The release of Orient Express on November 30, 2017, proved Yggdrasil Gaming’s commitment to diversified slot games. Thematically, Orient Express is centered on journeying, like Yggdrasil’s Viking series (the Viking warriors’ adventures take them across oceans), Cazino Cosmos (January 2019) and Cazino Zepellin (October 2015)–the latter two involve space and air travel. Wild Orient (March 2016), Jewels of the Orient, and Oriental Fortune, all from Microgaming, might rival but are no match for Orient Express.

The term “Orient Express” is borrowed from the then similarly named public service railway line, which started operating in 1883 and completely stopped all operations in 2009, that at one time served the Paris-Istanbul route, including Belgrade and Venice. There are literary works and films based on the Orient Express service, so it is routine to see its slot game adaptation. Orient Express players match three, four, or five symbols.

Orient Express Game Characteristics
Orient Express’ 5X4 grid is associated with 20 fixed pay lines, and displays four Wilds and eight ordinary symbols. The four Wilds (also substitutes), which symbolize the four game modes, are: an elderly Paris-based train captain, an “Orient Express” wild, a diesel locomotive that serves Belgrade, and moving images of Paris and Istanbul cities.

The regular Orient Express symbols are: a “Free Spins” world globe lamp; a beautiful female traveller, a golden-haired and casually dressed male traveller, an officially dressed male traveller, a bald-cum-bespectacled male traveller wearing a bow tie; and the four suits—a red hearts suit, a blue spades suit, a green clubs suit, and a purple diamonds suit.

Early on in the starting page, Orient Express players are notified of the free spins that are a gateway to traveling across cities, the wilds-awarding trains, the random wilds-awarding postcards, respins-offering walking wilds, and the multipliers-triggering clock.

The Orient Express coin values are: $0.01, $0.02, $0.03, $0.04, $0.05, $0.06, $0.07, $0.08, $0.09, $0.10, $0.20, $0.30, $0.40, $0.50, $0.60, $0.70, $0.80, $0.90, $1.00, $1.30, $1.50, $1.70, $2.00, $2.50, $3.00, $3.50, $4.00, and $5.00.

The Orient Express total bets are: $0.20 (minimum bet), $0.40, $0.60, $0.80, $1.00, $1.20, $1.40, $1.60, $1.80, $2.00, $4.00, $6.00, $8.00, $10.00, $12.00, $14.00, $16.00, $18.00, $20.00, $26.00, $30.00, $34.00, $40.00, $50.00, $60.00, $70.00, $80.00, and $100.00 (maximum bet).

The Orient Express payouts for three, four, and five matching symbols, respectively: the female traveller pays X35, X100, and X1000. The golden-haired male traveller offers X30, X90, and X900. The officially dressed traveller offers X25, X80, and X800. The elderly traveller with a bow tie pays X20, X75, and X750.

Either the hearts suit, or the spades suits, pays X7, X25, and X100, while either the clubs suit or the diamonds suit offers X5, X20, and X75. Three, four, and five “Free Spins” features give seven free spins, fifteen free spins, and 30 free spins, respectively. The postcards can randomly transform between two and twelve symbols into wild symbols.

In the Venice playing mode, the yellow-and-red multiplier clock applies any of its 2X, 3X, 4X, or 5X on a winning spin at random in the base game; however, one of those multipliers is used on every winning spin, but strictly in the free spin modes. For the Belgrade mode, a base game spin may have between one and three reels transformed into wilds, but, in the free spin mode, reels are compulsorily transformed into Wilds. The Istanbul mode can have up to twelve symbols randomly transformed into Wilds in the base game, but those symbols do transform during the free spin mode.

Orient Express’ non-progressive jackpot is 500,000 coins. The Orient Express software is good, the animated graphics relevantly show the passengers’ and geographical diversity, and the sound effects reflect the rail travellers’ excitement.

Luck in Orient Express
A game of chance, Orient Express’ RTP rate is 96.1%, while the house edge is 3.9%.