Gift of Midas Demo & Slot Review

Gift of Midas Review

Having everything you touch turn into gold seems like a blessing at first, until you start touching the people you love, turning them into golden statues. King Midas had to learn this the hard way, or so the myth goes, and Endorphina captures the legendary monarch at the height of his mythical opulence in Gift of Midas slot. We can reveal upfront that fans of the popular ’Book of’ mechanic have a lot to look forward to here. Before we get to all that, however, let’s go through the basics of this release.

Gift of Midas plays out on a 5x3 grid with 10 paylines, similar to the iconic Book of Dead that spawned this whole genre. You win by landing matching symbols across at least one of these paylines, starting from the leftmost reel. The treasure chest symbol is the highest payer in this game, followed by a golden chalice, a golden wreath, and a golden apple. These premium symbols pay between 75x and 500x your stake for 5 of a kind, while the royal symbols pay 10x or 15x your stake for the same.

Gift of Midas - Reels Screen

The temple Wild symbol can appear on any reel, substituting for any pay symbol to help complete or improve wins. The Wild symbol pays the same as the highest-value treasure chest symbol, except that it does not pay for 2 of a kind like all the premium symbols do. The Wild pays 10x for 3 of a kind, 100x for 4 of a kind, and 500x for 5 of a kind. In addition, you will land 3 different token orb symbols overlaid on regular symbols, and these are collected in the bowl of the same color above the grid. Each collection has a chance of triggering the bonus round.

Each token triggers a unique bonus round with the same number of free spins awarded. One of the bonus rounds is a standard ‘Book of’ affair, while the two other bonus rounds feature a unique twist on the expanding symbol mechanic. This includes all winning symbols expanding or a chosen symbol expanding horizontally across rows if at least 2 instances appear on the same row. Gift of Midas is a high volatility slot game, featuring bet levels ranging from £0.10 to £40 per round, a 96.06% RTP, and a max win of 6,500x your stake.

Gift of Midas Features

While we’ve already provided a brief overview, there are plenty of details to cover in the feature department of this game. Before we get into all that, however, we would like to remind you that the Gift of Midas free play demo is available at the top of this page. Head up there after reading the review to sample the features yourself. Let’s jump in!

Token Symbol Collection

Token symbols appear as green, red, and blue orbs that overlay regular symbols. When these orbs land, they are collected by the corresponding bowl above the reels. This reveals the regular symbol underneath, and each collection can randomly trigger the corresponding bonus round. You can only trigger one bonus round at a time in Gift of Midas, meaning bonus round features cannot combine into the same bonus round. Activated green, red, or blue bowls trigger the Deluxe, Expand, or Linked bonus rounds, respectively.

3 Unique Bonus Rounds

Regardless of which bonus round you trigger, 15 free spins are awarded. Either of the bonus rounds involves an expanding symbols feature, but how this symbol is chosen, how it expands, and the payout procedure depend on which bowl triggered the bonus. Tokens of the same color that triggered the bonus round may appear during the bonus round, which appear to retrigger the bonus the bonus. However, this is not explicitly stated in the game info section.

The Deluxe Bonus Round plays out with the classic Book mechanic feature. A symbol is chosen randomly to expand vertically and fill the entire reel, but only if you land enough instances to create a win. The special expanding symbols do not need to land adjacent to create a win.

In the Expand Bonus Round, any symbol can expand to fill reels if you land enough instances to create a win on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel. In practice, this means that any regular line win triggers the expansion of the involved winning symbols for a full-payline win. If you land wins with multiple symbols, they take turns expanding to generate full-payline wins for each winning symbol.

Before the Linked Bonus Round starts, a symbol is randomly selected to become the special expanding symbol. When at least 2 special expanding symbols appear on the same row, they expand horizontally to cover all positions between them. This means you need to land the special symbol on reels 1 and 5 on the same row to cover the full row. Winning combinations involving expanding symbols do not need to start from the leftmost reel.

Gamble feature

The Gamble feature allows you to gamble any win to possibly double your winnings. The dealer draws a card before you choose 1 of 4 face-down cards to see if you can beat the dealer’s hand. Each time you win, your winnings are doubled, and you can gamble up to 10 times per session. However, if you lose, your winnings are lost, and the Gamble feature ends. Drawing a Joker beats any card the dealer may hold, and a draw does not affect your winnings. The RTP of this feature is 84%, which is worth noting.

Bonus Buy (not UK)

Gift of Midas - Free Spins Win Screen

The Bonus Buy menu is called ‘Bonus Pop’ in the Gift of Midas slot, and it allows eligible players to purchase the bonus round for 124x the stake. This awards a triggering spin where either the green, red, or blue bowl triggers the bonus, meaning you cannot choose which bonus round you want. It’s random each time you purchase the feature. Purchasing the bonus round gives you an RTP of 95.27%.

Theme & Graphics

Gift of Midas takes you to the sun-drenched marble terrace of none other than King Midas himself, where stone columns draped with blossoming pink roses frame a breathtaking view of coastal mountains and the shimmering Mediterranean. King Midas takes center stage above the reels, sitting on his throne crowned with a golden wreath and holding one of his golden hands regally in the air. The other hand is resting on a panther that his golden touch has turned into a golden statue. In front of him, the 3 bowls are glowing with green, red, and blue fire. A sitar-driven soundtrack adds a sense of mysticism to the already majestic presentation.

Gift of Midas Free Play

If you haven’t already, you can check out the Gift of Midas demo found at the top of this page. It’s a great way to experience the game exactly like it plays at a casino, but without risking a single dime. This allows you to gauge the game’s volatility, plan what bankroll is needed, and decide what bet level you should go with if you decide to play for real. You can purchase the bonus round as many times as you like, allowing you to see the different features in action. We would love to hear what you think of the game too, so feel free to leave a comment in the comments field after your Gift of Midas free play session is finished.

Pros and Cons of Gift of Midas

Our Verdict

Endorphina has crafted a visually impressive trip to ancient Greece with this game, and just taking in the stunning backdrop takes a while before you actually can get started spinning the reels. Midas graces you with his royal presence throughout the gaming session, and it's difficult to tell whether he feels blessed or cursed by his gift at this point in the story arc. We are leaning towards blessed, though, judging from his proud expression and raised golden hand. The volatility of the gameplay can deliver blessings as well as curses too, depending on your luck.

The sitar-driven soundtrack is a neat touch, adding a sense of mysticism to the experience, and the soundtrack was one of the highlights of this game for me. I also like that the token symbols do not occupy “reel estate,” but instead land as overlay symbols. When collected, this can gift you with unexpected wins as symbols are revealed, although winnings in the base game are mostly moderate top-up wins. That said, larger payouts are possible, with symbol values reaching as high as 500x your stake for 5 of a kind.

In my experience, the base game is mostly a grind, though, and including some proper base game features would have made Gift of Midas a more balanced release. What makes this game worthwhile are the 3 distinct bonus rounds, 2 of which offer an interesting twist to the familiar Book mechanic feature. My favorite is the Expand Bonus Round, where each win expands the winning symbols for a full-payline win. The Linked Bonus Round is a bit more complicated to wrap your head around and may be more of an acquired taste.

The gamble feature is not something I would recommend touching, at least not unless you believe you have been bestowed with King Midas' golden touch. The RTP is too low, and you can easily be tempted to double your winnings “just one more time” and go bust. The bonus buy RTP is a tad low too, but it may be worth it for impatient players. Overall, Gift of Midas feels like a gift to fans of the Book mechanic, expanding on the expanding symbol feature in unique and enjoyable ways.