 Nights tales. Eastern Delights is a tribute to the beauty and aesthetics of rich courts of Maharajahs, Sheiks, Shahs and Sultans. Here, we enter one such courtyard of a wealthy and benevolent Sheikh and his princess of exotic beauty. And what a Jardin it is! Blue and red draperies, over-the-top fountain wonderfully cultivated foliage and plants, lit oil lamps and a Sheikh himself idling cozily on a bed of pillows form backdrops of stunning effect. The reels themselves are gorgeous, colorful and designed with suitable visual cues (such as letters and numbers in a typical Arabic font, each in their own color and delicate engraving inherent in Islamic design, that form a set of lower symbols). High-end symbols are eye-candy without precedent: a selection of fruit loved traditionally in these far-away lands, a peacock, a tea set and a plate of eastern sweet treats. Scatter symbol is represented by a lovely, scantily clad black-haired princess, Wild is the ornamented question mark symbol and there is a very special symbol – magic lamp, that appears during extra spins mode and has special powers. The musical theme is very much Eastern infused and, though it can become somewhat repetitive, compliments the game nicely.

Betting Options and Functions

With 21 paylines and one coin per line wager, it's easy to deduce that the game allows for 21 coins wagered per spin. The maximum amount one can wager in the game is $/€ 105. You can easily set your betting amount by clicking the down or up arrow on the player dash. Your credit balance is clearly displayed on the left side, where the info button is also located, which opens a panel with all the ins and outs of the game like payline diagram, the value of each symbol, the brief explanation of game's features and so on. Autoplay settings allow up to 100 auto spins, which isn't a lot, but it's something.

Features

The game is of symbol drop feature type, meaning that, upon hitting a winning combination, the symbols who have formed it will crash down, leaving empty spaces where new symbols will fall into.

Eastern Delights lacks elaborate extra features such as mini-games, but it does contain a potential wealth of extra spins. Three princess scatter symbols will trigger the extra spin mode – initially, with four default extra spins. However, you can accumulate the number of extra spins during the main game by forming a string of payline wins as long as Symbol Drop Feature is dynamic. The amount of total extra spins won is indicated at the upper-right hand side of the slot machine, with the maximum being 50.

The magic lamp symbol appears during the extra spin round and it will randomly appear on the 5th reel – effectively destroying it completely so that a new round of symbols appear, prompting potentially huge payouts.

Our Take

Eastern Delights will keep you waiting for extra spins feature to be triggered – landing the three scatter symbols is not a frequent affair, but it may be for the best: at least you'll have time to generate a hefty amount of extra spins during the main gameplay. The game's appearance is beautiful beyond measure and though it's easy to get lost in sheer looks of it, the payouts here may not be as enticing. It's a mixed bag leaning towards the good – and we encourage you to get a feel for it yourself.