Brilliant Diamonds Hold & Win

Brilliant Diamonds Hold & Win: Slot Overview

If you wanted to bring together two of the most hackneyed elements in the online slots bag of tricks, a money-themed game with a hold & win feature has got to be up there. This wouldn't be an issue if the studio, in this case, iSoftBet, did something wild and crazy with them. However, they've done the total opposite and made a placeholder of a slot that is unlikely to light the imagination of all but the most ardent streak respin aficionado or worshiper of high-status consumer goods.

Players in Brilliant Diamonds' scope will be in some sort of shopping fantasy land when the game loads up. It's glitzy in a zirconium type way, where a 5x3, 25 payline game grid is covered in all manner of high-ticket items. The background is a pretty plain rotating blue diamond light effect, while the music sounds like a track from the best of hotel lobby hits. The game has been built to very specific specs, so those into this type of game should be stoked; the rest, well, perhaps not so much.

Outside the Hold & Win, payouts occur when identical symbols hit across a payline from the first reel onwards. This contributes to an overall return to player value of 96%, rising to 96.9% when buying the feature outright. Medium volatile, the game is playable on anything from smartphones to desktops and bets may be set from 25 p/c to $/€25 per spin.

Heading to the paytable, half of the 8 pay symbols might help players live out any high net worth individual fantasies they desire. The premium symbols do, at least, where we find champagne on ice, watches, cars, and private jets worth 6 to 16 times your stake for five of a kind. Dropping down to the low pays, there are J-A card ranks worth 2 to 4x for a line of five. Brilliant Diamonds' wilds are pretty nifty. They land stacked on any reel to replace any of the regular paying symbols. Winning paylines of wilds have the same value as the private jet premium.

Brilliant Diamonds Hold & Win: Slot Features

There are no second guesses as to what Brilliant Diamonds' main feature might be. As well as the Hold & Spin, it also comes with Diamond Modifiers and a bonus buy.

Diamond Modifiers

Randomly, on any base game spin, diamonds may rain over the reels to signify Diamond Modifiers have been triggered. This will either award a 'Big Win' (over 20x the bet) or trigger the Hold & Win Respins feature. As part of the trigger, regular Platinum Diamond symbols may be transformed into Gold Multiplier Diamonds.

Brilliant Diamonds Hold & Win Respins

This feature is activated when 5 or more Platinum or Gold Diamond symbols are in view, awarding 3 Hold & Win Respins. Triggering symbols are locked in place, and only Diamond symbols are present on the reels during the feature. If new Diamonds hit, they lock and reset spins to 3. The round ends when all spots on the panel are filled with symbols or respins run to zero.

Platinum and Gold Diamond symbols display either a cash value, or the Minor, Major, or Grand special diamonds. These are worth 20x, 200x, or 1,000 times the bet, respectively. What's special about Gold Diamonds is that they add a multiplier when triggering the feature. The multiplier starts at x1, with each Gold Diamond in view increasing it by +1. Bear in mind; Gold Diamonds do not land when respins are active, only on the triggering spin.

Bonus Buy

If the opportunity presents itself, players can buy their way to Brilliant Diamonds Hold & Win Respins for the cost of 50x the total bet.

Brilliant Diamonds Hold & Win: Slot Verdict

Brilliant Diamonds feels like a money game designed by an up-and-coming studio yet to find its voice or make its mark on the iGaming scene. Not one with such a well-established track record as iSoftBet. Then again, to keep their Hold & Win pace up, perhaps they're running short of ideas. An alternative conspiracy theory is that maybe iSoftBet has a bunch of unfinished games lying around they are now banging a streak respin feature on and releasing them under the Hold & Win banner. Several of the later releases have felt this way, being neither overly interesting to look at or play. Just okay games which feel pumped out to make up the numbers.

There's definitely nothing very interesting about Brilliant Diamonds. The wealth theme was battered into submission a long time ago, though it keeps coming back like a stubborn zombie. The money thing can work, of course, but Brilliant Diamond's portrayal of it is pretty lifeless, made more so by the accompanying muzak. When studios do modern updates on the money theme like Red Tiger pulled off in NFT Megaways, it's all good. Yet, this genre often come across with a strong 1980s, possibly 1990s vibe. Brilliant Diamonds does, though perhaps that's the charm for some people.

The features aren't much better, with a fairly standard streak respin bonus round as the centrepiece. There's not much to say about it, really, other than good luck filling as much of the screen with money symbols as possible or sneaking in a Grand Diamond - hopefully with a multiplier in hand. If not, wins and thrills are pretty meagre. The base game's pretty ho-hum, too, despite the Diamond Modifiers jumping in now and then to trigger a win or activate the bonus round.

If rich people-watching excites or peeking in luxury houses on YouTube gets your pulse going, Brilliant Diamonds might be alright for a poke around. Otherwise, Brilliant Diamonds is a game most players would probably be okay living without, even amongst hardcore hold and winners.