Max Dangerous and the Lost Relics Slot Review

Max Dangerous Slot

The Indiana Jones franchise has inspired many software studios over the years and Red Rake Gaming is no exception. The studio’s 2021 release Max Dangerous and the Lost Relics is the latest addition to the growing list of adventure-themed slots, and we have to admit its center character shares many similarities with George Lucas’ Indy.

Players join the fictional archaeologist Max Dangerous in his search for lost ancient artifacts on a 5×4 reel grid with 50 winning lines. While filled with perils, their journey promises to be a lucrative one thanks to the numerous bonus features incorporated into the game. Here you will find an abundance of special symbols, free spins, and progress meters. Join us on this adventure as we explore the hidden treasures this Red Rake release has in store for players.

Max Dangerous and the Lost Relics Slot Summary
Provider Red Rake Gaming
Payline Number 50 fixed paylines
RTP 95.30%
Minimum Bet $0.10
Maximum Bet $15
Wild Symbols Max Dangerous is wild in the base game; sticky wilds appear after players fill the skull meter.
Scatter Symbols N/A
Bonus Features 12 free spins with multipliers; filling the skull, fedora hat, whip, plane, and goblet meters triggers different special features.
Jackpot 4,000x the total bet

Symbols and Winning Combinations in Max Dangerous and the Lost Relics

Winning Combinations Max Dangerous and the Lost Relics plays against a brick backdrop that resembles the walls of a catacomb. The game designers have incorporated only theme-related symbols for the winning combinations rather than using the same old playing card initials for the low payers. You need three, four, or five matches from left to right on a payline to receive a payout.

The central character Max Dangerous is wild and as such can replace all other regular icons. Max is also the highest paying symbol in the game, awarding 10x the stake for five matches. When a winning combination occurs, the symbols that form it disappear, making room for new icons to drop into their positions.

Once this happens, the software reevaluates the newly formed combinations and adds your new winnings to your overall profits from the spin. This mechanic is known as cascading reels in the slot community. The process continues until the replacement symbols fail to form a matching combination.

The second-best payers are the crucifix and the scarab artifact, paying 4x the stake for five-of-a-kind. Then we have the elaborately etched key and the airplane, each one paying 2x the wager for five matches. The fedora hat, the whip, the silver skull, and the goblet return even money for five identical symbols. However, these low payers have special powers, as you shall see next.

Bonus Features of Max Dangerous and the Lost Relics

Bonus image Max Dangerous and the Lost Relics has five meters (fedora hat, skull, goblet, plane, and whip) players must fill to gain access to various special features. Spinners add to the meters each time they form winning combinations with the corresponding symbols. A five-of-a-kind with the whip will fill five spaces in the whip meter, four matches will fill four spaces, and so on. The skull and fedora hat meters have ten spaces each, while the whip, goblet, and plane meters have eleven.

Keep in mind the wild Max Dangerous symbol does not contribute to the meters when it helps create matches. The meters reset after a losing spin. It is possible to fill several meters simultaneously. When this is the case, their corresponding special features will start in a specific order – whip, plane, skull, fedora hat, and goblet. Filling the goblet meter triggers 12 free spins.

The plane, goblet, and whip meters do not reset during the bonus rounds and the number of spaces to fill drops from eleven to nine. Furthermore, if you succeed in filling the goblet meter one more time during the free spins, the game will double the winnings you have accumulated. The multiplier increases by one unit each time you refill the goblet meter during free spins.

A full whip meter entitles you to a special symbol and a multiplier that increases your winnings. When you fill the plane meter, the plane icon will start shifting from left to right on the row, replacing all symbols in its path.

Filling up the skull meter unleashes three random sticky wilds on the reels, each one having three “lives”. They lose a life each time they help create a winning combination. The feature ends whenever you use up all three lives of your wilds. On a side note, the sticky wild symbols are represented by three skulls. A skull darkens when a wild loses a life.

A full hat meter transforms the first three icons on the second reel into wilds. Three more wilds are positioned in the grids above that are not visible yet, creating successive cascades after winning combinations.

Verdict

We will not lie to you, filling those meters is a mean feat as they reset after each losing spin that breaks the chain reaction on the cascading reels. The waiting is well worth it when you do manage to get there, though, since the special features have quite decent winning potential. Other than that, Max Dangerous and the Lost Relics has a hit frequency of 48.3% so you can expect wins to occur on a relatively frequent basis.