Argonauts

Argonauts (Pragmatic Play) Review

Like so many times before, Pragmatic Play draws inspiration from the rich soil of Greek mythology to create a slot game. However, the story of the Argonauts is not the most common legend in the casino world. The name comes from the boat, Argo, that Jason and his fellow heroes used in their search for the legendary Golden Fleece. In the Argonauts slot, you are closing in on this valuable artifact, and the game plays out on a 5x4 grid set against a temple backdrop bathed in mystical light.

You start by choosing your preferred bet level between €0.20 and €240 per spin, a range that should cater to most types of players. Jason himself is the top-tier symbol, followed by a siren, a zombie, a horn, and a sword. These premium symbols award 1.5x to 5x your stake for 5 of a kind wins, and you win by landing at least 3 matching symbols across up to 1,024 betways starting from the leftmost reel. The royal symbols pay 0.6x to 0.8x for the same.

Argonauts Slot - Reels Screen

The Wild symbol not only substitutes for pay symbols to help complete or improve wins, but it also serves as a Collector symbol in the Argonauts slot. Not only that, but the wild collector also carries a multiplier ranging from x2 to x2,000, boosting all money symbols it collects. The money symbols are worth up to 50x your stake, but only money symbols adjacent to the wild collector are collected. Each collected money symbol increases the multiplier by +1.

The Respin bonus round is the highlight of this game, featuring only money symbols, collector wilds, and blanks. This means you can rack up some serious prizes, topping out at 10,000x your stake with a 1 in 3,166,561 spins probability. Argonauts boasts a top-tier RTP well above average, clocking in at 96.47 % (but beware of lower RTP versions). This is a high volatility installment from Pragmatic Play, meaning you should expect a bumpy ride.

Argonauts Features

Money symbol collection is the name of the game in Argonauts Pragmatic Play, as you’ll do plenty of that in both the base game and the Respins bonus round. Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at how it all works!

Money Symbol Collection

You can land Money symbols worth between 0.5x and 50x your stake in the base game, and Wild symbols serve as Collectors that collect the value from all adjacent money symbols on the same spin. To be clear, each wild collects money symbol prizes from money symbols that are connected vertically, horizontally, and diagonally to the position of the wild. Wild Collectors reveal random multipliers ranging from x2 to x2,000, boosting the collected money symbol prizes accordingly. Each collected money symbol adds +1 to the multiplier.

Respins Bonus Round

The Respins Feature triggers when you land at least 6 Money symbols on the same base game spin, with the triggering money symbols carried over and sticky on the new grid. Only blanks, money symbols, and wild collector symbols will appear during this feature, and any new money symbols that land become sticky as well.

When wild collector symbols land, they collect the prizes from all adjacent money symbols, adding them to the total win before being removed. You start with 3 respins, and the respins counter resets each time a money or collector wild lands. The Respins bonus round is over when you fill the screen or run out of respins, and your total win is then summed up. If you manage to fill the screen, the money symbol values are boosted by x2 before being summed up.

Argonauts Slot - Respins Bonus Round

Argonauts Bonus Buy (not UK)

The Bonus Buy menu is prominently displayed on the left-hand side, but only for eligible players. For the price of 60x your stake, you get a spin that’s guaranteed to deliver at least 6 triggering money symbols. The organic bonus round hit frequency is 1 in 193 spins, which is around the industry average.

Theme & Graphics

The Argonauts game may look like an underwater-themed slot at first glance. However, you’ll soon see that the grid is placed against a backdrop of elaborate temple constructions, with ethereal flames flickering in the eerily blueish fog. Rooted in Greek mythology, The Argonauts slot tells the story of a band of heroes led by a certain Jason, who set sail in their boat, Argo, to look for the legendary Golden Fleece - a symbol of authority and kingship. The visual style blends semi-realistic character art with comic-book aesthetic, immersing you in a world of myth and adventure.

Pros and Cons of Argonauts

Our Verdict

Pragmatic Play is not a developer that takes the time and effort to come up with fancy names for its features. Pragmatic is the name of the studio, after all, so it kind of makes sense. However, simply calling the main attraction of Argonauts slot “Respins” feels a bit basic, even for them. Well, perhaps not, as we’ve seen similar things many times before, but you catch my drift. Argonauts comes with the usual polished presentation Pragmatic always dishes up, but it lacks the soul, heart, and grit of the bold adventurers it portrays.

Granted, there aren’t all that many slot games based on the legend of the Argonauts and their search for the Golden Fleece. However, if you didn’t know the title, Argonauts slot would come across as a rather generic Greek mythology release. The whole thing reeks of an assembly line vibe, like something they rushed out there to fill this month's quota. Ultimately, that’s the main issue with Pragmatic Play: they put quantity before quality to see what sticks.

I doubt Argonauts will be another one of their many home runs, however, as there is nothing overly exciting to be discovered here. Wilds collecting adjacent money symbols may be a twist on the usual collection feature, but all it does is limit the number of collected prizes. The good news is that the wild also substitutes to help create regular line wins, but the money symbols still block line wins during base game play, with or without the collector wild present.

The aforementioned Respin bonus is a typical hold and win feature, except that wilds collect adjacent money symbols also here. Getting larger money symbols than 10x seemed rare during my test session, and overall, the feature lacks excitement. While wild collectors are removed, the money prizes are not, meaning you’re stuck with whatever you got until the end. There are plenty of better money collection alternatives out there, not least partner Reel Kingdom’s Big Bass range.