Codex

The Codex slot is based on the set of notebooks by Leonardo Da Vinci by the same name. They were thought to hold secrets and puzzles to all kinds of crazy things he was up to, and they were eventually purchased by billionaire Bill Gates for an eight-figure sum and made available to the public. The mythology surrounding Da Vinci and his notebooks have been captured in television shows, movies and video games, and here it has been captured in an online slot by Spieldev. This game has solid graphics with a lot of the symbolism captured in his notebooks, and it also has related features.

Layout and Format

Five reels, three rows and 20 paylines form the foundation for this game. You can bet one coin per payline on each spin, and the coins go from $0.01 to $3 apiece. This leads to a betting range that has a $0.20 minimum, and that's plenty well within the range of most players' bankrolls. Likewise, the $3 maximum coin size allows bet sizes of up to $60, and that means that everyone at every level of stakes will be able to find bet sizes that work out for their own personal preferences.

The Vault Trail Feature

Most depictions of the Codex are based around it holding the keys to the location of some type of treasure, and the Vault Trail feature captures this part of the mythology around it. There are two vault symbols, and they appear on the first and fourth reels only. When both of them show up on the reels at the same time in any position, you'll be taken to a different screen with a five-reel cryptex. You start with one spin to try to get the first reel in the right position. If you fail, you win a 5x payout multiplied by your total bet, and you're taken back to normal gameplay. If you succeed, then you get chances to get more reels put in place for bigger and better payouts.

Free Spins Feature

The free spins symbol shows up on each reel, and it's a scattered bonus symbol. Three, four or five of a kind, anywhere on the reels, will give you seven, 10 or 12 free spins, respectively. These free spins have the ability to re-trigger indefinitely, and no vault symbols will show up during this feature. With that having been said, you will have access to sticky wilds. Wild symbols can appear on the reels at random, and when they do, they will remain stuck in place for the rest of the bonus feature. This means you can get a lot of them on the reels at once, which leads to some pretty impressive chances for big payouts.

The Invention Combination

The three main symbols in this game are three invention symbols. They have different colored shapes in them, and they stand out from everything else in the game. If you get all three of them in a row from left-to-right, you'll trigger the Invention Combo Feature for that spin. The way this works is that you're given a multiplier for that spin that ranges from 4x to 6x, and all of your regular winning combinations are hit with that multiplier. The triggering symbols themselves don't give you a payout, but they drastically boost the size of the other payouts on the spin.

Payouts and Prizes

The three invention symbols are the highest-paying symbols in the game. Five of the purple spinner gets you a 1,000x jackpot win. Payouts of 750x and 500x are available for five of the blue pentagon and green triangular prism as well.

The A symbol gets you a 100x win for five of a kind. The K and Q have the same payouts, and they pay 80x when you line up five on a payline. Five of the J or 10 gets you 60x, and five of the 9 symbol is worth a solid 50x prize.

Our Thoughts

We think that the Codex slot by Spieldev captured a lot of the mystique that surrounds Leonardo Da Vinci's work in the sense that the vault feature, invention symbols and overall visual appeal all center around that theme. The gameplay is based on balanced pays with chances to still win prizes as high as 6,000x with the multipliers. The free spins feature with sticky wilds and the ability to be re-triggered offers a lot of value as well, so there's plenty to look forward to here.