Tome of Madness (Play’n GO): Review

Play’n GO’s flagship adventurer and globe-trotting veteran, Rich Wilde, sets off on another quest for riches and renown in the H.P Lovecraft-inspired slot Tome of Madness. If this charming Indiana Jones-style hero is new to you, he has featured in several Play’n GO titles like Aztec Idols and Pearls of India, though he’s most famously recognised as the “explorer guy” from the classic Book of Dead. Dressed in a waistcoat and red tie, Mr Wilde looks sharper than ever, as you’ll soon notice.

Rather than visiting an ancient historical setting like in many of Wilde’s outings, this time the journey heads into the imagination of American author H.P Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos universe—dominated by the powerful and terrifying godlike being, Cthulhu. Tome of Madness is a cascading slot played on a 5 by 5 grid where wins are created by landing 4 or more matching symbols horizontally or vertically in a connected cluster. This can produce chain reactions from a single spin, as winning symbols disappear and new ones drop in. The standout mechanic is the Portal Effects feature, which introduces Special Wilds and also gives you opportunities to activate extra features. You can play Tome of Madness on desktop computers, mobile devices and tablets from 10 cents to 100€ per spin.

The action takes place in a gloomy, long-abandoned hall, with Mr Wilde standing confidently on the right while holding the ancient Book of Madness. On the grid you’ll find lower-value green, blue, red, and purple stones marked with strange alien script. Higher-paying symbols include Cthulhu skulls, rings, daggers and octopus pendants, with the pendant being the top regular symbol, awarding 100 times your stake for a cluster of 10+ symbols. Watch the Portal Meter on the left of the grid, as every winning cascade helps charge it up.

You’ll have 3 different wilds available to boost your chances. First is the book, which functions as the standard wild. Next is a x2 multiplier wild shown as Rich Wilde. Lastly, the alien octopus-like creature is the Mega Wild, and it can only show up during the bonus round.

Tome of Madness (Play’n GO): Features

While playing, random special spots called Eye Marks can appear. If you create winning combinations on these tiles, 2 Special Wilds will be placed on your next losing cascade.

As with many other Play’n GO grid releases, the tension rises as you steadily build the meter, which can unlock modifiers and multiple features. Do note that a losing spin/cascade will reset the meter back to zero. The Portal Meter awards extras and features accordingly:

• • 7 symbols: 2 Special Wilds are awarded and added to the grid.

• 14 symbols: 2 Special Wilds are awarded and added to the grid. If a winning combination is created with any Special Wild at this stage, the Abyss Portal Effect feature is activated.
• 27 symbols: 2 Special Wilds are awarded and added to the grid. If a winning combination is created with any Special Wild at this stage, the Void Portal Effect feature is activated.
• 42 symbols: Reaching this stage will trigger the Other World Free Round feature.

With the Abyss Portal Effect feature, a full row or column is cleared starting from the winning Special Wild symbol, and the removed symbols also count toward the Portal Meter. When the Void Portal Effect feature occurs, the Void randomly selects 1 regular symbol and removes every instance of it from the grid.

Charging the meter to 42 symbols activates the Other Wold Free Round, awarding 1 free round with 3 random Portal Effects. If you continue collecting beyond that point, you’ll gain an extra Portal Effect for every 3 winning symbols gathered (up to a maximum of 7 Portal Effects). During the feature, a Portal Effect triggers whenever a cascade ends without producing a win—these are:

• Special Wilds: 4 Special Wilds are awarded and added to the grid.
• Abyss: 4 Special Wilds are awarded and added to the grid. If a winning combination is created with any Special Wild, the Abyss Portal Effect feature is activated.
• Void: 4 Special Wilds are awarded and added to the grid. If a winning combination is created with any Special Wild, the Void Portal Effect feature is activated.

Much like Reactoonz (Play’n GO) and its Gargantoon feature, there’s also a Mega Wild to aim for here. In the bonus round, 11 or 12 Eye Mark positions are shown. If you manage to open every eye—done by landing wins on all eye positions—the Mega Wild Cthulhu symbol is added to the grid. It then shifts downward with each cascade until it drops out of view, helping to generate larger payouts along the way.

Tome of Madness (Play’n GO): Verdict

Like many cascading grid slots from Play’n GO, describing the mechanics on paper can sound more complicated than they feel when you actually play. As you may have gathered, Tome of Madness is heavily based on the Reactoonz framework, with a few ideas borrowed from other grid titles too. At its core, it’s the same approach: keep landing consecutive wins to fill the meter and unlock features and bonuses. Even though the game is as volatile as Play’n GO slots typically get, the team has opted for a relatively modest top payout of 2000 times your stake, which strikes us as a little unusual.

Most players would agree that Play’n GO excel at building grid slots. From a presentation standpoint, Tome of Madness delivers the polished look we’ve come to expect, and the gameplay remains lively and suspenseful. On top of that, Rich Wilde is one of the most recognisable characters in online slots, so the branding will surely help draw attention. Overall, Tome of Madness is positioned to benefit from both Mr Wilde’s popularity and Play’n GO’s reputation for strong grid-slot design. It may not be their standout entry in the genre, but it should still satisfy plenty of Play’n GO fans.

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