Leonardo Slots
Italian-themed video slots are enjoying something of a renaissance at present, and it’s all thanks to the efforts of Portomaso Gaming. The Maltese-based slots designers appear hell-bent on mining every famous Italian character they can think of, and they don’t care whether they’re fictional or real life.
From the company who brought you Le Avventure di Pinocchio, we have Leonardo. Few historical or contemporary figures are so famous as to be identifiable by first name only, but Leonardo is one. The enigmatic 15th century painter and all-round genius joins a pantheon of other famous first name greats that includes Madonna, Britney and Tay Tay. It may have taken five centuries, but Leonardo da Vinci has finally achieved the recognition he craved!
The action, in this five-reel video slot, appears to unfold in Milan, the city where Leonardo spent so much of his life. It doesn’t require an intricate knowledge of Renaissance painting and sculpture to recognise some of the iconic images that have been utilised as symbols in this game. We’ll get to those in a moment, but first let’s get to grip with the nuts and bolts of the game, the basics that underpin every online slot.
A Renaissance of Riches
The game features an autoplay feature for players who prefer to watch the action on autopilot. It can be deactivated at any time to return to manual play. The number of coins per line can set at anywhere from 1 to 10 depending on how bold you happen to feel. In all, there are 40 lines to contend with, providing ample action that rapidly unfolds across the game’s five reels.
Winning combos can be secured in the usual manner, by lining up 3, 4 or 5 matching symbols. There are other ways to win of course, primarily with the aid of the bonus or scatter symbols, but the wild symbol shouldn’t be overlooked either.
Playing Leonardo is like lazily flicking through a Wikipedia entry about the revered painter, sculptor and inventor. Many of the images will feel vaguely familiar, even if you can’t put a finger on where you’ve seen them before and what they represent. It would be stretching the truth to say that playing Leonardo will furnish you with a detailed knowledge of da Vinci’s greatest creations, but if nothing else it’ll serve as a reminder that you should really check out more of the enigmatic Italian’s oeuvre at some point. He truly was a one-of-a-kind genius.
Rise of the Machines
Leonardo da Vinci was famed for his mechanical machines and sketches of bold contraptions of all kinds. Even in his wildest of ruminations however the Milanese talent could never have conceived that his life’s work would one day be condensed into an online video slot. He may not have approved, but he would doubtless have been intrigued to observe human progress tempered with mankind’s age-old penchant for risking everything in the pursuit of greatness.
As you roll the reels, a series of intriguing symbols will appear on the paylines, some of which defy description for all but the most ardent da Vinci aficionados. One symbol you’ll certainly recognise is that of Vitruvian Man, da Vinci’s famous pen and ink drawing that depicts a man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart. Some of da Vinci’s paintings and inventions are also represented as game symbols.
The man himself also appears, looking resplendent with his flowing grey beard and shiny bald pate. Another noteworthy symbol is a depiction of da Vinci’s classic 1513 painting titled St John The Baptist.
One of his flying machines also features, a formidable looking winged contraption that an intrepid man would theoretically have strapped on before leaping off a cliff. This serves as the game’s scatter symbol; land 3 or more in view to score free spins with a multiplier attached. With a payout of up to 2,500 coins, for five Leonardo da Vinci symbols in a line, there’s a lot of money to be made and fascination to be had in playing this five-reel slot. 3 and 4 in a line score 650 and 1,500 coins respectively.
The Vitruvian Man symbol is also valuable, with up to 1,000 coins to be won for 5 in a line. Leonardo the video slot is one part contemporary game to several parts Renaissance tribute. If only all history lessons were this engrossing and rewarding.
