Sails of Fortune

Overview Sails of Fortune

Ready to brave the wide-open seas in search of buried treasure? Well, get out your map and your shovel because Relax Gaming has developed a game just for you. Based on the always popular novel ‘Treasure Island’ written by Robert Louis Stevenson, this game takes players on a whirlwind adventure across the seven seas, with plenty of bonuses, big payouts and a theme that is amongst the most tried and trusted of the bunch. In addition to these excellent qualities, Sails of Fortune also has expandable reels, meaning that players could at one point be playing with as many as 7,776 active pay lines.

When it comes to the bonus features for this game, as already mentioned, there are a shed load to be had. These include mystery symbols, re-spins, free spins as well as the game’s signature modifier – the Mystery Maps. At points in the game, all these fantastic features and modifiers can be active at the same time creating an intoxicating gaming experience that could see you winning the game’s top prize of an incredible 25,000x your stake.

Theme and Symbols

As you may have guessed by now, Sails of Fortune is a pirate-themed slot with all the usual trimmings. However, unlike other slots which make this theme look played out and if we are brutally honest, very tacky, Relax Gaming seem to have found a new aesthetic angle that gives the slot’s look a novel and fresh appeal. This may be helped by the fact the graphics are very impressive, from the detailed symbols to the exciting game mechanics.

The background for this slot is the deck of a pirate ship. You can tell this as to the left and right of the playing window are rope ladders that lead to the sails. Other clues are the wooden deck underneath the playing window and the angular nature of the sides of the ship which narrow the further away they get, indicating the almond shape of a boat. Above the ship is the blue sky which one presumes is mirroring the calm blue waters that the ship is currently sailing on.

The board for this game is styled very much like the rest of the pirate ship. That is, it is made out of wood and looks like one of the displays that you often get on the stern of very large galleons. Its detailed wooden carvings put one in mind of a tavern notice board in the middle ages.

The symbols for this game are split into low paying card symbols and higher-paying picture symbols. The low-paying card symbols for this game are the 4 suit symbols decorated in different colours and displayed upon a wooden board. Up from these in terms of value are the fish bones symbol, the message in a bottle and the harpoon. In addition, there are male and female pirate charters. The ship’s captain is the most valuable symbol. If you manage to land 5 of these on a pay line you will be rewarded with 8x your stake. The scatter for this game is the golden skeleton key and the mystery symbols are the ‘?’ symbols.

Game Play

Sails of Fortune is played on a 5-reel, 3-row playing board with 243- 7,776 pay lines available to play on. To create winners in this game, players must match a minimum of 3 symbols across a pay line starting on reel 1. The betting range for Sails of Fortune is 10p to £50 per spin. To change your betting level per spin, use the bet adjuster tool located at the bottom of the playing window.
Further information regarding the slot, including a display of the paytable, can be accessed by clicking on the settings menu. The spin button is located on the right-hand side of the reels. You can set up auto spins in the game’s menu.

The volatility for Sails of Fortune is in the very high range. The return to player percentage for Sails of Fortune is 96.91%, which is over the average for a slot of this type. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 25,000 x your total stake.

Features

The first feature that players should be aware of is the mystery symbols feature. The ‘?’ symbols as mentioned represent the mystery symbols. Every iteration of these symbols which fall onto the reels transforms into the same symbol, following which a payout calculation is made. Next, thanks to the mystery symbols, the mystery map which has been created triggers the Mystery Map feature. This awards players re-spins. After every re-spin, the map shifts one reel to the left. Each time a re-spin is granted a new payout is calculated. Re-spins keep occurring until all the mystery maps have fallen off the reels.

The next and last feature for this free slot is the Treasure Hunt Free Spins feature. To trigger this bonus players must land 3 or more of the skeleton key scatters on the reels at once. You will then be granted 8 free spins. As they are in the base game, mystery symbols are also at play here.

Each time that a mystery map symbol lands, the symbol will expand to fill the entire reel on which it has landed with the same symbol. This then triggers a payout calculation which is followed up by the granting of re-spins as in the base game. However, this time the symbols are stacked in formation. These re-spins keep going until there are no more of these special symbols on the board.
Lastly, players should keep a lookout for gold coins. These symbols can only land on reel 5. Each one collected goes to fill the meter which can be seen on the left-hand side of the playing window. Collecting 3 gold coins expands the size of the mystery maps from 3 symbols high to 4 symbols. Collecting more coins expands the size of these maps further still.
Every new expansion also provides players with 1 extra free spin. Each expansion also creates more ways to win for this game. The maximum number of pay lines for this slot is 7,776.
In some countries there is also a bonus buy feature, however, this is not an option in the UK.

Conclusion

With a fun theme, plenty of bonus content and a top payout you’d love to find in a buried chest, Sails of Fortune has everything you could want in a slot. The RTP and hit rate are also respectable. However, like so many feature heavy slots, Sails of Fortune is also extremely volatile. Meaning that players may become frustrated if they don’t have the patience to wait for bonus features to be triggered.