Egyptian slot symbols are some of the most familiar images in the genre: scarabs, watchful eyes, cobras, crowns and endless sand. Most players recognise them without knowing what they meant to the people who carved them. That is a shame, because the real meanings are better than anything a slot designer could invent. This guide explains the main symbols, notes where slot art (including ours) takes liberties, and uses our free machine Sands of the Pharaoh as the worked example.
Why Egyptian themed slots are everywhere
Ancient Egypt has fascinated Europe and America for a long time, and the fascination comes in waves. One of the largest followed the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter in 1922. Newspapers around the world carried pictures of gold masks, jewelled collars and sealed chambers, and “Egyptian style” spread into architecture, jewellery, cinema and advertising. The story of hidden treasure waiting behind a sealed door never really left popular culture.
That story suits a slot machine almost perfectly. A tomb is a place where treasure is concealed and then revealed, which is exactly what reels do. Egyptian art also comes with a ready-made set of bold, simple shapes in gold, blue and red that read well at small sizes. Put those together and it is no surprise that Egyptian themed slots are among the oldest and most common in the genre.
Egyptian slot symbols and what they really meant
These are the symbols you will meet most often, on our reels and elsewhere. The meanings are the well-established ones; Egyptian religion changed over three thousand years, so any short summary simplifies.
The scarab
The scarab is a dung beetle, and Egyptians watched it roll a ball of dung across the ground. They linked that ball with the sun being rolled across the sky, and the beetle became the god Khepri, the morning sun and the idea of renewal. Scarab amulets were carried for protection and placed with the dead as a sign of rebirth. On a slot, it usually plays the lucky charm.
The Eye of Horus
In myth, the falcon god Horus lost an eye in his struggle with Set and had it restored. The eye, drawn with its distinctive markings beneath, became a symbol of protection, healing and wholeness, and it was one of the most common amulets in Egypt. On slot reels it is often simply “the eye”, watching from the middle of the grid.
The cobra
The rearing cobra on the front of a pharaoh’s crown is called the uraeus. It was linked with the goddess Wadjet and stood for royal authority and protection: the snake was believed to spit fire at the king’s enemies. A cobra on a slot is a royal creature, not a villain.
The scorpion
Scorpions were a real danger in Egypt, and the goddess Serqet, shown with a scorpion on her head, was a protector against venomous stings. Like the cobra, the scorpion is a dangerous animal turned into a guardian.
The crown and the ankh
Egypt had two traditional crowns: a white crown for Upper Egypt in the south and a red crown for Lower Egypt in the north. Combined, they formed the double crown of a king who ruled both lands. The ankh, the looped cross that appears on so many Egyptian themed slots, is the hieroglyph for life, often shown being held out by gods to kings.
The symbols on Sands of the Pharaoh
Our machine keeps the familiar cast and names every symbol in plain English. Here they are from lowest to highest, with the Wild last:
- Nile flower, drawn as a hibiscus, and ancient amphora: the low pair.
- Sands of time (an hourglass), watchful eye and scarab beetle: the middle group.
- Desert oasis and desert scorpion: the upper pair.
- Desert camel: the second-highest symbol.
- Royal crown: the top symbol, or crest.
- Cobra Wild: substitutes for any regular symbol and doubles the line for each cobra in the win.
The meaning of a symbol does not change its value. Every Luckyverse machine uses the same published paytable, so the scarab pays exactly what the silk fan pays on Golden Tiger. If you want the full table, it is in slot machine symbols and their meanings.
Where slot art (including ours) bends history
An honest guide should point out the liberties, starting with our own. Slot art aims for atmosphere, and atmosphere is not the same as accuracy.
- The hourglass is not Egyptian. Sand hourglasses belong to much later European history. Egyptians measured time with water clocks, which let water drip from a marked vessel, and with shadow clocks and sundials. Our “sands of time” is a pun on the desert, not an artefact.
- The real Nile flowers were the lotus and papyrus. The blue water lily (usually called lotus) and the papyrus plant were the emblems of Upper and Lower Egypt and appear all over temple carvings. Our Nile flower is a hibiscus, chosen because it reads clearly as a flower at phone size.
- The amphora is better known from Greece and Rome. Egyptians stored food and wine in many kinds of jar, but the classic two-handled amphora shape is more Mediterranean than pharaonic.
- The camel is a modern picture of the desert. It plays little part in the art of the pharaohs, whose own animals were more often cattle, falcons, cats and the creatures of the river.
None of this makes Egyptian themed slots worse. It just means they are a modern fantasy of Egypt, closer to an adventure film than a museum. Knowing which parts are real makes the real parts more interesting.
How the Egyptian theme plays on Luckyverse
Sands of the Pharaoh runs on the same engine as every Luckyverse machine. The grid is six reels by four rows, every spin funds all 50 fixed lines, and wins read left to right from the first reel. The cobra Wild doubles a winning line once for each cobra in it, up to ×64. A separate three-window bonus reel sits beside the grid; three Scatters at once open a pick of three sealed cases holding 3, 5 and 7 free spins, and every free-round return is doubled.
The four fixed jackpots are crown-and-cobra lines. GRAND is six cobras on one line, MAJOR one crown and five cobras, MINOR one crown and four cobras, and MINI two crowns and three cobras. Their coin values are printed on the cabinet before you spin. For more on the trigger reel, see what a scatter symbol is.
The machine is open from level 1, so it is a good place to start. The Egyptian slots page explains why we chose a calm desert mood over noise, and the free slots page lists the other seven worlds, including two Asian-inspired machines covered in our guide to Asian-themed slots. As always, Luckyverse uses virtual coins only. They have no cash value, and the game is for adults 18 and over.