Anaconda Gold

Anaconda Gold: Slot Overview

When it comes to slots, there are some parts of the world which experience way more traffic than others, and we're not talking about clicks here, but actual, real-life locations. Well, game makers' interpretations of them, that is. One timeless classic is the Central American, Mesoamerican region, the domain of cultures such as the Aztecs and Mayans. The colours, the art, the architecture, the people, plus getting to experience the dangers of the jungle from a safe distance. It's essentially catnip to software providers like Pragmatic Play, which has designed Anaconda Gold, an online slot that rings bells both thematically as well as mechanically.

Anaconda Gold drives players right into the heart of dense bush where a 'snake-infested temple' waits to be uncovered. Although the grid initially appears small compared to the vast stone structure behind it, the game expands by adding extra rows to the reels, gradually filling more of the screen. The presentation is clean and vibrant, snakes slip out from the temple's cracks, and the bright, richly detailed symbols reinforce a strong Aztec/Mayan atmosphere with a subtle touch of mystery. All of the elements combine to create an immersive setting that pulls players into a temple full of snakes adventure.

A 6x4 gaming grid sits before the pyramid, providing 4,096 ways to win, which can grow to 262,144 ways when the reels grow to their full 8-row height. Anaconda Gold's tumble feature causes rows to be added, and it also makes winning symbols vanish, triggering a symbol drop to fill the empty spaces. Tumbles repeat as long as new wins appear. Gamblers may select a stake of $/€0.20 to $/€240, and this one does not have an ante bet, but it does have a feature buy. It also has a highly volatile math model and a max RTP of 96.54%.

Anaconda Gold's paytable has 12 symbols made up of animals, masks, characters, and so on. They pay 0.3x up to 3x the bet for a 6 matching symbol combination. The wild hits on all reels except the leftmost reel. It can be used to replace any regular paying symbol in a winning combination. At random, wilds may expand by changing positions beneath them to wild symbols.

Anaconda Gold: Slot Features

On the features side, Anaconda Gold has giant symbols, grid increases, special symbols, free spins and a feature buy.

Giant Symbols & Grid Increase Feature

All paying symbols can appear as giant symbols of 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, or 6x6. When giant symbols hit, they break all symbols they drop on, except other giant symbols, as they fall to the bottom of the grid, replacing positions above them with new dropped symbols. In the base game, after every tumble, the grid increases by +1 horizontal row of symbols. At the end of tumbles, the grid resets back to 6x4.

Special Symbols

Three special symbols in Anaconda Gold are:

• Money Symbol - When it hits, it has a value of 1x to 100x the bet.
• Collect Symbol - Collects and awards the values from all Money symbols in view. After the award, the Collect and Money symbols explode as part of tumbling.
• Anaconda Symbol - If two of these symbols hit anywhere on the reels, they connect on a random path, changing all symbols it passes over (including giant symbols) into the same random pay symbol or Money symbol with random values. If the change was to Money symbols, the last Anaconda transforms into a Collect symbol.

Free Spins

In the base game, hitting 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters triggers 10, 15, 20, or 25 free spins, respectively. During free spins, the grid does not increase with every win. Instead, every 3 tumbles increase the grid by +1 row. The grid size does not reset for the round's duration. Players win an extra 10-25 free spins if 3-6 scatters, respectively, land.

Feature Buy

Paying 100x the bet triggers the free spins feature randomly triggered by 3 to 6 scatter symbols.

Anaconda Gold: Slot Verdict

Gates of Aztec, Secret City Gold, and Aztec Gems Megaways, to name but three, it's safe to say Pragmatic Play has experience making slots in this region. It shows, too, from a skin perspective, as Anaconda Gold provides all the sights and sounds a fan of this style could ask for. There isn't much experimental or freakishly one-off that players conversant in this style won't have seen before. But, Prag has placed pixels in all the right places to create an agreeable-looking slot that might offer little in the way of original viewing, but nevertheless has a homely feel to its familiarity.

Moving on, there also isn't much, if anything, that is experimental, or freakishly one-off in terms of features either. For the most part, Anaconda Gold plays like an ELK Studios Gold slot. Take a pick, Tahiti Gold, Voodoo Gold, Valhalla Gold, they all do the adding row effect following tumble wins, big symbols thing. One of the main clues alerting players to the fact that they aren't playing an ELK Studios Gold slot is the garden-variety theme choice and treatment, as Kane had a tendency to explore less well-trodden spots. That, and possibly the use of a Money symbol collection feature. It's hardly the most original idea Pragmatic Play could have chosen to differentiate its game from the competition, though the Anaconda symbol provides a slight twist as it snakes across the reels, transforming symbols to pay symbols or Money symbols.

The copied gameplay and commonplace theme mean Anaconda Gold isn't the most exhilarating option in the lobby. But, Pragmatic Play has a knack for cobbling together slickly playable slots, and some players may prefer the math, particularly the RTP, to be found here over an ELK Studios piece. At 10,000x, the win cap isn't shabby either, meaning Anaconda Gold is an alright example of this style of gameplay, provided the copy-and-paste approach isn't off-putting.