Have you ever been in a conversation with someone, and you kinda-sorta-but-not-really understand what they’re talking about, but you’re not entirely sure, and so you just keep on nodding your head and saying “uh-huh” until the conversation is over?
Yeah, well, that was kind of my experience playing the super-popular online slot Rich Wilde and the Tome of Madness over there on the Borgata online casino app.
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I’m not saying the game isn’t fun, I’m not saying the game isn’t engaging, but I am saying I had no idea what the heck was going on at virtually any point during the gameplay.
So if you’re looking for some mindless fun — while, apparently, helping Rich Wilde navigate the depths of the underworld — then this game, from Play’n GO, is for you.
So. Into the underworld we go! After you … I insist.
The facts
Imma gonna do my best to explain here …
Rich Wilde made his debut in the Book of the Dead slot, and, best as I can tell, is an adventurer in the Indiana Jones mold, but strictly dealing with the undead and such.
And while he doesn’t do much except stand around and look pretty off to the side, it’s his adventure and that’s that, m’kay?
Moving on then, to the slot itself. It’s a 5×5 with a reasonably high RTP of 96.59%, so that’s nice.
As for the gameplay … OK, it’s almost not quite even a slot. It’s cascading instead of spinning, and you need four symbols touching each other either horizontally or vertically to win any money. And if you connect them and win, the symbols disappear and are replaced with new symbols. Win again, symbols replaced, and so on and so forth.
Now. This is where things get (Rich) wild(e). Bear with me, even though I don’t think I’m about to make any sense.
There is an eye mark that appears on the 5×5 grid, and if you get a winning combination on the eye mark, two wilds will be added to the next spin.
And now this: Up in the left hand corner is a counter, marked to 42. The number of symbols you win with gets added together. So if your first spin gets a win with four symbols, you have 4/42. Get four more, and you’re up to 8/42. For each seven symbols you get, two more wilds are added to the next “spin.”
And once this starts happening, things start happening very quickly. The game starts talking to you, saying things like “Void” and “Abyss” and more wilds are added, and there’s a Cthulhu Mega Wild which turns an entire row wild, and once you get to that 42 number the bonus spins round is activated and there’s more and more and more and I couldn’t even begin to explain.
Seriously: I’m not being a lazy reporter here. I legitimately read through the rules and played the game and I have just about no idea what the heck was happening.
But it was fun.
Look and feel
Right from the start, things are weird. You open up the game and you’re greeted with a Vincent Price-sounding fella telling you, “That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.” It’s a H.P. Lovecraft quote and I have no idea what it means, but it sure seems like a good time to plop in an Undertaker rising from the dead moment, no?
But yes: It is spooky, and the spookiness continues when you start winning, as the Vinnie Price soundalike comes around sometimes to say other stuff, like “Frenetic,” which is a word that is woefully underused. I’m bringing back frenetic.
The results
Well, I lost like $10 playing a dime a spin, even though I hit the bonus round twice, collecting less than $2.50 each time. I (sadly) didn’t get the Cthulhu Mega Wild, which, apparently, is the bee’s knees.
All in all, and despite not exactly being able to completely follow the action, it was a blast to play. It was, dare I say, a rich and wild experience. (Tip your waiters and waitresses, good night!)
