Aztec Clusters review
BGaming released Aztec Clusters on 1 February 2024, with the rules dated December 2023. The grid is 6×8, so 48 cells, and a win comes from a group of five or more identical symbols touching vertically or horizontally. The studio lists volatility as very high, RTP is 97.00% and the cap is 10,000x the bet. The developers say the game was built with the analytics platform Casinolytics from more than 10,000 hours of streams: multipliers grow right on the grid, and the bonus can be bought with up to three Wilds already in place.
Connected groups and repeated marks
Six reels by eight rows make 48 cells. A winning group needs at least five identical symbols that touch vertically or horizontally. Diagonals do not connect. After payment the group disappears, the remaining symbols fall, gaps fill from the top, and the loop repeats until no new groups appear.
There are seven regular symbols: three stone faces of Aztec idols and four gems. On top of them come special symbols that the game digs out of empty cells. The rules give no colour names, so faces and gems are told apart here by the order of the table rows.
In the demo configuration payouts are given in units where the bet equals twenty-five. Dividing by 25 converts them to multiples of the total bet. Group sizes run from 5 to 14, and any group of 15 or more pays on the last step. Five sizes are picked: 5, 8, 10, 12 and 15 plus.
Face 1 — 5: 0.8x; 8: 1.6x; 10: 4x; 12: 12x; 15+: 120x.
Face 2 — 5: 0.6x; 8: 1.2x; 10: 3.2x; 12: 10x; 15+: 80x.
Face 3 — 5: 0.4x; 8: 1x; 10: 2.4x; 12: 8x; 15+: 48x.
Gem 1 — 5: 0.32x; 8: 0.8x; 10: 1.6x; 12: 4x; 15+: 32x.
Gem 2 — 5: 0.24x; 8: 0.6x; 10: 1.2x; 12: 2.8x; 15+: 24x.
Gem 3 — 5: 0.2x; 8: 0.4x; 10: 1x; 12: 2.4x; 15+: 20x.
Gem 4 — 5: 0.16x; 8: 0.32x; 10: 0.8x; 12: 2x; 15+: 16x.
Additional first-face steps are 6 at 1.2x,7 at 1.4x,9 at 2x,13 at 28x and 14 at 56x. Fourteen first gems pay 16x and fifteen pay 32x. These price unboosted groups without estimating frequencies or regular-play importance.
Every winning group marks its cells. If the next win happens on a marked cell, a 2x multiplier is added to it. Each new win on the same cell raises it by another 2x, up to 10x. The multiplier applies to every combination the cell takes part in, and values of several cells within one group are added.
Consider an example. A group of ten gems 1 pays 1.6x. If it contains three cells with multipliers of 2x, 2x and 4x, the final coefficient is 8 and the payout is 12.8 bets. Without marks the same group would pay 1.6.
Marks live until the end of the refill chain, and on the next spin the grid is cleared. In free spins the rule is softer: marked cells keep their multipliers until the end of the whole round, so the grid speeds up from spin to spin.
Digging and the sticky Wild
After winners disappear and before refill, an empty cell may reveal a Scatter, Wild, Booster or Destroyer. Scatters also land normally, with at most one per reel. Wilds substitute ordinary symbols but not the other three specials. A Booster improves every grid multiplier and disappears; the exact increment is unspecified. A Destroyer removes low symbols without payment and disappears. Which symbols count as low is unestablished; the freed space may take part in a further refill.
With every win it takes part in, a Wild gains another 10x on its multiplier, up to 100x. If a Wild is dug up in a cell that already has a multiplier, it gets 10x at once. In free spins a dug-up Wild stays in place until the end of the round, and in the base game it sticks until the refill chain ends.
A Wild’s starting multiplier in an unprepared cell and its calculation alongside a cell multiplier are undisclosed. Digging and value frequencies are also unknown. Illustratively at bet 1, eight second gems pay 0.6x; six third faces priced at 0.6x with three repeatedly winning 2x cells then pay 0.6×(2+2+2)=3.6x. Their next win raises them to 4x. Without a Wild this example does not need its unknown combination rule.
Bonus entry and probabilistic help at the end
Three,four,five or six scatters award 10,12,15 or 20 free spins respectively. Six mean one on each reel. Triggering scatters become Wilds or 10x cells; multipliers and dug-up Wilds persist through the bonus. Retriggers are allowed, while exact added awards and the overall length limit are undisclosed.
The last free spin may, with some probability, receive a placed win bringing the total above that bonus level’s average payout. Neither the probability nor the average is supplied. This permits assistance rather than guaranteeing a lower bound: not every bonus must finish above average or return its purchase price.
Four buys and Wild Spin
| Variant | Price | Guaranteed Wilds |
|---|---|---|
| No guarantees | 100x | 0 |
| With one Wild | 200x | 1 |
| With two Wilds | 400x | 2 |
| With three Wilds | 800x | 3 |
The guarantee means at least 0,1,2 or 3 triggering scatters become Wilds after entry. Adjacent price differences of 100x,200x and 400x pay for guarantees without raising RTP: every buy and regular play lists 97.00%. bonus buy slots explains feature access costs.
Wild Spin costs 20x and guarantees at least one dug-up Wild at spin entry, with 97.00% RTP and very high volatility. At 1.50 its price is 30.00 and the basic buy 150.00; at minimum 0.25 they are 5 and 25, at maximum 25 they are 500 and 2,500, with the three-Wild buy costing 20,000. These multiply selected base bet rather than pricing ordinary spins.
Listed metrics and neighbouring grids
The studio publishes FS Rate 321 and Hit Rate 3 without defining their units; they do not establish a mean bonus interval or payout percentage. The 10,000x maximum equals €250,000 at bet 25. The studio describes it as available at any game point, without specifying a precise route or termination rule. The described demo configuration separately lists Wild Spin maximum odds of 1:4,600; those odds do not apply to regular spins, buys or other builds.
Gemhalla and Alien Fruits pay eight matching symbols anywhere on 6×5 without connected groups, and trigger bonuses from four scatters. Their RTPs are 97.17%/95.97%, ceilings 5,000x/15,000x and FS Rates 163.20/395. Position matters here; cluster slots explains connectivity. The Aztec theme also includes Aztec Magic Deluxe and Aztec Magic Bonanza. The catalogue is on BGaming.
