Aztec’s Treasure and Rain Dance: Two Popular Historical Slots

Some people have said that modern slots, because of their themes that cover many categories of the present, future, and the past are a good starting point for developing an interest in history.  So, we decided to jump into the historical school of slots by starting an ongoing series of articles about the historical setting in some of our slots.

However, looking forward to the Christmas season, next month we will feature an article about some of our Christmas themed slots!

Aztec’s Treasure

This is our most popular jackpot slots game.  It tells a story based on the Aztec culture.  Whereas many Native American tribes were nomadic to a greater or lesser degree, the Aztecs were based in modern day Mexico and grew much of their own food through agriculture.

The Aztecs had some technology which would be considered sophisticated even by our modern high tech standards.  The Aztecs knew how to drain swamps.  This both opened up more land for agriculture but also reduced mosquito-borne disease.

Aztecs also developed a method of irrigation since they couldn’t always rely on rain to water their crops.  Since rain is so uneven in Mexico, it is likely that the Aztecs performed rain dances. 

Aztecs had a form of writing that could be fairly compared to the hieroglyphics found in the eastern hemisphere.  The Aztecs knew the movements of stars, planets, and the moon without the aid of modern telescopes.

The most amazing technological feat of the Aztecs was the pyramids and other structures tahy built.  So, a slkot game based on the Aztecs aought to value their culture. 

Aztec’s Treasure features many symbols of an advanced civilization that was nevertheless not a fully industrial society like ours.

The King is the wild symbol.  He represents power and strength.  The Aztec world was one of great sophistication and the King had to be in control of everything.   The Princess represents the beauty of the Aztec female.  The Aztecs had more time on their hands than did the Native American tribes represented in Rain Dance so they could show their appreciation for physical beauty. 

The beads and golden trinkets also showed respect for beauty.  The mask may have been used by the Aztecs in religious rituals or it might have been connected to healing the sick.

Today we belittle the so-called witch doctors of old but they were the scientists of their time, finding cures and remedies in the plants they found growing wild.  As agriculturists, the Aztec doctors may have grown many of their own herbs for medicinal purposes.

As in the next slot, Rain Dance, the hawk represents nature in the sky and the leopard represents nature on land.  The Aztecs could look to the hawk in both awe and fear as the hawk had great power over them as land based creatures.  The leopard ran much faster than any man could run, it was enormously powerful, and it was ferocious when it was hungry or threatened.

Looking at Aztec’s Treasure in this light, we can see that the slot tells a much greater story than just a progressive jackpot to be won from time to time by a lucky gamer!

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Rain Dance

This slot is based on the rain dances performed by many tribes of Native Americans.  The slot uses symbols from the culture of American Indians generally such as tomahawks, tepees, coyotes, eagles, and the baby shield usually referred to as a dream catcher.

Definitely Not High Tech

We often forget that the Native Americans were a pre-industrial people who lived more in tune with Nature than we do.  The Native Americans looked to the sky for much of the information they needed.  The eagle signifies the Indians’ ability to soar in the clouds in his or her imagination even though they were, of course, rooted to the ground.

Sustenance and Danger on the Land

The coyote represents all of the land based animals that the Indians encountered on a daily basis.  In North America, Indian culture spanned millions of square miles upon which many cultures took hold.  So, the coyote symbolizes all of the land creatures various Indian civilizations had to deal with from the coasts to the continental interiors.

Animals represented both danger and survival.  The animals provided food, of course.  Their skins gave warmth during the bitterly cold North American winters.  Animals also represented danger as they could attack people as well as be attacked themselves.

Shelter

The angular homes the Native Americans lived in are generally called teepees or wigwams.  There is a technical difference between them but they both represented all of the characteristics of home and security we today associate with our living spaces.

Indians lived without locks on their doors.  In fact, they lived without doors!  This is a concept we no longer understand in our far more insular lifestyles.  We “go out” on the town to eat, drink, go to a show or a sports match, to a movie and indulge in many more activities we enjoy outside the home.  Indians lived “out”.  They “went home” to sleep.

We see ourselves as going to “the great outdoors” for a well-earned vacation.  Native Americans lived in the great outdoors!  The teepee in Rain Dance represents that aspect of the Native American life and the contrast with our own lives.

Weapons

The tomahawk has been given a bad reputation by Western movies.  It was more of a weapon of defense than a weapon of offense.  Indians also had bows and arrows for long distance fighting.  It is true that Indian tribes did fight among each other to some extent but for the most part bows and arrows were used to hunt for meat and furs.

The tomahawk could also be used to cut trees into smaller chunks to be used for fuel and heat.  Once again, Rain Dance through its symbolism shows us the contrast between our “developed” civilization and the ancient civilization of the Native Americans who had to find their own food and provide their own cooking fuel and heating fuel.

If nothing else, Rain Dance gives us a small glimpse of how difficult our lives might become if our supplies of food from the supermarket or fuel from the oil companies would suddenly be shut off!

Baby Shield

Many Indian tribes had a shield for babies called a Dream Catcher.  It was a hoop made from a flexible sapling tree branch or trunk.  The Indians decorated the hoop with feathers and beads and put it on the cradles where babies slept.

Although the hoops may also have fended away evil spirits, the Indians put a much more spiritual aspect to them, calling them Dream Catchers.  We know that Indians looked forward to dreaming, talked about their dreams, and actually taught their children how to dream.  We can learn a lot from Native Americans about dreaming and sleeping!

The Chief

This rugged and manly Indian was the leader of the tribe and in Rain Dance he is the wild symbol.  Wins with the Chief’s help carry a 2x multiplier. 

Play Rain Dance Slot

We encourage everyone to check out Rain Dance.  It will give you a new perspective on cultures that are ancient by our standards even though their heyday was merely about two centuries ago!

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