Though I’m pretty sure that Microgaming, the developer behind Paradise Found, wanted to make it a relaxing and spiritual slot machine, the effect they ended up with is that of a game that will manage to put you to sleep. There is nothing extraordinary about it, though at least they used a theme that nobody else tried before, as far as I know. The game is themed around Tibet and a traveler that goes there to find himself. The design does take advantage of the gorgeous mountains of the region, visible in the game, but you will also find a number of very ugly playing cards.
While it is an original theme that you’re offered, the layout is quite common, with its 5 reels & 20 bet lines. The Wild Lotus feature is a big part of the attraction, and the only one to be somewhat original, the other two being the scatter and the wild. A $20,000 top jackpot is advertised by the paytable.
Features of Paradise Found
A scatter symbol that gives you cash prizes, a wild and a bonus game which it can trigger, these are all the features available in this game.
The scatter symbol is also the one that can bring the best prizes in this game. Awarding up to $20,000 when you use the maximum bet, it’s represented by the image of the Traveler, and you need all five to be present to get that kind of payday. As few as two are sufficient to get some kind of prize, though with that many symbols you only get 2x the bet. Scatter symbols are great to land because they don’t take paylines into account, only the total number of symbols of this type that are on the reels.
A wild symbol is also part of the action. Represented by the Lotus, the wild is reserved for the first and the last reels only. It can substitute for any other regular symbol, but it doesn’t give you prizes directly.
Wild Lotus Feature
With a Lotus on the 1st reel and with the Mountain Fortress on the 5th reel, in the same round, you get the Wild Lotus bonus game to start.
The reels of the game are all held for the duration of this bonus feature. One of the symbols from the middle three reels will turn into a Lotus wild at that point, after which it will give you a prize. Next, all the lines offer you their prizes. A total of 10 times this is repeated during a bonus game.
Betting options and jackpots
The most you can wager on a single spin is $100. That kind of bet requires you to use the maximum of 10 coins per line, with 200 coins being enough to cover all 20 lines. The most that a coin will be worth is $1, while the minimum is $0.01.
The scattered Traveler symbols will help you win up to $20,000, while regular symbols will award up to $10,000.
Design and symbols
With the Tibetan mountains placed behind the reels, the game is off to a nice start, but the design of the reels and of many of its symbols don’t continue along that line. There are more than a couple of symbols that look dated and boring, especially the playing cards, identical to the ones used in dozens of other slots.
Symbols: Lotus (wild), Fortress (scatter), Traveler (scatter, 100x the bet), Yak (1,000x), Musical Instrument (750x), Goblet (500x), King (100x), Queen (100x), Jack (50x) and Ten (50x).
Is It Worth Playing?
I for one am not a fan of Paradise Found, but someone that feels a connection to Tibetan Buddhism might enjoy it a lot more than I did. The most fun part seems to be the Lotus Wild feature.
The Paradise Found slot machine is offered through the Microgaming platform, so if you want to play it for real or just to practice, look out for casinos that use it.
