Tomb Raider Slot Review: Fifteen Paylines and the Tomb Bonus
The licensed Lara Croft slot with 15 paylines, a twelve-tile pick round and free spins. What the game does, and why it left most catalogues.
Tomb Raider belongs to a specific moment: the point at which slot studios discovered that a recognisable licence sold a game more effectively than any feature could. It was among the first mainstream video-game properties adapted this way, and the template it set, a familiar character as the wild symbol plus a themed pick round, was copied for a decade afterwards.
A conventional grid under a famous name
The game itself is a classic fixed-payline design. Five reels, three rows, fifteen lines that cannot be adjusted, and a stake that covers all of them on every spin. The character serves as the wild symbol and substitutes for everything except the scatter and the bonus symbol, which is the standard arrangement and the reason a wild cannot complete a feature-triggering combination.
Nothing about the structure was novel, and that is worth saying plainly rather than treating the licence as if it changed the game. A branded slot and an unbranded one built on the same engine behave identically; the licence buys recognition, artwork and sound, and touches the mathematics not at all.
The Tomb Bonus, and why it ends without warning
The distinctive round is the pick. Three or more scatters open a screen of twelve concealed tiles, and the player chooses among them freely. Each choice reveals a cash amount that accumulates, and the round continues until a stop symbol turns up, at which point everything accumulated is paid and the round closes.
That structure produces a different feeling from a fixed pick round, where the number of selections is known in advance. Here a run can be short or long, the player has no information to act on, and the round can end on the first choice. It is a design that manufactures tension out of nothing more than an unknown stopping point, which is a neat trick and entirely unaffected by skill.
Free spins sit alongside the pick as the second feature, awarded on a separate combination and running under a multiplier. Having both a pick round and a spin round was generous for the period, though it became standard shortly afterwards.
What happened to it
The game is delisted in most markets. That is a licence outcome rather than a commercial one: branded titles leave catalogues when the agreement behind them ends, whatever their popularity at the time. The removal has nothing to do with the game being faulty, and copies survive in a few lobbies and in demo collections.
Documenting a retired game is not a curiosity. Demand for a title outlasts its availability by years, because the character is far more famous than the slot and players who met the game a decade ago still look for it by name. A reader arriving on that search is better served by an accurate account of what the game was and that it has gone than by a page implying it can still be played.
Where it sits in the catalogue
Placed against the rest of this studio’s output, Tomb Raider is an early fixed-payline design with two features, which puts it close to the classic end. It predates the 243-ways layouts and the multi-tier bonus structures entirely, and anyone coming to it from Thunderstruck II will find it markedly simpler and considerably faster to understand.
Its closest counterpart in the same catalogue is Mermaids Millions: the same generation, the same studio, fifteen fixed lines against this game’s fifteen, and the same pairing of a pick-me round with free spins. The difference is availability rather than design. Mermaids Millions was never licensed from anyone, so it stayed in circulation after this title left it, and a playable demo of it runs at https://slots.info/microgaming/mermaids-millions/ — which is the nearest thing to playing this one that a retired game allows, since the structure the two share is the part that survives.
Release-year, return-to-player and maximum-win figures are not quoted here. Those numbers varied between operators and revisions across a long distribution life, and for a title now largely retired there is no current deployment against which to check them. The mechanics above are stable and can be described; the figures cannot, and a sourceless number would be worth less than its absence. The review directory applies the same rule throughout.
How Tomb Raider Works, on One Card
The template every branded slot copied, in its original proportions. On a card:
Substitutes for everything except the scatter and the bonus symbol — the standard arrangement, and the reason a wild cannot complete a feature trigger.
Open a screen of twelve concealed tiles. Picks reveal accumulating cash until a stop symbol appears — the round ends abruptly, not after a fixed count.
Wins count on 15 fixed lines — each takes one cell per reel, and the stake covers all of them on every spin.
The Symbols, and What Each Does
| Symbol | Role | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Character wild | Substitution | Everything except the scatter and the bonus symbol |
| Scatter | Trigger | 3+ open the twelve-tile Tomb Bonus; picks accumulate until the stop symbol |
| Bonus symbol | Feature symbol | Excluded from wild substitution, like the scatter |
| Theme symbols | Paying symbols | Ordinary line wins on the fifteen fixed lines |
What the design buys, and what it costs
In its favour
- The pick round ends on an unknown stop, which manufactures tension out of nothing else
- Accumulated amounts are paid in full when the round closes
- A clean example of the template, famous wild plus themed pick, copied for a decade
Against it
- A branded slot and an unbranded one on the same engine behave identically; the licence touches no mathematics
- The round can end on the first choice and no information is available to act on
- Fifteen fixed lines, nothing adjustable, and delisted with the licence
No score is given. Nothing on this page was play-tested, and a number would imply testing that did not happen.
Gambling content, for entertainment only. Outcomes are determined at random and no strategy alters them. Play within limits that can be afforded, and consult the support services available in your jurisdiction if play stops being enjoyable.
Common questions
Is this game still available to play?
In most markets, no. It was a licensed title, and licensed titles leave catalogues when the agreement behind them ends rather than when they stop being popular. Copies persist in a small number of lobbies and in demo collections, but it should be treated as a retired game.
How does the Tomb Bonus round work?
Three or more scatter symbols open a screen of twelve concealed tiles, and the player selects from them until a stop symbol appears. Each selection reveals a cash amount that accumulates, so the round rewards a run of good picks and ends abruptly rather than after a fixed number of choices.
What made this title significant at the time?
It was among the first widely distributed slots built on a mainstream video-game licence, at a point when branded slots were unusual. The template it established, a recognisable character as the wild symbol plus a themed pick round, was reused across the branded titles that followed it.
Does the licence affect how the game plays?
Not mechanically. A licence determines the artwork, the sound and the character names, and has no bearing on the reel structure or the mathematics. A branded slot and an unbranded one built on the same engine behave identically.
Was there a sequel?
Yes, a follow-up with a larger grid and a more elaborate bonus structure, released several years later. It shares the licence and the character and very little of the original's simplicity, in the same way the two Thunderstruck games differ.
Why do searches for this title still appear?
Because the character is far better known than the slot, and because players who encountered the game a decade ago look for it by name. Demand for a retired title tends to outlast its availability by years, which is why documenting what it was remains useful.
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