Bone Raiders is an aesthetically pleasing slot machine from the Relax Gaming stable. Released on 27 August 2024, the game has a refreshingly unique theme. Some dwarf scary characters populate the reels. They are responsible for collecting all sorts of fossils to trade on the black market. Though scary appearance-wise, the good thing about the dwarfs is that they surrender all returns they get from trading fossils to the player.

This slot is set against a cracked earth background with the reel grid resembling a stone-encrusted oasis. We can assume that the gaming action occurs somewhere in a remote and arid desert.

However, expect fast-paced action in this desert-like region as the game’s volatility is at a medium to high variance level. The default reel grid comes in a 5×3 format with 243 ways to win while the max payout sits at an impressive 10,000x the bet.

It’s important to note that playing this game is not all about clicking the Spin button. Rather, it’s recommended that you gain control over the gaming session by tweaking some settings to your preference. The settings to tweak include:

• Bet Option: Choose a desired bet option from a minimum of 0.10 coins to a maximum of 100.00 coins.
• Spin Option: Choose between spinning the reels manually or automatically.

When spinning the five reels of the Bone Raiders slot in the base mode, the objective is to line up at least three identical symbols. When this happens, payouts come your way.

Note that the bigger the number of symbols involved in a win line, the bigger the payout awarded. Just to put this into perspective, the dwarf with a burning flame at the top represents the top-paying symbol. When using a max bet of 100.00 coins, the payouts for landing three, four, or five of a kind are 1000.00, 2500.00, or 10,000.00 coins, respectively.

Other paytable symbols arranged in order of second highest paying to lowest paying are as follows:

• Purple dwarf. 
• Green dwarf. 
• Blue dwarf.
• Spades. 
• Hearts.
• Shrubs.
• Diamonds. 

• Bonus Game: Three bonus symbols that land on reels 2, 3, and 4 simultaneously help players activate the bonus game. Upon activation, the game area expands to a 7×7 grid, with the center 3×3 area active immediately and the rest containing blockers. All triggering symbols convert into feature symbols and play out their actions.
  
  Feature symbols will target other positions according to their feature actions. If the targeted position contains a blocker, it will be destroyed and the position is activated. The coin value will be doubled if the targeted position contains a coin. At the start of the feature, two spins are awarded and reset whenever a feature symbol lands. Every 30 blockers destroyed increases the spin count by one spin. The feature symbols and their respective actions are as follows:

• Magic Staff: Targets one symbol multiple times. 
• Bomb: Targets the surrounding area. 
• Canon: Shoots a random number of targets. 
• Compass: Targets a set pattern.

Note that once a feature symbol has performed its action, it becomes a coin.

• Respin Multiplier: The respin multiplier feature automatically triggers after a winning spin. On each successive winning spin, the overall win multiplier doubles. After a non-winning spin, the feature ends, and the overall win multiplier attained at that point is applied to the total win. 

• Buy Feature: The ‘Buy’ button beneath the playing grid allows players to purchase the main bonus round by paying the stipulated feature purchase price which appears on the pop-up screen after clicking the button. The price to pay is dependent on the current bet amount.

I found the Bone Raiders slot to be a refreshing game to play as it comes with a unique theme, supports the auto-play function, and has a high max payout pegged at 10,000x the bet while the RTP sits at above the industry average at 96.1%.