12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy (Gameburger Studios) Slot Review

12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy: Slot Overview

Software provider Gameburger Studios has been regularly releasing slots since it launched in 2019, but none have really matched the impact its hit 9 Masks of Fire has, popularising the scatter prize, Epic Strike feature. You know, land a certain number of masks, collect the relevant prize. As such, the studio has mined the feature repeatedly, morphing it into various forms. One was 9 Pots of Gold, a leprechaun version of 9 Masks, and today we catch up with another of the studios' reiterations in the form of 12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy.

No confusion exists as to what sort of theme 12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy makes use of. The rich greens, the rainbow, the Celtic swirls, clovers, and top hats all point to a jolly Irish/leprechaun slot. These sorts of games are often jaunty affairs, as if players are sitting in the corner of a pub, a pint of Guinness in hand, tapping their foot to a fine old piece of Irish trad. This, 12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy can count itself one of, on the surface at least.

Offset to the right is 12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy's 5x3 gaming grid. It has 20 paylines evaluating winning combinations left to right from the leftmost reel. Powering the game is a medium volatile math model, with four possible RTP configurations. The highest is 96.05%. On the stake side, options vary from a minimum of $/€0.20 to a maximum of $/€50.

12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy's 7 pay symbols are Bars, clovers, top hats, harps, sevens, double sevens, and triple sevens. Hitting 5 matching symbols pays 1.2x to 50x the bet, or a mixture of any 5 seven symbols pays 3x the stake. Wilds substitute for all symbols except Epic Strike and scatter symbols. Wilds have the same payout value as the triple sevens when three or four of them make a win.

12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy: Slot Features

Extras in the game include the Epic Strike, Tower Bonus, free bonus spins, Drum features, and a Win Booster.

Epic Strike

Landing 3 or more Epic Strike symbols in the base game triggers a prize from the Epic Strike Tower, ranging from 1x to 4,000x when 3-12 symbols hit. Epic Strike symbols can appear with cash values, thereby considered to be Epic Strike Cash symbols. Triggering the Epic Strike Tower with an Epic Strike Cash symbol adds its value to the Epic Strike Tower win.

Tower Bonus

Collecting wilds provides a chance of randomly triggering the Tower Bonus. When activated, it awards a cash prize, bonus spins, or Drum Frenzy. The more wilds collected, the higher the chance of triggering the feature on a spin.

Bonus Spins

Landing bonus scatters on the three middle reels triggers 3 bonus spins. Bonus Drums appear on reels 2 and 3. Cash Drum, Jumbo Drum, and Drum Frenzy are present on reel 4. Bonus spins are played with Collect symbols only - Drum Collect, Jumbo Collect, Cash Collect, and Drum Frenzy Collect, depending on the bonus. Accumulating Collect symbols climbs bonus levels, of which there are 8. Each successive bonus level expands the reels by +1 row and resets the number of spins to 3. Triggering the top prize ends the bonus. At the end of the round, cash prizes are awarded at the current bonus level, worth up to 4,000x.

Drum Features

Collecting tokens from bonus scatters provides a chance of triggering a Drum feature. There are 3 bonus Drum features - Cash Drums, Jumbo Drums, and Drum Frenzy. Cash and Jumbo Drum features award 3 free spins when triggered.

• Landing 2 bonus scatters and a Jumbo Drum symbol triggers the Jumbo Drum bonus. Or collecting Jumbo tokens may trigger this bonus. Jumbo Collect symbols can appear as Jumbo symbols during this bonus.
• Landing 2 bonus scatters and a Cash Drum symbol triggers the Cash Drum bonus. Or collecting Cash Drum tokens may trigger this bonus. Random Cash values are displayed on the Cash Collect symbols during the Cash Drum bonus. Cash Collect symbols increase the value of all remaining bonus levels in the bonus spins.
• Landing 2 bonus scatters and a Drum Frenzy symbol triggers the Drum Frenzy bonus. Or collecting Cash and Jumbo tokens may trigger this bonus. Drum Frenzy combines the Cash and Jumbo Drum bonuses. Random cash values can appear on Drum Frenzy collect symbols, which can appear as Jumbo symbols, which can also have cash values. Drum Frenzy Collect symbols with cash values increase the value of all remaining bonus levels in the bonus spins.

Win Booster

Activating the Win Booster increases the chance of triggering a bonus. When active, the stake increases by 50%.

12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy: Slot Verdict

12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy is very much a case of Gameburger Studios sticking to what it knows best. In fact, not just sticking, but copying, since this is a reskin of 12 Masks of Fire Drum Frenzy. Anyone familiar with the developer's catalogue will recognise the bones of the game, as prize ladders and level-based bonus progression, once again, provide the entertainment. While there's nothing wrong with that, the formula has proven popular for a reason; it does mean 12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy does little to nothing to surprise, instead it doles out a steady, predictable experience built around a hierarchy of prize values.

Where this style differs from 9 Masks of Fire and its Irish reskin, 9 Pots of Gold, is that the focus isn't so much on landing Epic Strike scatter symbols in order to collect prizes. Well, some of the focus stays there, especially in the base game, but the bonus rounds are able to spread the entertainment around. They were okay. Landing Collect symbols to move to the next level, expanding the grid so there is more space to do so, fair dues, you can see how some gamblers might enjoy this. Interestingly, landing 9 pots, as it were, is worth a lot less here than it was in 9 Pots of Gold, but overall, 12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy does boast greater winning potential of 5,165x the bet - the top prize plus change.

Pots and Masks fans should be happy enough with 12 Pots of Gold Drum Frenzy has to offer, though the fact that there is nothing mechanically new might put a dampener on the proceedings. Otherwise, those who haven't been won over by what Gameburger Studios has been up to in this space are unlikely to be won over by this.