Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar is the sixth novel written by American author Edgar Rice Burroughs in his Tarzan series about a guy who lives in the jungle. If you’ve heard the tale before, you know it’s strange. Tarzan hurts his head, loses his memory, and falls in love with La, a priestess of the Flaming God, while her followers try to sacrifice him in the Opar mine, which formerly supplied gold to the lost city of Atlantis. In brief, a fun background for Gameburger Studios’ sequel to Microgaming’s hit 9 Masks of Fire.
Gameburger clearly tried to get as much money out of 9 Pots of Gold as possible. To put it simply, it was a carbon copy of the original with an Irish twist. Gameburger has tried to shake things up while still retaining many of the features that made 9 Masks so enjoyable to players. This implies that the game will be quite similar in many respects, but with some crucial improvements. The grid of five reels and twenty paylines has been relocated to a visually striking rainforest. The studio has also changed a few of the settings behind the scenes.
The goal of Gameburger was to improve upon an already successful mathematical framework. That’s not just marketing jargon, either; 9 Masks of Fire was the pinnacle of Gameburger’s library in large part because the arithmetic was so accessible. Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar uses the same core technology as 9 Pots of Gold, with some minor adjustments.
The return to player (RTP) has been increased to 96.38%, which isn’t as much of a change as the jackpot, but is still appreciated. The hit rate, on the other hand, has been falling, down to 33.26 percent, which is still around one hit for every three spins. The volatility, however, has remained constant, returning to its previous medium level. There have been some tweaks to the mathematical model, but they shouldn’t affect the gameplay too much.
Players may enjoy the vine-swinging antics on any device with bets ranging from 20 percent to twenty dollars or euros each spin. Three or more matching symbols anywhere on the 20 fixed paylines will result in a payout. To achieve this, you need to land any of the eight pay symbols (4 of which are low-paying). The premiums consist of The Belgian, Jane, La, and Tarzan, and are followed by the J-A royals created in a charmingly overgrown manner. Five Tarzans on a line are worth 37.5x the wager, while the other premiums pay out between 5 and 20 times the wager.
The panther wild can come on any reel, and there are two scatters that will be discussed below. It may be used to complete winning combinations that include other symbols and can be worth up to 62.5 times its original value for a full line of five of them.
Slot Functions in Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
Several elements in Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar help to keep things interesting. Most of these are familiar from earlier rounds of 9 Masks/9 Pots, so they are all easy to remember. Random Wild is a brand-new option that has been included. Tarzan may randomly drop at least 2 wild symbols onto the reels after any spin by swinging over the game from above. During testing, this would often provide 2 or 3 wilds, but it is theoretically possible for all 15 positions on the reels to be wild, resulting in a 1,250x payout.
When three scatters appear anywhere on reels 2, 3, or 4, free spins are activated. This triggers the Feature Wheel, which operates differently than usual. The same amount of spins (10-30) is up for grabs, but this time the win multiplier is capped at x10. All wins, excluding the jackpot scatter win, are multiplied by this amount during free spins.
Finally, the scatter jackpot is what made 9 Masks popular in the first place. When you get three or more purple gem scatters, you win the corresponding immediate prize. More than double the reward for 9 scatters, the new maximum payout for 9 scatters is 5,000 times the stake.
Slot Decision on Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
However, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar is fundamentally the same as 9 Masks of Fire, despite the lack of a ‘9’ in the title. Still, it’s not a lazy copy of 9 Pounds of Gold. There are also several differences beyond the name that set it apart from its forerunners. The jackpot rise is a major change. When 9 scatters appear, the payout increases to 5,000x from 2,000x. This is a nice surprise for those who desire to play on a bigger stage. The mathematical model isn’t a straight copy-and-paste operation because most of the statistics have been modified significantly. Scientists and academics had to do some tapping on calculators to figure this one out.
The images are also very different from the previous two installments, and not only because of the numbers. In particular, 9 Masks, which, despite its lack of visual flair, had a certain traditional charm. Tarzan’s Jewels is a more detailed and animated gaming environment than its predecessor. Visually, it’s great, but it doesn’t stand out too much from other Tarzan slots like Lord of the Wilds. For instance, Tarzan is known for his customary vine swinging through the treetops.
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar follows the formula of other slots more closely than its predecessors. It’s more complete (although lifted verbatim from a book), has more promise, and a more developed concept. It would be fascinating to see if Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar has the same level of success as 9 Masks, given that it does not have the same traditional slot/minimalist appearance. Does it lose part of 9 Masks of Fire’s appeal since it’s less niche? It will be quite revealing to observe how loyalists to the original feel about the alterations.