Lucky Pharaoh vs Lucky Pharaoh Wild: What Anyone Can Verify
In short: According to MERKUR, Lucky Pharaoh Wild is the classic Lucky Pharaoh plus a Pharaoh wild. The classic prints a 94% return that we read on its rules screen, while no figure for Wild has been shown on one.
Lucky Pharaoh and Lucky Pharaoh Wild look like twins, and MERKUR says they nearly are. MERKUR names one difference, a Pharaoh wild, and the evidence is lopsided: we played 101 spins of one and have never opened the other.
A line win in the classic Lucky Pharaoh, not in Wild: three rubies paid 6.00 at a 1.00 bet in Blueprint Gaming's demo on . Source: our own screenshot.
Lucky Pharaoh vs Wild, Row by Row
Feature
Lucky Pharaoh
Lucky Pharaoh Wild
Source for Wild
Wild symbol
none, per the paytable we read
the Pharaoh
MERKUR's article
Studio and online client
MERKUR game, Blueprint Gaming client 1.6.0.0
MERKUR game, listed under Merkur Gaming and edict
Jokerstar's page data
Arcade code
257
845
MERKUR's article
Online availability
Blueprint Gaming demo, opened
"exclusively in the arcades" and "through our online offerings" in one MERKUR paragraph; listed online
MERKUR; Jokerstar; starcasino.be
Return to player
94%, and 96.25% in Power Spins
not known
none found
Win limit
250,000.00 or 50,000x, whichever is lower
not known
none found
Power Spins
from a 4x win, four reel sets
"can also appear"
MERKUR's article
Lines
10 fixed; 3+ adjacent symbols pay anywhere on a line, from the left, the right or across the centre
10
MERKUR; Jokerstar
Volatility
not published
"Mittel-hoch"
Jokerstar's listing
What we verified
rules, paytable, 101 spins
nothing
not applicable
Alternatives in Detail
Why look for a replacement: Lucky Pharaoh has no wild, no scatter and no free spins, so Power Spins are its only feature.
The base game prints 94%, and the higher 96.25% applies only to wins staked again in Power Spins.
The best single line pays 50x the bet and a full screen of diamonds 500x. Anything bigger has to come from Power Spins, and the 50,000x limit only from a chain of them.
Lucky Pharaoh Wild
MERKUR's newer version of the same game with a Pharaoh wild, for readers who want the wild and accept that its figures are unconfirmed.
Better than Lucky Pharaoh
Adds the Pharaoh as a wild that, per MERKUR, can substitute at any position on a payline
Keeps the base game MERKUR calls almost identical, Power Spins included, per the same article
Weaker
None of its numbers is verified: no return, no win limit, no paytable we have read
MERKUR's article contradicts itself on where it runs, and online listings carry it
Is listed on a different client (edict, per Jokerstar's page data), so the classic demo shows the shared base game but never the Pharaoh wild
The Difference MERKUR Names: A Pharaoh Wild
According to MERKUR, the difference between the two games is one symbol. MERKUR's article on the pair says the Pharaoh appears in Lucky Pharaoh Wild "as a wild symbol", and that "The classic Lucky Pharaoh does not feature this symbol."
The classic Lucky Pharaoh paytable, captured on ; MERKUR says Wild adds a Pharaoh to this set, and we have not seen its own. Source: our own screenshot.
We confirmed the second half ourselves. The classic's paytable and its game server list ten symbols, and none of them substitutes: 10, J, Q, K, A, emerald, sapphire, ruby, diamond and the logo.
The first half rests on MERKUR alone. We did not open Lucky Pharaoh Wild, so its Pharaoh, its paytable and its reels are known to us only through the studio's words.
One symbol sounds minor. A wild makes lines complete more often, though, and what MERKUR did with the rest of Wild's paytable only its own rules screen can show, so the classic's numbers can't be copied across.
How We Know Each Figure
Every Lucky Pharaoh figure on this page is one we read or measured; every Wild figure is MERKUR's description or a casino's claim.
Our demo balance in the classic after 101 paid spins at 1.00; no session like this exists on our side for Wild. Source: our own screenshot.
For the classic, on we opened Blueprint Gaming's demo client 1.6.0.0 and read the rules screen at a 1.00 and a 100.00 bet. We stepped through all fourteen bet levels and played 101 paid spins at 1.00. The balance went from 1,000.00 to 929.00 and seven spins paid. The server's full answer is on file for spins 21 to 101 and for the Power Spin; spins 1 to 20 were a trial run.
For Wild we have two documents. MERKUR's article of describes the game. Jokerstar's game page lists "Mittel-hoch" volatility, ten lines and a top win of "5000-facher Einsatz" in a box headed "zum Lucky Pharao Slot", plus a release date of in its page data.
The two documents agree on ten lines and on Power Spins. Both name the Pharaoh as the wild, and only Jokerstar mentions multipliers. They split on availability: MERKUR's article says both "exclusively in the arcades" and "through our online offerings" in one paragraph, while Jokerstar and starcasino.be list it online.
That gap is the whole comparison.
RTP and the Win Limit, Side by Side
Side by side, the classic's rules screen gives 94%, 96.25% in Power Spins, and a limit of 250,000.00 / x50,000 total bet. For Lucky Pharaoh Wild we have read no rules screen, so neither figure is known. Its column below says "not known" unless a casino page gives a figure, and then names that casino as the only source.
The classic's rules screen at a 100.00 bet prints the same win-limit line as at 1.00; Wild's equivalent we have not read. Source: our own screenshot.
Numbers Each Game Shows
Figure
Lucky Pharaoh
Where we read it
Lucky Pharaoh Wild
Return, base game
94%
rules screen, client 1.6.0.0
not known
Return, Power Spins
96.25%
rules screen, client 1.6.0.0
not known
Win limit
250,000.00 / x50,000 total bet
rules screen at 1.00 and 100.00
not known; "5000-facher Einsatz", per one casino
Best single line
50x the bet
paytable: 500 line bets × 0.10
not known
Full screen of diamonds
500x the bet
paytable: X5000 × 0.10
"5.000x Einsatz (Vollbild Diamanten)", per one casino
Bets
0.20 to 100.00 in 14 levels
client bet buttons
0.10 minimum, per one casino
Read on ; a source can change without saying so.
The two halves of the classic's limit meet at a 5.00 bet, because 50,000 × 5.00 = 250,000.00. Below 5.00 the multiplier binds; above it the money figure does, so at 100.00 the ceiling works out at 2,500x.
The 96.25% is not the better deal it looks, either. It applies to a win put back into Power Spins, and the COLLECT button next to it pays 100% of that win.
Why We Can't Rank Lucky Pharaoh Wild
Ranking needs numbers from both games, and we have them from one. Without Wild's paytable and rules screen, the effect of its Pharaoh on lines, returns and the ceiling can't be priced.
Casino figures don't fill the gap. Jokerstar lists "5000-facher Einsatz" on its Wild page, and in a comparison table on that page it gives both games "5.000x Einsatz (Vollbild Diamanten)". For the classic, the rules make a full screen of diamonds 500x the bet. A source that is ten times off on the game we checked gives no footing on the game we didn't.
We do not recommend choosing Lucky Pharaoh Wild over Lucky Pharaoh on the strength of a casino's figures. That is a point about evidence, not about the Pharaoh: Wild may well be the livelier game, and nobody has yet shown its numbers.
Which One a Reader Can Check
Only the classic Lucky Pharaoh can be checked today. Its free demo runs in Blueprint Gaming's client, its rules screen prints the return and the win limit, and any reader can repeat our steps in an evening.
We have not opened a Wild demo, and no rules screen of it has been read. According to MERKUR's article, its arcade library lists Wild under My Top Game code 845, against 257 for the classic.
About four of the ten search results we read for "lucky pharaoh" are about Wild, so many readers arrive asking about the game nobody has documented. Our verdict, which a Wild fan could fairly dispute: study the classic if you want to know what you are looking at, and treat every Wild figure as unconfirmed until its rules screen is public.
How to Compare Them Yourself
If you find a Wild demo, open its rules screen and set its return, win limit and line-bet rule beside the classic's.
If a page gives a multiplier, check whether it counts line bets or the total stake. In the classic, X5000 means 500x the bet.
If the loading screen shows Blueprint Gaming and the paytable has no Pharaoh, you are almost certainly in the classic we played.
If none of that is possible, compare what you can: the one symbol MERKUR names, two arcade codes and one set of verified numbers.
The free demo takes no stake, so nothing in it is real money; whether either game may be played for money depends on the law where you live. If play stops being fun, Gambling Therapy (run by Gordon Moody) gives free support to anyone, and Gamblers Anonymous lists meetings near you.
Key Terms Used on This Page
Wild symbol
A symbol that completes lines for others; MERKUR gives this role to the Pharaoh in Wild, and the classic's 10 symbols have none.
Line bet
The total bet divided by 10 lines, 0.10 at a 1.00 bet; the classic's paytable figures multiply it, so X5000 equals 500x.
My Top Game
MERKUR's arcade game library: per MERKUR's article, code 257 for the classic and code 845 for Lucky Pharaoh Wild.
Win limit
The classic's cap of 250,000.00 or 50,000x the total bet, whichever is lower; no figure has been shown for Wild.
Not sure yet? The free demo runs on play money, with nothing at stake.
