Columbus: sailing for the New World on five reels

A voyage in nine lines

Columbus takes the famous 1492 crossing as its theme. The reels are five wide and three high, and the paytable mixes card values with figures and treasures from the voyage, with Columbus and his ship given pride of place. The look is clearly from an earlier generation of slots, with flat backgrounds and chunky symbols, which is part of its charm for regular players.

The explorer and the ships

Columbus himself is the wild, standing in for other symbols to complete lines. His ship is the scatter, and a few of them anywhere on the reels launch the free games. During the round, the game plays out on the same reels, so the base game symbols you have been watching are the ones that matter.

The exact number of free games and how the round handles retriggers are shown on the info screen. It is worth opening before you start, because the demo is the place to check those rules calmly.

Getting to grips with the Columbus demo

The Columbus demo loads with 1,000 virtual credits. There is no sign-up and nothing to download. Treat the first hundred spins as a look around: how often does Columbus appear, and how close do you come to the ships needed for free games?

Then commit to a longer stretch, around 250 spins at a stake equal to £0.20, to see at least one bonus. Older Novomatic games tend to swing between quiet patches and sudden lines, and that pattern only shows over a decent number of spins.

Gamble feature and pacing

Like most classics from the same studio, Columbus offers a card gamble after any win: pick red or black to double the prize or lose it. In free play you can test how quickly it drains a balance without any cost.

Columbus suits players who like a theme with a bit of history and a steady, unhurried rhythm. When you want to play it for real, the same slot is available at the casinos listed below.