Aldo’s Journey: Overview

Aldo may be a traveller, but he’s not roaming the world for fun. For this little Marco Polo lookalike merchant, it’s all about the cash. Much like Polo, he never seems to stand still—good news for players, because his constant movement can boost the chances of forming winning combinations and may open the door to five different free spin rounds. The name Aldo is said to mean either ‘old and wise’ or ‘the tall one’, depending on the source. He doesn’t exactly come across as towering, so ‘old and wise’ feels like the better fit. He also looks remarkably like the real-life explorer and trader Marco Polo. Aldo even stops in some of the same places—China, Italy, Mongolia and Persia. Players can tag along on the trip, and with a bit of luck, pick up coins along the route.

Yggdrasil Gaming have delivered plenty of large-scale, epic, mythology-driven slots before, and Aldo’s Journey goes in the opposite direction. It’s playful and charming, with a bouncy little background tune accompanying the spins. The 5×5 grid spins in a way that initially resembles cluster pays, but it actually runs on 65 fixed paylines. You’ll need three or more matching symbols to connect on a payline to score a win.

It’s a bit surprising that a travel-themed slot uses base game symbols that barely relate to the journey. The low pays are the four card suits—hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds—paying 0.2x to 1x the stake. The higher pays aren’t much more exciting either, with 4 gems worth just 0.4x – 2x the stake, which is extremely modest. The real Marco Polo wouldn’t have bothered leaving home for rewards like that. The game does include a wild symbol, shown as a solid gold coin, and in the base game it has a single purpose: substituting for any regular pay symbol.

Stakes range from as little as 10 c/p per spin or as high as $/€100. The RTP is a solid 96.5%, but with medium/high volatility paired with low symbol values, you may find yourself seeing plenty of small, fairly underwhelming hits. While the slot can, in theory, deliver respectable maximum payouts, landing anything notable will likely require meaningful support from the bonus features.

Aldo’s Journey: Features

The most noticeable feature in Aldo’s Journey is Aldo himself, acting as the Journey Wild. He’s a lively, likeable character who keeps wandering around the reels as they spin. Once the reels stop, Aldo also stops, helping to link together extra winning lines. He can replace any symbol in the game apart from the free spins symbol.

Aldo’s Journey also includes a scatter symbol, designed as a vintage compass. Hit 3 of them to trigger 7 Free Spins. If you pay attention to the gird, you’ll notice it’s divided into sections. The sections where the scatters land decide which of the 5 free spin modes you receive. Here’s what you can get:

• Italy: this round starts with a x2 multiplier which increases by +1 with each spin.
• Mongolia: on each spin one of the symbols is removed from the game. If there are just 2 left a multiplier is added.
• Persia: on each spin of the reels a Sticky Wild is dropped on the grid.
• China: the round starts with a x2 multiplier and Aldo leaves a trail of wilds behind him as he wanders.
• Journey: a x2 multiplier is applied before launching one of the previous four free spin rounds.

The last feature is Wild Time! Occasionally, Aldo stops on the tile right in the centre of the grid. When that happens, 3 to 9 wild symbols are scattered across the reels, and a multiplier of x2 – x4 is applied to any wins on that spin. If this triggers during the China, Italy, Mongolia, or Persia free spins, the multiplier remains active for the rest of the spins. If Wild Time! Occurs during the Journey round, 3 additional spins are added to the total.

Aldo’s Journey: Verdict

It definitely has some appeal. Aldo’s Journey arrives with a bright, cartoon-like style that makes a strong first impression. After a while, though, a few things begin to irritate. The biggest issue is the mix of volatility and weak symbol payouts—it can feel tight. Sure, some sessions are great and others aren’t; that’s simply how slots work. Still, after extensive testing of Aldo’s Journey, the wins we did see weren’t particularly exciting. That could have been down to poor luck, but this wasn’t a short trial. In our case, after more than 4 hours of continuous play, we didn’t land a single win above 200x.

It also doesn’t help that the top-paying symbols only reach 2x the stake at most. That makes it hard for the base game to stay engaging. Yes, there are 5 bonus games that can improve the outlook, but experienced players may not find much here to get truly excited about. The game can, in theory, produce max wins of up to around 3,000 times the stake (rough estimate), but reaching anything close to that will likely demand a lot of patience.

Yggdrasil Gaming not only knows how to build quality slots, it also understands the audience playing them. There will certainly be plenty of gamers who enjoy Aldo’s Journey. For one thing, it feels different, and the travel concept—paired with a cute hero who literally moves around the grid dropping wilds—is a smart idea. And even if huge, high-volatility moments are limited, players who prefer a steady flow of smaller wins should be perfectly content. Overall, Aldo’s Journey is a decent title, but it’s best suited to a causal gaming style.