The 15th and 16th century was the age of discovery. European seafarers were exploring uncharted oceans. Christopher Columbus sailed westward to find a new route to the East Indies. Instead on October 12, 1492 he landed on North America. Many countries celebrate this event with a holiday, notably the United States. The software providers Playtech and Microgaming have released slot games to celebrate this spirit of adventure.

The Playtech online slot game is titled The Discovery. The thematic symbols on the reels include the native girl, the island, the exotic flower and the telescope. The girl offers the jackpot line payout of 6,000 coins. The other symbols are the high value card icons from nine to ace. The compass is the wild symbol. It appears only on reels 2, 3 and 4 and does not award payouts or act as a multiplier. But it makes up by appearing stacked on reels. The captain is the scatter symbol. Scatter payouts are awarded when two or more captain symbols appear anywhere on the reels. Three or more captain symbols trigger the free spins round. Players are awarded 10 free spins at tripled payouts. The free spins can be retriggered. The Discovery includes the Playtech gamble game. After every win players can stake the entire amount or half the amount in the gamble game. Five cards are dealt of which the first one is face up. The player has to select any of the other cards and if it is higher ranked than the face up card the staked amount is doubled. The Discovery can be played at all Playtech online casinos such as Omni Casino, Paddy Power and Bet365.

Age of Discovery from Microgaming is a very similar slot game. The symbols with the high line payouts are the gold coin, the ship, the coat of arms and the sextant. The gold coin awards the jackpot line payout of 6,000. The high value card symbols have been replaced by exotic tropical fruits like papaya, pomegranate, mango, pear and banana. Age of Discovery has no wild symbol and that is a big drawback. The dragon is the scatter symbol and awards scatter payouts multiplied by the total bet when three or more of these symbols appear on the reels. There is an awesome animation associated with the dragon symbol. It becomes colored and alive, scouring the oceans hoping to chance upon wayward explorers. The compass is the bonus symbol. When three or more compass symbols appear scattered on the reels the Treasure Bonus game is triggered. The second screen reveals a map on which 30 treasure sites are marked with a cross. Players can keep selecting sites and winning bonus credits till they reveal a skull and cross bones sign. The bonus game then ends and the player is awarded the accumulated amount of bonus credits won. The player can win up to a whopping amount of 32,250 coins in this game. Age of Discovery can be set on auto play when in the Expert Mode. Up to 500 spins can be run without manual intervention. The auto play can be programmed to stop once the player has won a specified amount. This online slot game is live at all Microgaming online casinos such as All Slots, Platinum Play and Royal Vegas.